Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Konoha’s still night knew peace no more when reverberating sirens rang throughout the village. It cut through the air like knives, shaking the window panes of apartments and was loud enough to beat against your eardrum like a parade right outside your room. Civilians and children weren’t advised to evacuate just yet — they were forced to sit inside their homes and lay low as all of the ninjas in the village suited up and prepared for a battle inside their own village, a monster under their own bed. 

The last time this happened, the Kyuubi attacked. 

As the full moon shone high above the dark blue curtain that hung from their clouds, a little girl sat still against the windowpane, squinting against the fogging glass, trying to use the moonlight to guide her sight through the murky darkness outside. 

Men and women with their forehead protectors gleaming in the light raced across the roofs and yelled inaudible orders at one another.  

Two voices suddenly chimed in behind her, filling in the empty words that were leaving the mouths of the shinobi outside. Their whispers were rising steadily in volume despite the younger man trying to keep a calm facade. She twisted her body and stared at the open door, trailing to the path of gold from the artificial light where those two figures stood: locked in disagreement. 

The younger man’s eyebrows furrowed, marring that beautiful face of his and squaring his shoulders back, and attempting to make him look much older than he was despite barely peeking past his preteen years. His tall height barely gave him an advantage against the ninja in front of him, and his fingers still moved nimbly against the white vest he hastily threw on: loading his pockets with spare kunai and shuriken against the man’s orders. 

The older ninja in front of him shook his head and ordered the teenager to stop, holding out both of his hands in an easy surrendering pose, but even the little girl knew that if her older brother was going to make a run for it the older man put his hands up like that to easily stop him. 

“The Hokage told me to give you explicit orders that you are not allowed to join this — and stop trying to pack!” The senbon that the ninja had between his teeth gleamed like a strobe light as the man moved his mouth up and down, catching the nightlight that they had installed in a small outlet in their hallway. 

“This is a village-wide alarm. All shinobi in Konoha are supposed to report for duty.” He was nearly a decade younger than the man in front of him, but he spoke as if the roles were switched and the taller man was the child: slow and chiding, no doubt grinding on his nerves like the teeth against the metal. With that, the dark-haired teen stood up straight and placed the bandage wraps back on the small shelf beside him. Ruby red eyes looked at the man straight in the eye, reflecting the shine of the senbon against those clear gems. “Last time I checked, that includes me too.” 

“Look.” The mystery man held up his hands again. “I don’t get it either, but that’s what the Hokage said. This is a big emergency, stop trying to take it so lightly!” The man huffed at the stubbornness displayed before him. “What if this involves you too, huh?” 

He strapped on his pouches and fastened the forehead protector against his bicep. “More reason to go. Now step aside, Genma-senpai.” 

“I mean, what if you’re the one in danger here, huh?” Genma gestured his hands helplessly up the stairs, following their sight to where Hari was unabashedly eavesdropping on their conversation from her own bedroom. “Think of your sister for god’s sake! Think about her safety too!” 

And those words that spilled so easily from the teen’s mouth earlier suddenly became inaudible. She didn’t hear anything after that, and mere moments later Genma pushed the door behind him and herded the teenager back into the living room. 

The sirens still continued to ring, but the presence of the other ninjas were long gone, all whisked away to the west side of the village where the Uchiha Compound always stood so formidably like a fortress. After assuring that the boy wouldn’t take a step outside the house, Genma too disappeared in a blur of color, leaving no trace of him behind. Her eyes settled on the still figure on their run-down couch, staying so motionless that she could even forget that he was an actual person for a second. 

They sat like that for a while, all as the sirens rang and rang and rang like a fluttering flame. 

As she looked outside the window for the final time that night, a masked man stared right back. 

But on the outside of their house, through those swirling red eyes of his, for the life of him when he looked into the window in front of him — there were no people on the inside. 

No trace of Hanasaki Rin and Hari. 

The last descendants of the Uchiha clan.  

The reincarnation of Tom Marvolo Riddle and Harry James Potter.

And he can look for years, and years, and years, but as long as they were behind those walls, he would never find them.

Is anyone else alive?  

Was a record playing in slow motion? 

Hari rose in the plastic chair they sat her in, turning steadily as the boy they displayed as a prize horse walked slowly toward her, eyes wide and knees knocking against each other like she was a mirage and he was trying to stop himself from running headfirst into an illusion. 

No, the Hokage had said, puffing smoke from his pipe like a defeated dragon. Not really.

The smoke curled around them and turned the vision before Sasuke’s eyes into mist. 

“But — “ 

His black hair was stark against the paleness of the hospital walls, the cool tiles, and the blinding, cheap white lights that hung above them. His eye bags were stark against paper-pale skin, and that only brought out the purple in his bruises more. 

They told her that they were self-inflicted. He tried to fight off the genjutsu that Itachi put him under and instead ended up closing his t i n y hands around his own throat and clawed at his own arms to rid of the illusionary blood that soaked through them. 

His eyes were so wide that she could see herself drowning in pools of black while the little boy in front of her shook like a leaf. Hari was up on her feet now, standing in the middle of the hallway as the workers stared at her, looking at the eight-year-old girl as if she was a bull in their hospital. Arms opened up silently and in a flash of blue and black, the little boy ran into them, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist like she would disappear if he didn’t hold onto her enough. 

“Nee-san!” he cried out, barreling into Hari who stood upright against the impact like one of the trees that used to shadow the compound.  

It’s been days since the Uchiha Massacre and the village was shrouded in deep silence. Coworkers, schoolmates, and friends were all wiped off the map — taken away from everyone like they never even existed  — like it was still a running joke. They would return the next day and the broken walls, the broken red-and-white fans, and the smell of blood would all just disappear. 

But some others cheered. Those who had never liked the Uchihas — those who saw their silent and dark nature as a threat to the Will of Fire that permeated the whole village were in high spirits at the news of their deaths, acting like they were critters that had finally been terminated out of their homes. 

And yet — Hari knew that some of those who mourned were silently cheering too. The arms that wound around the shaking child in front of her only tightened as she focuses on the warmth of his tears against the cotton of her shirt. 

These past few months were hard on the Uchihas, burning their candle down until the flame went out completely.

They weren’t real Uchihas, was the first thing that he thought of when the Third told him of his future situation. 

The compound was empty now — a vast space of ghosts and blood-stained tatami — 

Nii-san! 

Standing over their bodies with his sword.  

Can you help me practice my shuriken throwing today? He remembered asking once, peering into his brot — Itachi’s battle-worn eyes and the weariness on his face that caused his wrinkles to develop so soon. The white that started to develop in his hair at thirteen became only more prominent under the moonlight.  

He stood over him, his ANBU jacket speckled with blood like a tiger on the prowl. 

I can’t today, Sasuke. And a poke on his forehead followed.

Dead. Dismembered. Pained faces and bodies painted on the floor from the bloodstains that just won’t fucKING go away!  

And a part of him still hoped — still dreamed that if he ran back there now, past the body lines, past the caution tape, past the abandoned animals, maybe if he ran across his house into the backyard — Itachi would still be there. Sitting, peacefully as the sun started to set across Konoha, bathing everything in a warm gold as birds swooped to and from trees while cheering in a song that only they can sing and the cicadas would ring. He would be enjoying one of his small hobbies. A plate of dango would be right next to him. 

In this dream, Itachi would turn. And reveal empty, bleeding eye sockets right back at him. 

He couldn’t go back there. 

Lord Third gave him an option. 

He could stay in his compound and live alone with the ghosts that would haunt him, or he could live with these two complete strangers. 

Strangers, but they were of Uchiha ancestry. 

Just barely. 

The Hokage gave him their names, Hanasaki Rin and Hari, and they were more closely related to Shisui-nii than him. The siblings’ maternal grandfather was a full-blood Uchiha born with a defect that said he would never be able to get the Sharingan no matter how much he ran his body into dangerous situations, experienced all of the trauma life would throw him, or even if he faced the end of the world. This was disgraceful for a member who was so closely related to the head of the family, and so when he was able to grow up, get married, and move out of the compound that ridiculed him for so long, he ended up taking his civilian wife’s last name and they had a daughter. The sibling’s mother who had died several years back due to falling into a deep depression over the death of her Chunin-level husband. 

Orphans, he thought, now just like him. 

Their grandfather had one sister and one brother that they knew of: Uchiha Kagami and Uchiha Haruhi. 

They were only one-fourth Uchiha, but as the Hokage told him, aside from him that was all of the Uchiha blood Konoha had left. 

And so he decided that he would move in with them, to see if they were actually like the Uchihas he used to know; or if they shared the same traits as Shisui, the cousin that he loved until a week or two ago. 

They discharged him from the hospital in three days and they told him that Hari, the younger sister, would be the one picking him up. 

He walked past the double doors — and suddenly it was like he was walking past his memory’s hallways, silent, creeping — looking at the ghosts of the family members he once knew. 

And  — She looked so much like an Uchiha. 

