Protection (Uchiha Sasuke) 01

Here we go.
Enjoy.
Protection 1
Sasuke was an especially bright boy. He was very intricate with his lessons and made sure to answer everything thoroughly. He also took over his uncle's watch repair business. Sasuke was especially gifted at fixing watches.
He took everything into detail and repaired all the watches until they were better than new. He would polish them and put them in a little felt bag until their pick up date.
His brother Itachi, however, was into the special fighting militia that Konoha village had. He was agile and gifted with the bloodline Sharingan. Not many people are gifted with bloodlines in this time, and even then, not many people can control it.
Itachi was a master at this.
Sasuke's father Fugaku was one of the leaders of this militia. He had no bloodline but he was extremely powerful in fighting and he was cold and calculating on the battlefield, what with Orochimaru always trying to attack the village. [That was why the leader of the village, Tsunade, created the militia in the first place.]
Fugaku praised Itachi endlessly. Sasuke's studies were 'average' and his small business, which was part time, due to his studies, was 'acceptable.'
But he was no Itachi.
His mother praised Sasuke and tried to make it seem like he was important and a big deal and just absolutely the most fantastic person who ever walked the face of the planet.
On this day however, after school, he was quite truly and utterly sick of his father, his brother, and his wonderful mother who tried so hard to make him feel wanted. [He loved his mother, really, but she didn't need to fake such happiness...]
And he traveled into the forest outside the village and just wandered around, contemplating starting a training regimen so he could join the militia as well. But even then he would probably only be adequate.
But then he was grabbed from behind and he struggled. A man appeard out of the trees in front of him.
"Look what we have here. A damsel in distress..." Though it was obvious Sasuke was a man [though be it a beautiful one...]
He struggled some more, though it did him little good because he person holding him was just about as strong as his brother.
Them a growling noise came from the trees and something gray and brown wooshed right past him and the man in front of him was thrown into the trees. Then, in a heartbeat, the person holding him was tossed into the trees as well.
They hobbled out of the forest and glared and hissed,
"Why you little-"
Then there was a savage barking and they ran away, not even bothering to finish their threat. Sasuke looked around and saw a wolf, who was in the middle of morphing into a person.
Morphing into a girl.
Sasuke backed away slowly and the girl was grinning. Perched on her head in the midst of almost-chocolate brown hair, were two dog looking ears that were a very light gray color. Sprouting out of her back end was a bushy tail the same color.
"They always run when I bark. Amazing huh?" She asked. Sasuke backed away further.
And then her face fell.
"Oh. I suppose I scared you. I'm sorry. I was just protecting you." Sasuke looked offended, so she continued, "though I'm sure you would have had those guys running in no time, but I decided to lend a hand..."
Sasuke sighed.
"You're from Konoha village right?" She messed with the band of gray fur around her wrist pulling it off her wrist and placing it back to its original position. She had those removable fur bands around both wrists and ankles. She wore a leather collar around her neck and she had a dark gray skirt with shorts peeking out from under it. Her shirt stopped above her belly button that gave him a clear view of her navel.
Not that he was looking, or anything.
Surely he was not looking.
"I'm Otome by the way. Ookami Otome. Daughter wolf in Japanese. Of course, you can call me Mei. It's a lot easier, I think."
Sasuke reluctantly gave out his name. After all she did save him [not that he needed saving, or anything.]
"Uchiha Sasuke..."
"Nice to meet you Sasuke!"
She seemed to be just a walking ball of happiness and sunshine, but how did she do those things? The morphing? And the wolf ears?
"What are you?" Was all he could really ask, though he had the slight revelation that he could very well offend her.
She smiled.
"I'm Konoha's protector."
He blinked. What?
She seemed to pick up that he didn't understand.
"I'm a protective spirit. I even have a shrine!" And without even asking if he wanted to go, she dragged him along with her only a few feet deeper into the woods. She gestured to a stone shrine of a decent size and grinned.
"Oh." That was all that came out of Sasuke's mouth. It was dusty and dirty and vines were growing on the outside of the shrine, so it appeared to Sasuke that no one knew it was here. It made him feel slightly bad for her. Mei, he meant. It just seemed like there was no one who could appreciate her...
If what she said were true. And he did, in fact, believe her.
Mei led him inside and it was a little cleaner, like she tried her hardest to at least keep it neat on the inside.
There was a large gray wolf statue that sat proudly in the center of the shrine that was just as clean as the rest of the place.
"Does anyone come here?" He asked.
Mei still wore a smile, but he could tell she was less than satisfied with the truth.
"No. People pass by, but they never see the place. I try to clean it, but... Sometimes there are intruders who want to bring harm to the village. I was put here to protect it a long time ago. It's gotten bigger and I guess people just...forgot." She grinned a little wider. "But I still protect this place. I've injured so many of Orochimaru's spies!"
So the militia didn't do much after all.
"Thank you." He muttered, though grudgingly. He was not used to this apologizing thing.
"Not a problem!" Sasuke noticed that his mother would be missing him and his father would think he was lounging around so he decided that he had better go. It hadn't been exceptionally long, but he did have some watches to repair before dinner.
"I have to go," he said. Mei nodded and followed him out and pointed to a disused trail that was covered by weeds and foliage.
"That's the fastest way to town and no one goes that way. I always scare them off. You'll be super safe that way, even though you can take care of yourself."
Sasuke took a few steps forward before he turned around and looked at her. She was tapping her foot against the ground and looked as if she wanted to ask something.
"What?" He didn't intend to sound so mean when he said it. Mei didn't flinch though.
"You know... I don't get many visitors... I was hoping you could come back. It doesn't have to be tomorrow!" She added quickly. "I just... I like to talk to people..." And she grinned, though a sadness still hung over her face. "Besides, I don't get so many good looking guys around here, you know?"
Sasuke smirked and nodded. He waved a little and she waved back. He started walking down the disused trail and turned around once more. She was gone. Not even a rustle to announce she had been there. Maybe she was really the protective spirit of the village.
He needed to bring an offering and he needed to bring some cleaning supplies to straighten the place up. He called over his shoulder to the emptiness of the evening forest,
"I'll be back tomorrow." He didn't have studies that day and he could bring his work here. Maybe she'd like to see what he did.
He started to jog home as the sun began to set and opened the door to his house. His mother seemed relieved and his father seemed disappointed. His brother was not home.
"Their out training for battle."
The battles never came anyway, but he went with what his father said to his unasked question.
"Mom?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, dear?"
"I need some of those cinnamon dumplings that taste so good. There's this shrine and I would like to make an offering to it."
She blinked.
"Won't the priest just eat it?"
"I checked it over with him. He won't be there tomorrow. I also offered to clean it up for him. I'm going to work on some watches while I'm there, so I'll be out almost all day."
Mikoto smiled at her son. He was so nice...
"I'll have them ready tomorrow morning."
He bowed and thanked her.
While he got the table ready for dinner, he thought idly that maybe she would really like those dumplings. She seemed to eat, but no one seemed to offer. And yet she still protected this place.
Yes. He was quite looking forward to tomorrow. It was the most he'd ever looked forward to in his life.
[He found it odd, but exhilarating. He had someone to get away from his family with.]
And that made him feel protected in his own way.
Next one will be out soon.