Fire

4

Naruko sat for the last of final exams with enough confidence that she would not fail any of them. As an experienced adult she had enough patience to know that she should study seriously this once and for all. It was not luck that had enabled her to pass her interview and got the scholarship to study here therefore she should do this seriously this time. Fifteen minutes before the paper for Principles of Directing ended, she was already raising her hand to notify that examiner that she was done. The examiner soon arrived at her desk and she passed the paper to him.

"Thank you Miss Uzumaki, you can clear your desk and depart by the front door."

Naruko thanked the examiner back and cleared her desk. She could see her next desk neighbours glancing at her and grimacing at her. She smiled back and gathered her pens and pencils and stood to exit. Some people who had been in a blur in watched as Naruko began leaving them. Right after she exited the examination hall, a few students scrambled to finish their last mysterious questions which they hadn't studied for and called for permission to leave the examination hall. The tensions were getting to them it seems.

The first thing Naruko thought about, right after leaving the hall was to freshen up. She grabbed her bag which she had placed near the entrance of the exam hall and stuffed her wallet and pencils and pens in her bag pocket. She slung the messenger bag across her body and headed towards the restroom.

Upon reaching the restroom she unslung the bag and hung it on one of the hooks provided. She stood in front of the sink looking at her tired face and twisted the tap to wash her face first, feeling the cool of the water against her sweaty skin. The examination hall had been cold but the final paper had been tough, not until Naruko decided to just answer it to her best of her ability did she find the final paper of her final exam a breeze.

She massaged the water into her face and made sure every inch of her face and exposed neck was cleansed though with mere water. Naruko then rinsed her face once with clean water and the reached for a small towel from her bag to wipe the water residue from her skin.

Naruko untied her long blonde hair and let her waist length hair fall to her back and on her sides. She brought out a small brush and began brushing through her hair smoothing some knotted hair along the way. Naruko noticed that she had some split ends at the end of her hair and was thankful that her half month salary was coming today. She and Shion had spent their last yens yesterday buying some unnecessary stuff like a fancy blouse and a pair of earrings priced at 3 for 50.

Naruko then checked her yellow blonde hair, knowing that she had inherited it from her father whom she had never meant. She had mourned his death for a while, even became angry at his inability to be here during her important days. She had not missed her mom so much these last few years since Tsunade entered her life. The governess was a busy lady but she paid enough attention on Naruko for her to feel that she had someone who cared about her apart from Iruka, her former guidance counsellor at the orphanage. The 35 year old man had remained single even after Naruko had tried pushing another guidance counsellor named Anko towards him. She hadn't seen him for five years but she hoped that he was doing well.

Everytime she looked at her face she was reminded of Minato Namikaze, who based on his picture, was also blonde and blue eyed. She had not seen her mother's picture yet since they said that she had died in a fire and all her belongings were destroyed. The only thing she had inherited from her was her surname, the name which she had been registered with. She was told that the man who sent her into the orphanage was a single man with sons and he was busy so he sent her believing in the capability of the institution. Naruko loved being in the orphanage but she still felt a huge void in herself when she saw her face and had no inkling of how her parents looked like.

Tsunade had given her a photo of her father and had told her that she deeply regretted meeting Naruko when she was fifteen. It was late, but to a girl who had no idea of her background it was a chance nevertheless. The mayor had invited Naruko to live with her, but Naruko knew that she would only see the Mayor not as often as she would be. The assistant to the mayor had told her that they had maids working around the clock so Naruko wouldn't feel alone. But she was comfortable being from a place which was only quiet come night, and only after a severe warning from the warden. An orphanage which lacked parental love but not short of friendship and attention from its caretakers.

Naruko checked her watch and knew that the paper was about to end in five minutes time. She brushed her hair back into a ponytail and checked for any stray hairs. Putting back her brush and towel into the bag she departed before the rest of the final examinations candidates came out and fill the halls. Naruko took the elevator down and found her best friend Shion sitting on their usual waiting place. She handed a smile to her grimacing friend who was trying to down her notes for her papers tomorrow. Shion smiled and gestured for Naruko to join her, on the table there was already two lattes for them to sip on while they lament about their final exams.

NANOWRIMO NANOWRIMO NANOWRIMO

Sasuke had ordered his driver to send him about a two blocks from Itachi's contacts to offer himself some semblance of anonymity for himself. As one of the local celebrity of Konoha, Sasuke had even bagged the title of one of the 50 Best Dressed Male in ASIA. He wasn't even best dressed today and so Sasuke was forever confused why the media would continue to stalk him. Luckily these days the local celebrity circuit had welcomed another mysterious figure by the name of Hatake Kakashi, therefore Sasuke was out of the limelight until his next social exploit.