He could see the Shisui in her, from the roundness of her face to the brush of long, dark lashes on the edge of her rounded and large eyes. When she stood, her wild, long black curls shifted and pointed in every direction, and her messy bangs drooped lowly over the brightest green eyes he has ever seen. 

They weren’t all dead, and he felt his body grow hot like a volcano about to erupt before the corners of his vision started to blur with water. 

They watched each other then, a standoff in the middle of the hospital’s hallway before she opened up her arms and stared at him without a word. 

His legs moved without thinking, and before he knew it he was crashing into her, arms woven around her waist like he was a little baby again.  

He could’ve sworn right before the bright lights above eclipsed her figure and before his vision blurred completely that maybe one of his cousins was standing there. His aunts. The nice ladies that ran the dango stand, the tea shop — that he wasn’t alone anymore. 

“Nee-san!”

Then he saw her. Just Hanasaki Hari. 

He pressed his face into her cardigan and cried.   

“I’m here now,” she finally said, a hand falling comfortably on the back of his head. “We’re together.” 

Not an It’s okay. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be alright. And not a mortifying Don’t cry anymore. 

She understood. 

The hospital employees politely turned away as his bawling became louder, but her comforting presence never faltered. He wasn’t even feeling ashamed like how he would’ve before the massacre. 

This was the first time he had cried due to feeling relief.

When the Hokage first came to the two of them with the proposition of taking in Sasuke, they both refused. 

“We are honored by your humble offer to take in the last of Konoha’s Uchiha clan, but I will decline your offer due to personal reasons and a lack of resources,” Rin said to the left of her.  

Hari let out a breath of air she was holding in, head tilting so slightly that her hair spilled over the edge of one shoulder. 

It was like the Hokage aged three times overnight. Deep wrinkles setting on top of previous ones dug deep into his skin and emphasized his eye bags until he looked like he was going to shrivel up in the sun. Nearly half of Konoha’s forces  — gone like that overnight. She couldn’t imagine the turmoil he was going through, trying to rebuild his army and keeping the rest of the clans assured that they were going to be safe. 

It was like she could feel a civil war bubble underneath her fingertips.  

He let out a cloud of smoke from his pipe, coating his desk with grey as he let out a resigned sigh. She held in the urge to cough or brush away the puff of tobacco that tickled her nose uncomfortably. 

“Finances will be no issue if you decide to take Sasuke-kun in,” his voice low, gentle like a grandfather, but raspy like the chain-smoking that he’s done for so many years. Dark eyes bore into Rin’s own red ones, unwavering despite the warm personality he was attempting to have, shadowed by the wide brim of his hat. “The village will cover all food expenses, your bills, and possibly anything else you will need to assist in the childhood development of Sasuke-kun.”

“Hokage-sama,” he said once again, that smile on his face making him look like a prince in a novel rather than a trained killer. “We are grateful for your enthusiasm to support us, but we feel that Sasuke-kun would not be comfortable enough in our home. We only have three bedrooms, after all — “ 

One for him. One for her. And the one that used to belong to their parents. 

“I see no issue with this,” the old man said easily. “You can move into your parent’s larger room and — “ 

“I will not be touching my parent’s room, Lord Third.” 

The room that they had yet to clean up after the death of their mother. 

Rin slipped into informal speech, Hari thought, holding back her surprise and slight horror. It was as if he was the leader here, and the Hokage was nothing but an old man on the street with too many opinions for his frail body. The Jounin Commander behind the Hokage even had his eyebrow quirked up at Rin’s blatant rudeness.   

“I’ll be completely honest with you, Hokage-sama…” he started off, not backing down in the face of authority. Emerald green eyes fluttered off to the side then, looking at the warm, light wood of the desk to the sun-bleached panels of the windows behind them. She could sense all of the ANBU that were stationed from here. Shikaku-san standing behind the Hokage. Two on the roof. Three inside. Four hidden outside the office walls. 

They haven’t enforced the security for him, she thought. Despite this being such an unstable time for village safety. 

“I have no interest in taking in Uchiha Sasuke,” Rin finished firmly. Hari straightened up then, rolling on the balls of her feet for a second before falling back in line with her brother and they both kept their soul-searching gaze on the Hokage. 

She wondered how they looked then. A skinny, but unnaturally handsome boy standing upright in the middle of the Hokage’s office while a little girl stood beside him, her posture loose and eyes wandering throughout. 

Yet, even she knew that the aura that exuded from them could change the temperature of an entire room.  

It was not even a day after the Uchiha Massacre and it was like the entire village was underwater. They were deep in pressure and shock, so heavy against the village they couldn’t even breathe. 

Just as the sun settled comfortably in the morning sky, she deemed it safe enough to finally leave their house only to be stopped by an ANBU with a message that stated the Hokage requested their presence. 

Their.  

Rin made sense, he was a Jounin and he was always outstanding. Top of his class and charismatic enough to talk you to your own death. But Hari thought she had done so well with keeping under the radar. 

Did he know? 

Did he know that they escaped a death that was meant for them too? 

Do Hari and Rin mourn for them? 

All of this only for them to meet with the Hokage and have him ask them to take in the last Uchiha like he was a puppy alongside a rainy street. 

Their Uchiha heritage was not a secret, but no one cared enough for mere quarter Uchihas when Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shusi dominated the attention of everyone. No one bothered enough to know that they were part of the family too. 

And now they suddenly were Uchiha, right when it was convenient. 

“Please elaborate,” the old man said in front of them when Rin turned down his offer once again. He had dropped his gentle nature like an anvil at this point, and Hari knew that he had gotten to his wit’s end with Rin’s stubbornness. Her older brother always got what he wanted. She knew that for sure. 

“We are fine on our own, Hokage-sama.” Rin’s tone was biting, full of venom. It was as if he was speaking to a common man and not his leader. “We do not need your assistance in living, but we do not require Uchiha’s presence to live more comfortably either.”  

“Is that so?” He turned his eyes to the only female in the room then, her wide eyes becoming like a deer in the headlights once the leader of her village placed all of his attention on her. “Hari-chan, what do you think?” 

She quirked her eyebrow up. She wasn’t amazing like her brother, nor the head of the house, or contributing to their funds. She had no say in Rin’s final decision, so why did he think that her opinion would do any good? 

“We are not Uchiha,” she finally settled on saying, her voice light with her years, but even she could see the Hokage’s eyes tighten ever so slightly at the steel in her voice. Hari decided to hold her tongue then, keeping off the sharp comments she had about the situation.

“I agree with my older brother,” she eventually said, shoulders falling under the tension in the room, confidence in her tone dropping. 

Her own eyes narrowed. Why is he trying so hard? What does he get from keeping Uchiha Sasuke with them? 

“I see…” Another puff of smoke. “I respect your decision.” 

The two of them exhaled, finally glad to be done with this charade. 

“However, Rin-kun…” 

The Hokage wasn’t talking to him as if he was a grandfather anymore — the tension in the room became so tense that she could feel it. Every ANBU tensing their muscles underneath thick layers of cotton and the stretch of leather as they flexed their arms or clenched their muscles, she could feel the air suffocating her. She looked up at her brother, looking fresher than a spring day underneath the commanding stare of the Hokage. But she’s been with him long enough to be able to notice that one vein in his neck and the strain on his jaw. 

Sarutobi’s voice was like an oil spill. 

“In any case, since you do have Uchiha blood…” At that moment she knew why this old man was still controlling the village. “Maybe it would be best for you to be taken off active duty until this situation calms down. I would even recommend resting at home so that you have ample time to mourn your distant relatives.” He gave them a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. 

“Might I suggest several months?” He placed that damned pipe back between his teeth and stared at them straight on. “Once you leave this room, I’ll be sure to tell the desk shinobi of your situation.” 

Two pairs of eyes flashed with anger, turning their shades into acid green and fire red, respectfully. 

He’s trying to purposefully starve us!  

Disbelief fell upon the siblings like a lighting strike at that moment  — the two of them flicking their gaze toward one another to catch their mirroring expressions, but the Hokage’s face did not waver with malice or remorse. He kept as serene as a lake’s untouched surface. 

But to his hidden surprise, they didn’t turn to him with equal looks of shock and worry — instead they turned that vicious expression toward him with righteous fury burning underneath the blazing gems they called eyes, eyebrows furrowed and scowls settled down on their lips. 

They depended on Rin’s income as a lifeline. 

Ever since he had become a shinobi and joined the village’s ranks, the two of them were removed from the Orphan Fund and started to live off entirely what Rin earned from his missions. 

Even from the gracious Orphan Fund that the two of them received from the second of their mother’s death, they only received a flat amount of 5,000 Ryo per month, some wheat, milk, and oil. Produce and meat were not included, and they were only occasionally given non-perishable foods when several stores around the village had excess. This often came in the form of instant ramen noodles, canned meats, or the occasional cereals and seasoning. 

