•Chapter 3•
"It's not your time yet." a genderless voice spoke in his sleep.
It was an oddity for Riku; there was no source of the voice he had heard in his dreams yet it resonated in the endless dark space but he guessed that that must be how dreams work.
The young Uchiha woke up in a white sterilised room, on a white bed that was clearly not his. The room didn't have the homey and comfortable smell he had grown to love over the years. Instead, it reeked of cleanliness —disinfectant— with the smell of death lingering on it like a parasite as though no matter how much alcohol was used to sterilize the room, it would never be able to scrub off the stain.
He was used to the smell of it though he doesn't know why.
* * *
A minute passed as he tried to remember the last memory he had before sleeping.
"Father's grave. . ." he mumbled as he recalled after another minute had passed.
"Mama? Mama, where are you?" he called out, quickly wiggling his way out of the blanket, only to fall down from the difference in height of the bed and the floor.
Something was different with his body, he knew it. It was like he had slept so long he almost completely lost control of his motor skills.
"Excuse me, Riku right?" a feminime voice said, the voice was crisp; causing the painted white walls to slightly vibrate from the sudden loud volume as the figure entered.
"Oh my," she said and heaved the fallen young Uchiha back onto the bed, "You shouldn't move around too much Riku-chan."
"Where is mama?" he asked.
Hearing this, the nurse's face undoubtably twitched once and the jovial facade seemed to falter abit, but it went unnoticed by the panicked Uchiha. The nurse opened her mouth to reply, but was cut by a gruff mildly scratchy old voice.
"I'll take it from here." the old man who had just entered said.
The old man gave off a warm grandparent-like smile, but it only caused Riku to raise his guards up against him. Somehow, that smile sent down shivers down his spine.
There was just something that made him feel this way, he couldn't really put his finger around it.
It was like, a hunch. Yea, a hunch.
"Riku-kun, your mother. . . She's going somewhere." he spoke, breaking the previous existing awkward silence.
"Where?" Riku asked, he doesn't remember his mother saying any of that, not that he remembered every word she would say.
The old man looked down, puffed out sone cigar smoke and said, "Somewhere, she's going for a long time so you might not see her soon."
Hearing this, Riku somewhat understood (though he doesn't want to admit it). He knows that his peers wouldn't understand, he knows he's different and he knows that he should never reveal this to anyone.
He doesn't know why, but he knows he shouldn't reveal this information to anyone, the daimon inside whispers nasty things; injecting it inside his heart and multiplying the fear while simulatenously diminishing the rational side of Riku.
When he tried to nod at the old man's words, he felt an excruciating sting from his chest. Looking down, he noticed that he was wrapped in bandages and gauze and that he wasn't wearing his usual black T-shirt with the fan crest on the sleeves but instead, a normal black shirt.
"What happened?" he questioned, still looking at the bandages and touching it several times out of curiosity.
"Don't worry about it," the old man adviced.
And he did. At least in front of the old man.
* * *
The old man continued to visit him consecutively despite the awkward atmosphere in the beginning. The awkwardness dissolved as quickly as it came, by making interesting conversations and bribing the Uchiha with things.
There was the time where he would secretly sneak in sweets; mochi and taiyaki into the ward, making the young Uchiha brighten up. It wasn't that he hated the gooey bland food the hospital had served, he was fine eating it but if offered delicious sweets he would gladly accept it with open hands.
The old man would make small talks with Riku, earning small laughs here and there. Just a little bit, maybe, the walls Riku had put up because of suspicions began to lower itself.
Whenever the old man visit, Riku would avoid talking about his mother. Deep down, he feels like he knows the truth, but he doesn't want to confirm his suspicions. He also never bothered asking about his chest injury since the nurse had explained that he fell down and graze some sharp pebbles.
He was sure that wasn't the reason, but something inside—The Daimon— whispers to him that ignorance is a bliss that he should be grateful for and that some fools live longer and better because they were oblivious to the truth.
He doesn't want to know the truth.
At least not now when there seems to be a small change in his consciousness.
* * *
A month had passed before the little Uchiha was given the 'ok' sign to discharge from the hospital. The bandages around his chest was unwrapped, showing off the big nasty scar across his chest.
There was no way some graze of a pebble would be the cause of this, but Riku continued to turn a blind eye to the concrete evidence pointing to the fact that the old man and nurses were lying.
'There must be a reason as to why they were lying.' Riku would reason and reassure himself.
The old man waited for him in the entrance of the Konoha hospital and waved at him, motioning him to his side. This time, he wore the Hokage hat and the white robes.
"Jiji, where are we going?" Riku asked, his hand holding the Hokage's hand as they walk.
"I'm going to bring you to a caretaker. Your mother's still away." He explained, sometimes stopping to smile and wave at the passersby.
"Oh, okay. Where?" he said, then paused and asked again.
"It's a surprise." The Hokage smiled.
"Eh? Why?" he spoke, not a hint of surprise.
He was replied with another smile as they made their way through the unknown streets of Konohagakure. The vendors and cheerful atmosphere caused the young Uchiha to look at it with shining eyes filled with awe.
It was the first time he saw a place so wonderful, filled with laughing people and carefree children playing around. The places mama brought him to were desolated; with no shouts of discounts, angry vendors scolding playful children, a group of kids playing and the bright lights hanging from across buildings which decorated the place with a merry feel.
There was an absence in dome-like structures, pillars, sculptures and the likes but he felt sonewhat relief of the absence. Though there was something that slightly unnerved him, the large stone wall behind the red eye-catching building; a wall carved with 4 weird male faces, one resembling Jiji's.
Riku stared at the wall with a concealed conflicting emotion.
'Gross' he thought to himself.
"That's the previous Hokage, Riku-chan." explained the third Hokage. He continued to ramble on about the glory of the previous hokages and the propaganda of the 'Will Of Fire' which Riku noted.
Albeit what registered inside the mind of the Uchiha was of a phrase, "Glory to the Imperial Family."
He blinked, feeling odd about the phrase he thought of but was quickly distracted with the smell of food that wafted through the air. A loud rumble from the young Uchiha earned a hearty chuckle from the Hokage.
"Well, let's go eat first then. Shall we?" The hokage offered, earning a shy nod from the blushing Uchiha. Afterall the overwhelming atmosphere was new for the Uchiha.