He walked up two blocks wearing a new dark trench coat over some long sleeved shirt and jeans. He was also wearing a gray snow cap and had wrapped his face with a thick scarf to escape the prying eye of his half a million strong fan girls. He wasn't sure if he should go all the way with his camouflage but luckily at 8 am in the morning, his fan girls are still on their beds stuck in their dreams or in class to ever annoy him today. Sasuke glanced at the building he had identified earlier as the one where one Deidara Harrison was occupying. The building his driver had pointed out to him was a white bricked building with tinted glass windows. Sasuke had checked on the Internet and found out that the building had been repainted since its last searchable image on Deidara's website.

The office to the self-professed dreams and paranormal expert was on the top floor, therefore Sasuke chose to ride the elevator instead of using the stairs. Just as the elevator's door opened up for him another red haired man rushed in before him. The man looked at him and greeted.

"Itachi's brother I believe? I work with Deidara. Sorry to burst in like that." The man smiled at Sasuke and ousted the open button to let Sasuke in.

Sasuke nodded and offered a polite smile to the man, "Yes I am. You know my brother?" Sasuke had thought that the man might be a model because all his brother's friend were the model looking kind. But it wasn't necessarily that because Sasuke himself had declined to be a model no matter how many times Itachi had asked him to try out. He only volunteered to be a stand in model when models are not available and had his mother order everyone that any images of him cannot be used for any unauthorized use outside of Uchiha Work's realm. So far no one had set a precedent in going against his orders.

"I work with Deidara, let me accompany you there. My name is Sasori."

Sasuke entered the elevator and stood next to Sasori. The lift was tiny and could only fit about five people he measured. Meanwhile Sasori punched in Deidara's floor and they both spent the next minute riding the elevator in silence.

The moment Sasori let Sasuke into Deidara's office; Deidara turned around from watching outside his office window and flashed a smile to the younger man. "Ah welcome Mr Uchiha. Thank you for coming. I am Deidara Harrison, please have a seat, I see that you have met Sasori Harrison, my cousin and also my business partner." Deidara offered Sasuke a hand for Sasuke to shake and the younger man took it.

"I should start on my work now Dei, see you at lunch." Sasori said as he waved at his partner.

"Sure, see you then," said Deidara.

Sasuke sat down on his offered seat and watched as Deidara took off his blazer and hung it around his chair. Deidara was wearing a white shirt inside with a dark coloured vest and a tie. Though his clothes looked formal his hair which was long and yellow blonde, was pulled to the back and tied in half. He also sported a long side bang at the front hiding his right eye from the world.

"I am Deidara Harrison and I am a friend of your brother's. I have been in this field since I was a child basically. I had my Master's in Electrical Engineering so I can fix your wiring and help you get over your fear of darkness and ghosts along the way. My family is from Canada, and my mother is a Konohan."

Sasuke knew that Deidara was only talking that much to break the ice. So he started talking to get the problem out there.

"Thanks for the introduction and I assume that itachi had told about me so I will skip the formality. My brother told me that I should try you service, but he didn't tell me what you are doing actually. I checked you online and your reviews are quite positive, and that's why I am here."

Deidara smiled at Sasuke and then said, "I am a paranormal expert and also a dream analyser. So far all my clients have been satisfied with my service and if you would like a sample, I am more than happy to offer a demonstration."

Sasuke smirked, "I don't do samples and I trust you if Itachi trusted you."

"My expertise is paranormal cases but I also spend a lot of time and money researching dreams. A lot of my clients came to me usually with a paranormal case to pursue at first, but usually when we work together they would open up about having bad dreams which had nothing to do with their paranormal case. From there I observed them in my office and helped them get through it."

Deidara smiled and grabbed for a file from his drawer and started jotting down something. "Let's do an analysis first. I need you to tell me what your dreams are roughly. But first you will need to lie down and sleep, are you free to do that now?"

Sasuke nodded, "I have been sleeping little these past few days, so I would need a little help with sleeping during the day."

"Ok then," Deidara stood and walked towards a door right behind his chair. "Let's move to the observation room so we could analyse your dream on a surface level. Each of my client is unique in their personality and dreams. Therefore I will consult you based on what you choose to tell me and not on what itachi had told me all these years. He loved you is all I could tell for now."

The blonde man smiled earnestly at his client and then opened the door. Sasuke got up and followed Deidara to the door.

Sasuke was a skeptic. He didn't usually subscribe to things like this but it was time that he find solution to his dilemma. He needed closure of something seeing that his reality is being interrupted by his thoughts about his dreams. He agreed to follow whatever the blonde man was telling him to since Itachi told him that Deidara was reliable.