They were considered lucky. If their mom had died any sooner, their Fund wouldn’t even exist. In the Third Great Ninja War, orphans had just starved. 

Orphans only received the Fund if they were no longer wards under the orphanage and on the track to becoming either a ninja or an apprentice to some kind of civilian craft. Once they managed to graduate or started to make and sell products on their own, they would get a small portion of their paycheck taken away in both taxes to repay the money that they borrowed from the village. If none of the either happened by the time they turned fifteen, they would be taken off the list automatically and left to fend for themselves. 

Most of the time the money the children received went to rent or to their master, but after their parents had died, Rin managed to convince the workers at the bank to let them keep their house with his smooth words and gentle pressure. Although they went without rent on the mind, the two of them struggled unsurprisingly. 

The two of them were no strangers to starvation, even in their past lives and Hari bet that the support she received would be legions above the care that the Dursley’s gave her. They were even considered living in luxury compared to the other children. Yet, she found Rin’s appetite to grow steadily with his chakra coils the more he trained as a ninja, and the both of them discovered that the piling funds that went toward scrolls, kunai, and standard ninja-grade attire grew like an avalanche. The second Rin had graduated at the age of seven, he was taken off the Fund and decided that Hari would be taken off too so that she wouldn’t have to pay back so much debt once she graduated. 

The first year where he was Genin then Chuunin was tough, living off even smaller rations from his D-rank paychecks but ever since he made Jounin the two of them were able to live comfortably for the first time since their parents’ death. 

But even that one year where they lived off entirely on ramen noodles and poorly made bread would be better than nothing at all. If the Hokage decided to take Rin off active duty for several months, their money would dwindle down to nothing. 

They might have been able to transfigure flour to eggs, but they wouldn’t be able to conjure up food from nothingness. 

He was trying to threaten them into taking in Sasuke. 

“I hope that we’re at an understanding, Hari-chan, Rin-kun.” The Hokage laced his fingers together and leaned closer on top of his desk. His cold expression was unwavering in the face of two furious beings. 

It reminded them of another old man that used them before, all white hair and blue twinkling eyes behind half-moon spectacles. 

“Unless you’re willing to reconsider,” he finally said.

“Man…” Shikaku exhaled, sauntering up to the Hokage’s side, propping his hip up against the edge of the desk. The two of them stared in silence at the back of the door the Hanasaki siblings just slipped through, their faces running from fury to soothing apathy once they finally decided to give in to the Hokage’s demands, plunging the office in quiet. “What intense kids.” He closed his eyes and sighed so deeply it was like he was going to fall dead asleep right then and there. 

He sure was glad that his own son was as expressive as a baby panda, unlike the lions in a cage that these two were. 

Sarutobi hummed and let his eyes fall on the files in front of him, the small, childish faces of the two siblings staring back at them before his eyes fell on Rin’s files. “You seem to be the only person in the village that is the most familiar with them.” 

Shikaku had to physically hold back a snort at that, arms crossed and he inclined his head toward the Hokage in apology. 

“I wouldn’t know any better. Rin hasn’t spoken to me since his Chuunin exams years ago.” His voice was distant, still as hard-edged as any other, but there was no hiding the twinge of regret that laced his tone. 

The irony was that he had gotten closer to Hari than his own student. When Rin was still a student underneath Shikaku’s teachings — all fake smiles and a starvation for knowledge — Hari was merely two years old and brought her to every team meeting he had. 

He had thought he looked so innocent then, even with his suspicions. He had just taken one look at this fresh-faced seven-year-old boy and the makeshift baby wrap he had around his chest and doubted his own judgment. Maybe he was growing soft. 

The look in her eyes when she landed on him showed that she still recognized him though. From what his own son said, occasionally she greeted him on the street if they ever crossed paths. 

Maybe this wasn’t a complete loss. 

“Though it doesn’t make any sense.” The taller man sighed again and scratched his scalp, ruffling the spiky ponytail on top of his head. “If Sasuke didn’t want to stay in the compound you could’ve just gotten him an apartment.” 

No need to threaten those two into keeping him, went unsaid. 

Nara Shikaku did not have pride, but he was aware of his own intelligence. But the Hokage was still a man he wasn’t able to figure out. He’s been playing the shinobi game for longer than the years Shikaku had lived, and every move he made for the village would sometimes evade him. 

Sarutobi’s attachment to Danzo was one he just couldn’t wrap his head around, for example. 

His near neglect of Uzumaki Naruto was just barely pushing it. 

“Hanasaki Rin has proven himself to be an extremely promising shinobi,” the Hokage spoke, his eyes shaded by the wide brim of his hat. “His taijutsu is a bit lacking in comparison to the rest of his talents, but his intelligence and ninjutsu could beat even that of Uchiha Itachi.” 

The Nara hummed. He should’ve known that better than anyone, despite their falling out five years ago. 

Ever since their first meeting, he couldn’t help but think that this boy was bad news. His expression was always soft, relaxed, but there was an edge to the corner of his lips and to the upturn of his eyes that told the older man that the teenager in front of him was malicious. 

In this world where children were soldiers and the older ninja were gods, Shikaku should’ve overlooked it. But in that moment when Rin came to him after winning his battle with his own teammate, stress snapped within Shikaku like a rubber band. His uniform was splattered in blood, but his hair and face pristine as if he had taken a walk in a park, Tsume’s nephew was broken under his hands despite spending so many hours training together, protecting one another on missions  — all done without remorse, that teasing shade of apple red seemed more dangerous than the sword that the boy had strapped to his back. 

Where was that Will of Fire Shikaku tried so hard to instill in his, admittedly, favorite student? 

Uchiha Itachi was haunted by the world they lived in. 

But Hanasaki Rin reveled in it. 

“What is wrong with you, Rin ?!” he remembered shouting at the little boy years ago. 

“I heard that he was turned away from ANBU despite passing the exam with a full score,” Shikaku mentioned off-handedly. 

“Hm.” The Hokage reached for a brush and a scroll from underneath his desk. “It was a bit of an issue then, but they finally decided that he was not loyal enough to Konoha or to me.” 

And Shikaku was sure that that fact hurt Lord Third like a bee sting. As good of a shinobi he was, he was becoming a senile old man who depended on the Will of Fire to burn brightly through all of the village children. 

It was a shame that Hanasaki seemed to care about no one but himself. 

“Though his sister has made a name for herself for being extremely kind and generous,” Sarutobi started, mentally following the Nara’s train of thought. 

A black-haired girl exited the hospital with a smaller boy trailing her like a shadow.  

The man sighed good-naturedly, a small smile falling on his lips. Lord Third still remained sharp as a whip to keep up with one of the smartest men in Konoha. 

He hoped that maybe Rin was just a product of wartime. That his young kid sister wouldn’t have the same haunted eyes and that Hanasaki Rin’s lack of empathy would just be one white rose among a field of red. He mentally knew that there would be nothing he could do about these kids, but it was still disappointing to work so hard only for the future generations to still struggle just as much as they did. 

“Really now,” was all he said. 

What used to be cautious and wary looks toward the Uchiha clan had now turned into expressions of pity. It was nothing but a sea of tear-rimmed eyes, soft frowns, and open mouths. Stands that used to turn away anyone who bore the Uchiha name now were gently calling them over, offering some of their fresh wares. 

The Hokage nodded and hummed. 

“Ah! Hari-chan! Would you like some apples? I know how much your brother likes them! They just came in fresh from Grass village. This is probably the best they’re going to get all season.” 

She opened her mouth to speak but no audio came to his ears. 

“Oh! No, no! Don’t worry about the price at all! This is on us! Take as many as you want.” 

“She has paid for Naruto-kun’s groceries every time she comes across him in the marketplace and is seen feeding the homeless population frequently. She even visits the orphanage to keep some of the children company whenever she has free time. The Will of Fire burns through her brightly.” 

You’ve suffered enough, went unsaid.  

The Hokage finished up with the message before capping the ink bottle and rolling up the scroll. When he held out the message in thin air and said: “To the hospital,” the scroll in his hands disappeared with a blink of an eye. 

Shikaku’s eyes narrowed then. 

The Hokage did not want Sasuke to live with his distant cousins so that he could get protection under Hanasaki Rin. 

Sasuke watched as she walked down the stone steps toward the residential district. The sun was high above their heads, with rays so bright it seemed as if he could reach forward and push them away like silk curtains. 

She remained several steps in front of him, hair swaying and curls bouncing every time she made a single step. 

Without a word, she turned her head up to the sun, her cheeks burning a soft pink while her closed eyelids reflected light upon the lashes that kissed her cheeks. She held the apple up to her lips, freshly washed with the dew of the morning still clinging on. 

The apple almost looked black in her hands. 

She pressed her lips into an O and he watched as she blew those droplets away, splashing molten gold across the air. 

The Hokage hoped that Hari’s good nature would keep Sasuke from turning against the village. 

