Look at Me
Author: fruitdrop
Disclaimer: Characters are Kishimoto's, not mine.
What? Naruto and Sasuke are thirteen years old. I imagine it happens during the fight at the Valley of the End.
Look at Me
Look at me is what he screams. Through his pranks (I saw him scrubbing the Third's face free of paint again yesterday), through his ridiculous orange jumpsuit and his bright smile and shining blue eyes.
Look at me is what he cries.
Look at me is what he says to me, pleading, begging to be acknowledged, to be accepted.
He knows what others say. That he is “that one”. A monster. Apparently they found an answer to the question he still asks himself. Who is he?
Look at me, he says. All I am is me. He smiles. Not a monster, not “that one”. Just me. He looks back at me, eyes bright, hoping for acceptance, to be acknowledged.
Look at me, he whispers.
And I understand. He looks at me with the same look I always gave my father and Itachi used to give me.