Deidara let Sasuke into another room which was similarly furnished in dark carpeting and brown furnishings. Deidara went to a cupboard and took out a sleeping pill with a bottle of mineral water.

"Here take this; it's something to help you fall asleep. The sofa is yours to use, or would you rather a bed?" Deidara said before continuing, "Do you trust me enough to do this?" Deidara asked the younger man again.

"Yes," Sasuke told him without any hesitation.

"Okay, let's get started. I will lower the temperature of this room so you will be much more comfortable and fall asleep easily."

Sasuke nodded at Deidara and popped the pill into his mouth. He noticed that Deidara had handed him a single pill instead of two. He usually needed two pills to sleep when he reached his maximum too tired to even fall asleep phase. Sasuke thought, maybe because the expert didn't want Sasuke to sleep more than he should. He would still need to sleep at night.

Sasuke took off his coat, snow-cap and scarf and lay on the bed. He used the blanket to cover himself and was soon asleep. He didn't need to think much about calling the dream, it came as he pleaded in his mind for it to come as usual.

NANOWRIMO NANOWRIMO NANOWRIMO

The dream came after a while. Sasuke opened his eyes in his sleep and noticed that he was lying on Deidara's sofa in Deidara's office. But the window which was usually present in his room was now in Deidara's office too. He looked around without sitting up and noticed that the room was in the style of his room mixed with the dark settings of Deidara's office.

Then there were windows before him creaking open. The windows were just like in his room at the Uchiha residence. Wind entered the opened windows and began making the curtains wave around. Sasuke looked at the window as usual, the silhouette someone standing before his room. He hadn't noticed that the eyes belonged to a certain someone before this, only that the eyes were watching him in curiosity.

The someone had opened his eyes and as usual the pair of dark eyes turned red and three commas swirled inside each eye. Sasuke became mesmerized by the redness of the eyes and the silence of the being. It never caused anguish inside of him. Then he heard the calling, which was not exactly a voice. But it was someone calling him to come closer to the eyes, as if the someone couldn't enter his room so he must come to it.

Sasuke then got up, this time he felt like he was actually awake. He pushed the heavy blanket which was covering him up to chest so he could rise and approach the eyes. He was answering its call, the eyes were calling and certainly not the person who owned the eyes. Sasuke could feel the coolness of the room, from the draft in his dream.

As he padded on the floor wanting to get across the room or rather Deidara's office, he felt as if the window was getting further away. He paused and saw that the room was not that far away, so Sasuke quickened his steps but still the window was away in a distance which meant that the eyes were getting away from. With a definite purpose to get to the eyes and end all his confusion, Sasuke started running and running until he was actually closer to the eyes which were still purposely looking at him.

He finally reached the eyes and his hands flew out to touch them, but the eyes closed before he could. Then the darkness gradually lifted and light came in. Sasuke stood in surprise at the figure which looked like his brother with eyes closed. The deep stress lines underneath the eyes which was synonymous with Itachi wasn't there but the other things like the hair, the shape of the face, the length of the loose hair was very familiar like his brother's.

Then everything was filled in more light until everything turned white. Sasuke promptly woke up and looked around. He was glad to see that he was still lying on the sofa in Deidara's observation room. Deidara was there actually, sitting on a chair looking at Sasuke.

"It's almost noon already and I heard some noises from my office and decided that i should instead monitor you here," Deidara said.

Sasuke looked at Deidara and nodded. He sat down and lowered the blanket to cover only his legs. The room was chill, but in his recent state Sasuke couldn't be bothered to ask Deidara to adjust the temperature.

"I saw Itachi."

Deidara nodded and jotted something in his notebook which Sasuke had only noticed now.

"Is this a new revelation?"

"Yes."

Deidara smiled gleefully and flicked his blonde bangs aside to reveal his bionic eye.

"Looks like the pill worked. I am sorry I did not tell you this earlier but that was just a normal pill. You fell asleep on your own accord. You yourself had revealed the clue to yourself."

Sasuke frowned, "Isn't Itachi my answer, he must have got something to do with the red eyes."

"Not necessarily, our dreams offer us insights into ourselves and not someone else's. We can use the imagery of Itachi in your dream as a tool to decipher your dream but not as answer."

"Lie there for awhile while I get my office ready. We will have lunch in my office with Sasori. We have a lot to talk about. Thank you Sasuke. Your cooperation with yourself to discover this dream is a strength in itself. Not many people are brave enough to discover themselves using dreams and symbolism. If you'll excuse me, I will make a move now."

Sasuke just nodded at the blonde haired man as he left the room.