Chapter Text

“I’m home,” she mindlessly echoed, automatically taking off her boots and placing them neatly on the rack beside the door. Sasuke poked his head out of the door cautiously, as if he was waiting for something to jump out of the cupboards and send him back to the hospital. A few seconds too much later, he clumsily mirrored her movements, not used to the genkan being too small and the shoe rack being too crowded. 

He stepped inside and entered a new universe.

Sasuke already knew that the life that he had lived ended today. 

He could no longer go back home to his mother’s cooking or even step back inside his own house to lay down on the tatami and listen to the fan run on those sweltering summer days. He couldn’t pass by the same dango stands he used to on his way to the academy every day now. These are all things he cried over and anticipated in the hospital room. With the siblings, however, it was as if he was reborn into a new world. 

He was uprooted. 

All of his expectations of them had been discarded and was replaced with surprised looks and wide eyes. 

They lived on the outskirts of the residential civilian district, where the stares and the muttering had only gotten louder the more they stared at the uchiwa fan patched on his back. He thought that the shinobi side of Konoha would suit this strong, passive Rin that he had heard so much about, where the streets were eerily quiet and the neighbors were always tense. Instead, he was led to a rectangular two-story building that was adorned with a white picket fence and pale yellow walls. The windows even had four panels and when he looked through them he could see tied-off white curtains that hung over the edges. This was almost picturesque, a different planet from the minka that used to be the Uchiha compound. He bet there wasn’t even a single sliding door in the place. 

The nurses at the hospital whispered about Hanasaki Rin. Their voices grew hurried about how he was no-nonsense, extremely charming, but a terrifying and talented shinobi. Sasuke had the picture in his head of his father, maybe some of his older cousins where they were a shinobi during the day, and then when they came back home they were just toy soldiers in a showcase. The fantasy of Rin grew as the nurses and the doctors fed this narrative. He thought that Rin was going to be the same as his older relatives, but with this house in place, he could imagine this faceless soldier going off to buy milk at the supermarket. He would take all of his groceries in one go, rice bag over his shoulder and bagged items in his hands. 

His dad would never be seen at the grocery store, mulling over brown or white eggs. One or two percent milk. 

It was even stranger was that they had their own house. When he had learned that they were two young orphans living on their own, he thought they dwelled inside those small, cramped apartments. One room, one kitchen, a bathroom that wasn’t separate from the toilet. 

Now he wondered if whenever they spoke their words would echo in all this space. 

But there was more in this house than could have been dreamed of in Konoha.

A brown, soft couch was pushed up against a wall with dark red wallpaper, decorated with vines. Tall stacks of books and mismatched dark wooden tables that held lamps and a collection of heavy textbooks and scrolls surrounded the wall. On the other side was a smooth leather couch, black in color and matched the sleek coffee table they had in between. A scarlet rug was underneath their feet with ornate gold designs that curled around the corners.

This setting was a different civilization of its own, but the strangest thing was the large fireplace at the end of the room. It nearly took up an entire wall, and the stone and wood that surrounded it had lions and snakes with peeks of eagles and honey badgers in the carvings. He had never seen one in real life before. Sasuke had only heard descriptions of it, and from whispers apparently the Daimyo’s court had one like this as well, where it was set into the wall instead of being an irori and sunken into the floor. Mismatched picture frames were propped on the shelf, filling the entire area with baby pictures and images of a woman with light brown hair beside a muscular, tan man with a large smile. In one picture, a small boy’s face was hidden by a strip of light reflecting on the glass of the frame. However, his small body standing in front of the Academy was as clear as day. 

“I’ll get your room ready,” she stated, moving toward the staircase that was tucked away from the rest of these open spaces. She sent him a small smile that disarmed him. A smile that was supposed to say: This isn’t much, but it’s home.  

She led him past the wall that bisected the kitchen and the living room and he allowed his eyes to continue wandering around this new setting. The place was normal enough. The only weird thing was a bird perch that stood between the sink and the stove. The countertops were not what he had at home, but were familiar. At the entrance of the kitchen and the dining room was a glass cabinet that held several certificates, scrolls, and a few ceramics. Right beside it was a grandfather clock. Sasuke had learned that even the Third Hokage recently got one for his manor. 

Before she fully crossed the threshold to the rooms upstairs, she stopped suddenly in front of the clock, seemingly entranced as if she was trying to decipher the arms and the rhythm of the ticking. She stared at it for several seconds too long, keeping Sasuke drenched in this still silence as he was forced to politely stand off to the side as he waited for her. 

Eventually an exhale left her nose and her shoulders sank. She turned away without another word and led him up the stairs, up to the bedrooms where he would spend the rest of his present life. 

Right before he trailed after her he paused in front of the clock too, wondering what it was that kept her there so long. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized that this clock did not have the time or counted the seconds. Instead this clock only had two hands in the form of teaspoons that they engraved Rin’s and Hari’s names in and instead of hours this clock had locations. Sasuke’s mind attempted to wrap around this strange contraption, wondering for the life of him whether or not this truly worked. The academy, the hospital, home, the marketplace, prison, and traveling were the places he read as he ran his eyes down clockwise. His black eyes looked up and fell upon Hari’s hand, perfectly pointed in the center of HOME. 

His eyes found Rin’s and worked his way down the strenuous list of places. Eyes widened before took an unsteady step back, pausing then running after Hari. 

In the center of MORTAL PERIL was Rin’s hand.

For all of his awkwardness, Hari thought, Sasuke’s desire to be helpful eclipsed any shadow of his initial shyness. 

She had previously cleared up her old room and moved them all to Rin’s room where they had split the shoebox-shaped place down the middle, squishing all of their belongings to the sides of the walls. Her books and clothes were swept away, leaving behind empty cabinets, her footed bed fully stripped, and left her old dust bunnies without a home. 

It was amusing to watch him then, hurriedly taking the dustpan and the broom from her hands and attempting to do it himself, ignoring her watchful stare. His hands knocked together awkwardly, and the broom brushed over the ground with the grace of a newborn giraffe. It was obvious that he had never done something like this — maybe he has never done a chore before in his life? 

She had to teach him how to fold some of Rin’s old clothes and was at the end of the bed as he sprawled over it like a starfish in an attempt to put the covers on. It took them three times as long with Sasuke than it would be if Hari was doing it all by herself, but his stubbornness was not stomped out in face of tragedy. All while his face was scrunched up with a mixture of embarrassment and a fierce desire to learn. His expression twisted into a hard pout that even she would describe as cute. At his young age, whenever he pouted she could see nothing but cheeks. 

Sasuke was eager to please, preening underneath the compliments that she doles out whenever he got a task correct. He was as shy as a kitten but just as eager for affection. He grabbed at her wrist immediately after they had gotten up the stairs, eyes wide with fear as he dropped his voice into a hushed whisper. His hands dug into her forearm like talons, his strength almost iron-clad as he brought the older girl closer to him desperately. 

“Nee-san...the clock…. Is Rin-nii…? ” His voice was fragmented when he asked her this, broken from underuse and grated like sandpaper. 

Pale hands lifted up to pat his hair, but when her hands came up to his forehead his eyes widened until she saw more white than black. He wasn’t looking at her then, she realized, his body locked in fear, and only relaxing when her hand passed his forehead and fell upon his black locks. 

She had to quickly dissuade him, kneeling and explained that the MORTAL PERIL meant that he was in battle, not necessarily that Rin was on his deathbed. Once they were settled in, she would get him a clock hand of his own. 

Sasuke’s body shook with relief then, his fingers on her arm falling slack against her sleeve. He fell backward, feet padding in reverse one at a time. 

He was not much of a speaker, she realized, but it wasn’t difficult to ignore the closeness of his body and his desire to constantly make sure that she was beside him. 

Hari shifted in her two futons, piled on top of one another so that her back didn’t brush up against the cold, hardwood floor. Outside, the night was ink, running so deeply that there wasn’t even a splattering of stars in the sky. She sighed and closed her eyes. 

Harry James Potter was careful. 

He had died young. 

The day he died, it was like fireworks were lit into the sky: explosive, unexpected, terrifying, then silent. Somber silence draped over the Wizarding World when their trophy child died not even nine years after the Battle of Hogwarts. He wasn’t even old enough to see Teddy off to Hogwarts, and after being there for every single one of his “firsts” this fact was still one of the things that sent a deep pit of resentment swirling in his stomach. Hari tried her hardest to remember the details, only keeping notes of how Ron and Hermione had cried weeks on end, how Molly clutched his old knitted sweater with a broad “H” in front when they were given his belongings. They said that his pale skin and his trouble breathing like a man in the desert was due to the stress of his childhood finally catching up to him. 

By the time he passed, there were patches of bruises and discoloration on his neck from clawing at his throat and his skin was the color of the molten candles that hung over the Great Hall. 

His scar never hurt for a second in those nine months. 

Now he was a she in a world where First Kills was a milestone alongside First Kisses and Marriage. This village was stranger than anything beyond the Wizarding World. Men would wake up at dawn just to yell about “Youth!” Movies about samurai and heroes would play at the local theater, but there was not a single cell phone in this place. The archaic image of Hogwarts was thrown together with the efficiency of the muggle world in a careless cauldron and created the place of ninjas. 

Hari’s late father was a ninja, she learned, and so was Rin. 

Your nii-san is going to be an amazing ninja, the voice of Rin’s former genin teammate echoed in her ear, bringing Hari’s then-toddler body up to her lips before curling the edges into a smirk. Her name was Seiko, she remembered, with pin-straight black hair that was customary for almost every Uchiha clan member and favored short sleeves. Smiles came to Seiko much easier than the rest of her clan members, always joking with the Inuzuka that completed the trio. 

She remembered the small details about Uchiha Seiko, all the things that Rin had willingly echoed to her. She always carried an extra pack of kunai, was on track for kenjutsu, hated how Rin couldn't cook to save his life. Her favorite color was the famous Leaf Green of Konoha, and… she loved both Rin and Takashi terribly.

Was she smiling on her last day?  Hari wondered, arms wound behind her head.

She spoke those first words like it was a secret between the two of them, but Hari could still remember the awe that sprinkled Seiko’s voice, keeping her eyes trained on her older brother as he sparred with Shikaku-san. 

It was expected that Rin was going to be amazing. Amazing, intelligent, cunning, ruthless, strategic, exceptional. All of the things the older ninjas told him, all of the things that Tom Marvolo Riddle was. 

For all of their differences, that was one thing that Rin never came to understand. He glowed underneath praise, but while he passed his classes in the Academy as if by magic, Hari yearned to be just another cookie-cutter shinobi off the street. At Rin's graduation age Hari had just barely entered the Academy and only did the bare minimum that kept her grades high. Rin knew she was better than this, better than the brilliance she was hiding even. He was confident he knew her power better than anyone else in this universe, and the next and the one before them. 

She wouldn’t have been his killer if she wasn’t. 

Did she not want to be admired? Did Hari not want the teachers to praise her, be proud of her? 

“Does that not bother you?” he asked once, confronting her over the kitchen table. He knew that Snape was not kind to him and Professor Binns had no favorites, but Harry had the love of Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall, that insufferable Gryffindor from his own school years, defended Harry with every inch of her magical prowess. During the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall split the sea for him. Did Harry not want this? 

She tilted her head, staring at him with those inquisitive eyes as silence fell over them like a curtain.

“No…” she started off, eyes falling to the side. “I’m — “  

It appears as if no matter what life they are in, they’ve always been — 

“Just Hari.”

He closed his eyes and he could smell the blood again. 

Every time he rested his eyes it was a different feeling.

The smell, the slick of blood, the splatter of red underneath his eyelids. After the sixth hour of tossing and turning, his body forced him to pass out, but he didn’t rest. In his dreams Itachi was there again, stalking around the compound with the footsteps of a stray cat. When he woke up, Itachi remained in every shadowy corner of the room. 

In this nightmare he slipped away. The chase made his blood run like acid, pushing adrenaline and stress into his veins. He ran into his house, dashing downstairs toward the basement where his father’s office was and hid himself in the tiniest corner in between two filing cabinets, a wedge in all this empty space. It was so small that he had to pull his knees up to his chest and turn his body so that his back was nearly on the ground. 

A hanged man. Symbolizing self-sacrifice or punishment. 

Suddenly he heard footsteps, the scraping of heeled sandals on hardwood. It was coming closer to him. He held his breath and never breathed. The sliding door opened, shut, and the footsteps came nearer.  From his position, huddled in the dark, curled up like a mummy, he could feel his heart beat against his chest and felt it on his thigh. His eyes adjusted to the dark, going back and forth and attempting to search for a new place to run away. Left, where his dad had the training room. Right, where he could only slip through the door he came from.

“Sasuke.”   

He looked up, and there he was. 

Itachi was so close that he could reach out and touch him. 

He couldn’t even hear his own shallow breaths. His blood beat against his eardrums so loudly that it was all he could hear. His body was locked. 

That man gazed down at him like he was a tower and reached out a single hand. It crept closer and closer until his fingers closed around his right eye.  

Sasuke’s heart was beating so fast that he was sure that he was going to die of a heart attack before Itachi could do him any harm. 

“Sasuke.” A charm. A chant. 

Ba-bump. 

Itachi pulled back his eyelids. 

Ba-Bump. 

Ba-bump. 

“Sasuke!”

He took one look at her and thought ghost. 

“You have the same eyes as mine.” 

"Please...Please don't leave me here, Nee-san!" He scampered up, clutching her arm with little claws, pulling her sleeve hard enough that he formed little bloody crescent shapes on his palm and nearly ripped the fabric. 

“Come before me, Sasuke.” 

His eyes strained in the dark, attempting, desperately searching, desperately trying to look at her. Black met green. If he didn't see her, if he didn't commit her to memory, she was going to slip away from him too. 

Ba-Bump. 

"It's going to be alright."

His heart burst. 

"I'm not going anywhere."  

He fell asleep not long after that, nestled in Hari’s arms with the sleeve of her shirt tucked tightly in his grasp. When he closed his eyes, Itachi was nowhere to be seen. Instead he dreamt of strangers  — a tall, young boy with jet black hair and dark eyes was staring out the window of a dark brick building at the stormy sky. When he searched neverending rooms and went down stretches of hallways, he saw another small, skinny boy sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs.

She just wondered if she lived a normal life, had normal friends, Hari could pass away silently. 

In the next life, she just wanted to be with Ron and Hermione again. 

Ever since that day, Sasuke remained a constant presence. 

He stayed in Hari's old room during the day and slept with her in her growing stack of futons at night. 

During meals, he moved his chair around their square dining table so that their elbows were brushing, and was always by her hip when she prepared food for the two of them. Eventually she asked if he was familiar with a knife and put him to work chopping vegetables. 

He bragged that he was able to throw shuriken and kunai and hit the target dead-on nine out of ten times, but couldn’t manage to cut even strips of cabbage. 

She was no Petunia, who shrieked at Harry for having jagged cuts the first time he held a knife. Nor was she Snape, who looked over Harry’s shoulder to catch every small mistake he had ever made, deducting points for breathing wrong. 

She simply gently corrected him and went back to work. 

When he eagerly asked for chores to do  — he was an Uchiha, he was determined, he was proud, he was going to prove himself  — she gave him a broom and he ended up knocking over her lamp in the living room. 

She simply moved him aside and sighed. Watch out for corners, she chastised.  

Teddy wasn’t like this, she mused, wondering. The boy had always been perfect in her eyes, her son in all but blood, but she got nine years to get used to him. Sasuke came with his own trauma and she was missing seven years of this boy’s personality. 

Sasuke was not Teddy. She did not need seven years to know that. She didn’t even need one. 

After the fifth day, it was time to go back to the Academy.  

Rin’s clock hand jumped from MORTAL PERIL and TRAVELING so frequently that she had taken to carrying their communication coin everywhere, just waiting for the metal to grow melting hot so that she could whisk herself away. She took one long, sweeping glance at the clock before she ripped her eyes away from it and down at the new person in her life. 

Sasuke’s head was bowed low, his feet dragging as he nervously prepared for his first day back. 

“Nee-san…” he said uncertainly when he caught her stare. He glanced at the door like it was going to pop out and eat him up in little pieces. 

She could only offer a small smile at him, placing a gentle hand on his back. He melted into her hold, resting those tense shoulders and she inwardly let out a breath of her own. He was getting more susceptible to touch. 

And these were all baby steps. 

“It’s going to be alright,” she said. I hope. “Iruka-sensei said that you were the best in class, right? And it’s only history lessons and kunai throwing today.” She had to be the strong one between them, but even she was unsure. It had been only a week after the massacre and even less time had passed due to his small coma. He had grown dependent on her presence in the house, she knew that. 

To her surprise, he puffed up at the compliment and nodded, his look changing to one of wary determination. 

“Okay then. Let’s go.”

The Academy was a quaint building with a hard interior. Dried, unclean blood stained the dirt floor where they held spars and the single swing that hung in front of the school had seen years of abuse. Underneath the Hokage Tower and the entryway of one of their hideouts, it was one of the most secure spots of the village. 

You protect civilian women, the elderly, and children first. Their safety is your first priority. Stop at nothing to assure that you are the sword and shield to the people. 

Why did he feel so unsafe? 

He kicked up dirt as he walked, scuffing his sandals on the unpaved road as his grip on Hari’s hand grew tighter by the second. 

Before he knew it, he was in front of the familiar white sliding door of the classroom. Behind it was a pandora box of noises, hidden dangers, and surprises that went to war with the silence of the Hanasaki house that he had grown used to. 

The hand in his squeezed him comfortingly and he trailed his sight up to see Hari staring at the door with a wistful look. 

He shuffled his feet awkwardly, growing even closer to Hari’s side like they were two magnets. 

When he learned that she went to the Academy too, he was ecstatic. He desperately hoped that there was even a sliver of a chance they could be in the same class. Maybe he could ask Iruka-sensei to transfer him or her? Maybe he just didn’t know her because she was in the class next to his, the one with a lot of civilian-born kids. 

He didn’t know her birthday then, and she revealed that not only did she not make the cut-off date to be in his grade, but her birthday was only eight days apart from his, (he had practically glowed when he learned that, hungry for more things to connect them together) nearly a year apart. 

Hari was a genius, he learned. She was on the track for early graduation within the year, but they had swiped that program completely off the table last week. Konoha did not yearn for another Itachi. 

His grip grew tight as he braved that door like a soldier going off to battle. He let go of her hand and released a shaky breath. If there was an earthquake it would originate from there. 

“T-This is my place,” he said, eyes trained on his feet again. “I’m going to go in now...okay?” 

“Okay, Sasuke.” She released his hand completely and turned to make her way upstairs. 

“W-Wait! Nee-san!” He called out to her. She looked at him over her shoulder. “W-Will you have lunch w-with m-me?” He was stuttering like the Hyuuga clan heiress. “C-Can I?” 

That smile of hers never wavered. 

“Of course. I’ll meet you here.” She turned and that black curtain of hair flicked outward. “See you then.” 

He waited there until she left and exhaled deeply. He puffed his chest out and held in the urge to cry, tears already burning at the corners of his eyes. The volume seemed to beat against his ear, grating on his nerves and built upon his growing irritation. He breathed again, and threw the door open. 

The room went silent. He started to hate the quiet as well. He could only hear his own heartbeat. 

The last Uchiha took one step in, one foot under another with his head bowed. Whispers grew around him, curling in the air until it nearly suffocated him. When he finally lifted his head up to locate his seat, the tiered seats seemed taller than a mountain, growing higher and higher the more he looked. Every eye that was on him was like beams of light in the dark. 

One foot in front of the other, his walk was getting steadily more difficult. Were these seats always so high? Was he scaling a cliff? 

Why did people keep on staring at him?!  

“Sasuke-kun!” a voice came from his left, so high and loud that it nearly gave him vertigo as he was diving deep in his thoughts. “I’m so glad you’re back! It’s been so long! I was worried!” A hand reached out to grab his bare wrist, and the moment he felt skin against his, he reeled back like he was on fire. His hip bumped into the seat behind him, sending a student’s pencil and pen crashing down on the floor and he flinched like glass had been shattered. 

“Don’t touch me!” Blood rushed in his ears when those words slipped out of his lips. The nameless girl opened her mouth to speak, but another had already shoved her away and had gotten so close to Sasuke that he was worried that she could hear his heart attempting to beat out of his chest. 

“Yeah! Leave Sasuke-kun alone!” she said before turning back to him. “Hey, Sasuke-kun, want to sit with me today?” 

His hands were suddenly so weak that he couldn’t even properly hold the folder in his arms. 

Those words were merely empty space to his ears and he whipped around in his spot. His feet moved faster, determined to get closer to that empty seat in the back. 

His breathing became heavy, labored. That empty spot was suddenly a mile away and sweat trickled down the back of his neck as if he had just ran around Konoha. 

“Who says that Sasuke-kun wants to sit with you! I should sit next to him! You already sat with him two weeks ago!” 

What were they saying? His mind became so foggy that he wondered if they were speaking the same language as him. The words that slipped from everyone’s lips became gibberish to listen to, and their voices went in and out of muteness. 

His seat was just beside him now, but his vision had blurred so much that he nearly tripped on the last step. He couldn’t even see his desk properly. 

“Naruto! Move, I want to sit there!” 

“Huh?! What?! But I was here first!” 

I can’t breathe.  

“I said move, Naruto!” 

Someone bumped into him and it sent him tumbling onto the ground. He had no control of his legs as his brain rattled in his skull. He didn’t feel any pain on his knees and elbows. He couldn’t tell where he was. On the ground, over the desk? The voices of those around him took space in his brain, emptying his thoughts to leave space for the echoes of others. 

Hands and bodies closed in around him, grabbing every limb. 

I can’t breathe!  

“Sasuke-kun, are you alright?! Naruto, you idiot!” 

Something was clawing up his throat. 

“I-It wasn’t me!” 

He heaved. 

Ican’tfuckingbreathe! 

“Get...away from me!” He mentally wondered if that unrecognizable voice was his. 

“Hey!” a voice came from his side. “Everyone, give him space! He’s having a panic attack!” 

Heavy heart. 

“Thank you, Shikamaru, but please move back as well!” 

Empty head. 

“I know! I know!” 

“Sasuke! Sasuke!” 

His body shook and the last thing he saw was the face of Iruka-sensei before all went black. 

Then...nothingness.

“Hey, Sasuke,” a voice called out from above. The teen looked up from the weapons pouch he was preparing and stared at the girl standing in front of him. Her body was leaning against the shelf that they placed in the makeshift shelter, a tent surrounded by a sea of others. She wasn’t looking at him, and instead stared blankly at something far away. Something he couldn’t see. 

“Remember when it was the first day back at the Academy, and we were separated?”

His hand stilled, and the little tinkling of metal against metal didn't decorate the silence between them anymore. 

“Iruka-sensei ran into my classroom looking like the world was ending.” She laughed at this part. Her expression was searching, as if she was trying to transport back to that day. “You were crying and screaming when I found you. 

“I think that...it was because you didn’t know if you were going to be alone again or I had left you behind or something. I don’t think that you even recognized who I was when I came to get you. You tried to push me away like everyone else.” 

He finished fixing the weapons in the pouch and clipped it on his hip. He stood up at full height and now Hari was forced to look up. It had been long since he started to tower over her, growing from the small little boy that used to hide behind her and now a teen who tried to shield her. 

“Do you remember that?” 

Ash fell around them like snow. 

“I remember that, Hari-nee.” 

She smiled and trailed her hand forward, moving so slowly that Sasuke was able to easily follow the movement as the seconds ticked along. It only rested when it fell lightly on the hilt of the sword on his hip. 

Hari straightened and green met blazing red once more. 

“Let’s get that son-of-a-bitch then.”

Hari moved the two of them to a training field close to the Academy. The house would feel too stifling; he needed air. She had excused the two of them for the rest of the day, and so she just rested Sasuke’s body against a tree while she sat in the sun and waited silently for the hours to pass. 

It was near lunchtime when he roused. 

When he woke up, her back was turned to him, watching mutely as birds swooped to and from trees in a circle around them. 

“Hari…” He winced at the sound of his own voice, appearing as if the inside of his throat was made out of rocks. “Nee…?” 

She turned in her spot, looking expectant as if she was waiting for the sound of his voice this entire time. She came up on her two feet, pulling herself closer to his figure at the base of the tree. They were face to face as she leaned in, checking his forehead and his eyes. 

“Here.” She produced a small vile out of nowhere. “This will make you feel better. Do you want it?” He eyed the liquid warily, watching as it sloshed around the glass in heavy beats. After a few seconds, he nodded and tipped his head back to down it in one go. 

It hadn’t even been one second when his face started to scrunch up due to the extreme sourness on his tongue. Hari was already by his side with a bottle. 

“Water?” 

She didn’t even have to wait for a response then. He yanked it out of her hand and gulped back half of it, washing down the taste until it was a sheer bitterness. 

“W-What is that?” He bit back curses. He was already getting tired again from that experience; but his heart felt lighter. His head began to blow away the fog of his thoughts. 

“Calming Draught,” she answered simply, and when she cradled the empty glass in her hands, he didn’t even see the vile disappear. “Sorry I should’ve warned you about the taste. Every concoction tastes just as bad as the other.” 

“You made it?” He whispered. Was she on the medic track? That would mean long nights away even after she made Genin and Chuunin. He felt it starting to work, faster than the medicine the Nara had in the standard shinobi shops. 

“Yeah,” Hari said easily. “Though you should credit Rin with the recipes. He has a better memory than I do.” And he was a better teacher. Legions above Snape even if they were both equally vile. 

She had almost forgotten that before he had other aspirations in life, Tom Riddle had wanted to be a Hogwarts Professor. 

They sat like that for a while, waiting for Sasuke to come back from the high of the day. It wasn’t long until she produced the two sandwiches that she had packed for them, easily handing one to Sasuke. 

His nose and ear twitched like a bunny when she placed another hand on his head, smiling to herself as she did so. 

“Your headache must be getting better,” she said, almost to herself. She took her hand back and produced an apple out of her bag. A kitchen knife flashed into her hands and the two of them fell into silence once more when she went to work at peeling it in one single strip. Hari could tell that there was something on his mind. 

“I’m sorry…” he eventually said, rupturing the silence. 

“Huh?” She looked genuinely surprised. “What for?” 

“For…” His free hand fell into a fist. His nails created bruises on his skin. “For being so emotional all the time. What happened back in class was shameful.” Black eyes resembled a storm in the night sky. 

Her expression softened, sighing defeatedly. “There’s nothing wrong with that. You were overwhelmed. It happens to the best of us.” She should’ve kept a better watch on him, bulldozing through his trauma from what she had seen only when he was with her. Hari even believed that he handled his emotions better than she did back in the day, back when she was a fuze waiting to be broken. Harry Potter had shown his temper at everyone and everything then. 

“But a good shinobi shouldn't be like this!” Sasuke finally snapped. Hari’s full focus finally fell on him, lowering the apple in her hands until she was keeping those big green eyes on him. Inside, he was glad that he snapped, but a small part of him was fearful too. He knew that he was an anchor in her life these past few days. He had broken her things and dragged the days on past its twenty-four hours as she had to tread with caution around this ticking bomb. He wanted her to feel just as much outrage as he did. 

She had only shown tiredness and acceptance the entire time he had been with her. Hanasaki Hari was still holding back from him, keeping him from the real her. He was scared, yes, but he was still as smart as he was a week ago. 

“Do you think that being a shinobi doesn’t make you human?” she suddenly asked. The question stunned him like a spell. “You think that by having a forehead protector you’re not allowed the same rights to your emotions as everyone else?” 

“But — !” His eyebrows furrowed. What was she trying to say? The words that slipped from her lips contradicted everything that they had taught them in the Academy. Ninjas do not show emotions. Ninjas should not be weak. They were obedient. She should know this. She was on track to graduate early. 

What she was saying was almost  — 

Treason. 

“Taking away your emotions…” 

This cookie-cutter kunoichi…  

“Doesn’t benefit anyone but the government. You are not a tool for them to use. Why would you damage yourself because someone else wants you to?”    

Was suddenly on a different path than everyone else. 

This was the thing that he would never understand. 

“Hari.” A voice suddenly appeared before them. Sasuke jumped in his seat, tense like a cat at the sudden intrusion. “What are you doing out of class?” 

This question was spoken like a statement, cutting across the air like a sword. 

The two of them whirled around, moving so fast that the wind whistled in their ear. 

Sasuke’s eyes widened when he got his first taste of Hari’s older brother. The man who was on the same level as Itachi. The shinobi who they called Rin of the Green Flames. 

The sun shined far above him, the rays of light surrounded him in a halo like the god he was in his own eyes. 

“N-Nii-san…!” Sasuke’s voice was breathy as he steadily got up on his two feet to greet the man in front of him. 

For some reason, he couldn’t help but think —  

“Stop,” he spoke to him like he was a dog. “Don’t call me that.” His face did not show malice, anger, or ill intent. He only stared at Sasuke as if he was a bug in his path. The last Uchiha stopped in his tracks, one foot in front of the other. 

“W-What?” 

“If you do that people will assume that I am your older brother.” Hari sat silent in the background. 

That Hanasaki Rin’s eyes were even crueler than Itachi’s on that day.  

Red eyes shimmered in the sunlight. 

“And I am not your brother.” 

Chapter Text

“Team Five. Uchiha Seiko. Hanasaki Rin. Inuzuka Takashi.”

He was declared the new Uchiha clan head. 

There was something unspeakable in Sasuke’s eyes when the Hokage had told them that, easily handing Rin the scrolls, the official hanko, and the keys to the compound. It was expected that Sasuke had grown wary of the teenager in front of him, barely meeting the figure of the young man, but the sight of the keys in the hands of Hanasaki Rin burned him like an eclipse.
As the oldest and the most decorated out of the three of them, the title of Uchiha clan head would be his until Sasuke became a Genin. 

That meant that they were not allowed to hold the mass funeral without Rin, nor was Sasuke able to go back to his own house to collect his stuff until Rin was there with him. 

Rin took Sasuke’s family away from him in more ways than one. 

He had come back from a week-long mission and that very same night was fraught with enough tension that it overshadowed all of the stars in the sky. 

The very next day, Sasuke came home. 

The Uchiha compound was confined within a layer of caution tape and warning signs, wrapped up as if it was presented to them like a gift. 

It was the fumes of bleach and chemicals that hit them first. Hari reached a hand up to her nose, grimacing before she exhaled the harsh scent from her body. Caution tape and boundary lines crumpled in Rin’s hands as they fell upon them. No words were traded between them when they all set to work with amazing swiftness. Some perishable foods were thrown, others were donated. Potted plants were thrown in the center, turning molehills into mountains. Trash was bagged and left in front of every house for the Genin to come by and pick up later. 

Caution tape. Food. Plants. Trash. 

Books. 

Iwari-san from the dango shop liked cookbooks. 

Mari-san from down the street liked romance. 

Just like how one household had too much natto for Hari’s comfort, and a boy from several houses down liked elephants. 

All of the deceased had placed signs in their homes to tell her that they still wanted to keep on living. 

She felt the weight of an abundance of ghosts leaning on her. 

Sasuke had been lingering in his house for too long, so silent that the ringing in Hari’s ear became the center of her senses. He needed this, she thought, conjuring images of a boy in front of a tall mirror. Erised was written across the glass. He needed the space, silence, and the memories that the Hanasaki siblings could never give him. She cast a Homenum revelio, seeking for the presence similar to her own and followed the path like a yellow brick road. 

She was taken to a small, square house that had flowers living along the veranda and that faced the center of the compound. She slipped easily through the ajar door, not even letting the creaks along the hardwood speak. It was easy to see where he was. Rin was a beacon in this small house, head bowed, nearly hitting the door frames with his height, standing like a giant in a small room. 

“Rin?” she tentatively asked out in the air. 

He didn’t respond, but she knew he had heard her. She crept closer, little cat steps carrying her along. 

“Rin?” she said again. 

Up ahead of her, his figure remained still, but a letter in his hand appeared like the sun peeking over the horizon. 

Hey Rin! 

We haven’t talked in a while, but I know your fifteenth is coming up. Sorry I forgot some of your previous ones, but I’ve been busy. 

I guess you were too. 

I miss you and Takashi. 

A drawer was full of them, all open letters, spread out. 

Three years ago: 

I activated my Sharingan.  

Two years ago —  

Takashi managed to take over the Inuzuka veterinary clinic. You should visit him. 

One year. 

Happy birthday! I’m sorry I’ve forgotten… 

Multiple letters addressed to him, small gifts and trinkets were strewn throughout. Books, calligraphy. All the things she knew Rin would enjoy. The solemn air was heavier now, hanging upon their necks. Fluttering paper echoed throughout the room as loud as a gong, as melodious as the sound of a running stream. Her head lifted up and met with the side of his face. In his hands now was the framed photo of his Genin team. Seiko had kept it above her bedside. 

Hari watched her brother silently. 

“That idiot,” he finally said, softly. 

The photo is placed back on her nightstand with a soft click of wood against wood. Hari barely recognized it when Rin walked out of the room.

That night, Hari went to bed, eyes watching the new photo set upon Rin’s shelf. 

Shikaku-san. Her brother. Uchiha Seiko. Inuzuka Takashi.

When they walked back to their home from the Uchiha compound, Sasuke lingered behind them, silently in step as the two siblings in front of him walked shoulder-to-shoulder on the street. In the night, far away from the village’s centre, there was no sound around for miles. In all of their arms were boxes of Sasuke’s belongings, but he did not feel the act of charity settled well with Rin. 

Hari gently talked about hot pot, something she said was Rin’s favorite while he nodded along to her words. They recalled his favorite add-ins together, reciting it like a song Sasuke didn’t know. 

He couldn’t wrap his head around their relationship. He watched them whispered together, so slow and low and it appeared as if they were hissing from one to the other. The look in their eyes was not of Sasuke and Itachi. Hari did not treat Rin like an older brother, no adoration or reliance in her actions. Rin treated her almost like she was an equal. 

The Uchiha looked at the way they stared at each other and never caught a glimpse of the former love Itachi pretended he had for Sasuke, the shared warmth. 

When these two looked at each other, they appeared to be partners, scheming together — two criminals planning a heist. 

He concluded then, they did not love each other. 

Sasuke’s eyes fell forward and he watched as Rin held out a single finger, beckoning Hari closer. He leaned down to her height while she tip-toed up for her ear to barely brush by his lips. There was trust in their actions, but no fondness. His whisper was so quiet, Sasuke couldn’t make out Rin’s words. 

“ You...feel it too, don’t you? ”  

They were no Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke. They were not who he once was.

Hari’s eyes became wide open the moment she sensed Sasuke’s chakra drop into a slow, rhythmic lull. She adjusted to the darkness, making her sight jump from corner to corner of her room. The futon across from hers was folded neatly and empty. The trunk in the middle of their room was left wide open. Light streamed from it in a gentle glow. 

Sighing deeply from the lingering sleep, she gently pushed herself out of her futon. 

Sasuke had long evacuated Hari and Rin’s shared room — retreating from all the progress Hari gently guided him through. Hari admitted that she wasn’t happy about the arrangement either, but Rin’s offensive toward Sasuke soured her thoughts. She pulled a face but continued onward anyway. 

She carefully placed one foot into the open trunk, followed by the other, and again until she sunk completely past the leather. One arm stretched out, shutting the lid of the trunk after her. 

Here was a relic of their past. 

She made it to the bottom of the stairs and was greeted by the image of Rin standing in the middle of the room, appearing leisurely as he leaned on one leg, arms crossed. Hari had conjured up an extra room here, a potion set complete with a cauldron and a shelf of jarred ingredients that Rin had collected for her throughout the years as he went on his missions. His figure was illuminated by a pale blue, cast like moonlight in water. Large piles of scrolls and books surrounded him here, placed on top of sparse wooden tables and the spare bed they had in the corner. 

It resembled the dungeons in here, dark and cold with vials and notes strewn around like a mad scientist’s laboratory. He had taken to sleeping in here, she assumed, and she was sure he wouldn’t have a single issue. It was too similar to the potions classrooms, overflowing with the nostalgia of the Slytherin common rooms. 

In front of him was the dangling body of a masked man. Arms outstretched, body petrified, he laid on his back in midair, eyes unseeing and head lolling back to meet with Rin’s. 

A spell to petrify. One to temporarily rob sight, hearing, and touch. One to display his body to them like an animal on a dissection table. 

“You did a good job with the charms.” His head did not turn to greet her, instead he kept his gaze forward. There was no hint of a compliment in his tone, he spoke it as a fact. 

Her hand slowly slid off the stair’s railing; one foot remained forward, frozen. “...You’re the one who captured him first.” She sighed deeply and walked over to his side, looking up at him to see his face. She was nearly half his size, barely past his bicep and he was still growing. She turned to look at the man. A small hand reached out, fingers grazing the mask before snatching it off him. 

It was a man they didn’t recognize. 

Nondescript brown hair, dark eyes, overly pale skin as if he hadn’t seen the sun in years. His veins were a dark blue against his transparent skin.  

“ANBU?” she exhaled. Had the Hokage sent someone to constantly track them?  

“No.” He tilted his head, a hand coming up to his chin in thought. “If it were ANBU, I would know. For my exam I memorized every member’s chakra signature and found matches for all of them throughout the month.” His eyes narrowed. “I do not recognize this man.” 

She felt a headache coming up, but knew better than to voice that weakness of hers right now. Hari didn’t put a hand up to her temple or the bridge of her nose, but sighed deeply and closed her eyes to keep the creeping pain at bay. 

This was more trouble than she bargained for. She tried so hard up until now to live an average life, and the Hokage threw her plans under and crushed them mercilessly. Being tracked by foreign nin was not part of her plans. 

“The mask is different as well.” He nodded toward the mask in her hands, and both of their eyes fell upon the sleek surface and the animal pattern. “ANBU masks are made out of dry lacquer and clay. This is wood and paper.” 

“Understood,” she whispered, eyes down, turning the mask over and over in her hands. “Is it the masked man from that night then?” 

“What do you think?” He turned fully to her then, and she felt the weight of his gaze on her. 

Encouraging critical thinking. He wanted to test her skills. 

“My intuition says no.” She threw the mask to the side, listening with half an ear as it skid across the room to a stop at the foot of the bed. “If it were the masked man from that night, he would’ve been harder to catch. We barely had to sweat for him.” She gave a nod toward the captured shinobi. Rin had disabled him first, shunshin-ing behind him and delivering a sharp chop to his neck as Hari swooped in and petrified him with charms. “The masked man was also able to disable the genjutsu we have around the house, but not the charms and the runes. This man’s skills are not comparable to his.” 

After a heavy silence, she continued on. “Do you seriously think that it was really Uchiha Itachi that killed his entire clan?” She had never personally met him, but the story seemed to be strung up on thin string. As Rin opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off again. “You’ve met him during missions before. What was he like?” 

Rin shrugged carelessly. “What you would expect from a genius. Quiet. Polite.” 

She quirked an eyebrow at her brother. “No murderous tendencies?” 

He responded with a wiry smile. “No murderous tendencies.” 

So just like how he was, echoed in both of their minds. 

“Uchiha was strong.” He glanced down to pluck a piece of lint off his clothes. Rin still had the post-mission appearance: ruffled clothes, eyebags, windswept hair. It was so subtle on him that normally no one would be able to tell the difference, but Hari had committed this image to heart. She knew him. “But the Uchiha clan held several dozen families and was the fourth biggest clan in all of Konoha. More than a handful were retired shinobi and kunoichi, active Jounins and ANBU.” The shadows on his face were amplified by the pale blue light. “The Uchihas were like cockroaches. They would not have gone down quietly.” The power in his voice fell. “No matter how strong Uchiha Itachi is.” 

“You think the Masked Man helped him and Itachi just took the credit.” 

He didn’t answer, but she knew his silent agreement. If the Hokage’s words were true, then Sasuke and the Hanasakis really were the last drops of Uchiha blood left. There were several handfuls of half-Uchihas and other quarter-Uchihas similar to they were, and they were all hunted down that night. The Masked Man’s linger only gave them the answers they wanted. 

"And who attacked you?" He raised his eyebrow at her, surprised that she knew when he came back home without going to the hospital and was not bandaged in any way. "I saw on the grandfather clock," she immediately said afterwards. 

"I'm not sure," he said honestly, but there was not a dose of regret or confusion in his voice. He said it as if he was saying the date on the calendar. Rin ignored her as his little sister gaped at him. "I was first attacked by a henge of Uchiha Itachi, but after I dispelled it...it was a white naked man." 

"Excuse me?" 

"His skin was completely white and his hair was green...when I cut him, he didn't bleed. It was like I was fighting against clay." Rin sounded just as frustrated as she was, eyebrows knit and lips turned into a small frown. 

"An earth jutsu?" she urged, pressing onward. 

"That's what I thought too. I was under the impression it was an earth clone." He shook his head. This irritated him like no other, she was sure. Rin had spent a majority of their childhood studying, bent over books and scrolls to commit almost every jutsu available to memory. A jutsu that he didn't know surely got underneath his skin. "No, earth jutsus embed the material with their chakra and when you remove it from the source, the earth goes back to normal. This was a material I am not familiar with." His frown deepened. "When I cut off a piece of him, he regrew it immediately. He fled a little while later by melting through the ground and I kept the sample with me to study." No words were traded even though the message sent between them was clear. You idiot, her narrowed eyes seemed to say. Rin pretended as if the comment didn't irritate him. "It took me a while to realize that he was able to locate me so quickly because the sample was still active. I was able to outsmart him eventually by tying the sample to one of my eagles and when he appeared I incinerated him." 

"Did he say why he was attacking you?" A mystery attacker was what she should've expected. The Hokage hinted at it, but she didn't expect for it to come so soon, on Rin's first mission after the Massacre nonetheless. 

"No...however he stated that he was going to 'finish the job.' I can only assume he is working under Itachi or the Masked Man." He turned to fully face her. "Tomorrow, enforce the charms around the house." He didn't wait to see a nod from her before he turned. 

“Wait! So...where is he from?” she nodded toward the prisoner. 

“He could be from anywhere. Those after the last members of the Uchiha clan range from cults, mercenaries, human traffickers. You should expect to have many more attacks come.” 

Wide green eyes blazed bright. Hari didn't even consider for a second that her own head was in danger. “Sasuke. They’re after his bloodline.” 

Something flashed in Rin’s eyes, but she didn’t comment. 

“I’m going to protect him.” And I’m not going to listen if you try to stop me, went unsaid, but rang loud and clear. Not like last time. Rin didn’t protest. Eventually, after a frigid silence between them, she exhaled deeply. He didn’t excuse her. Their relationship was past that of forced manners and pleasantries, but she knew it when he wanted something from her. “So what do you want me to do next?” 

He gestured to the man with a grand flick of his hand. “If you please,” he said, his voice almost mocking. 

Green eyes flashed with recognition. 

Her eyebrows furrowed, but she complied anyway. She placed a hand on the man’s forehead and Rin slowly placed his larger, colder one on top of hers. His grip tightened, for a second she wondered if he was trying to hold it. Her head snapped up, but Rin wasn’t paying attention to her any longer. Instead, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and held her focus. 

“Legilimens.”

“Sasuke!” She called out, voice muffled from the papers she held between her teeth and feet thundering down the stairs. The boy perked up slowly, turning toward the gaping door in front of his new place of residence with a hand tightly wound around the strap of his bag. He looked at her warily, on guard after Rin’s words several days ago. She caught up to him, slamming her feet into two sandals laid out in front of the genkan and raced out of her house and down the front steps. An arm thrust out and he easily completed the movement, catching the wrapped bento that was in one of her hands, freeing her hand long enough for her to snatch her homework from between her teeth. She tilted her head as her chest heaved up and down. His shoes were on and his school bag was already slung over his shoulder. “Were you about to go to the Academy without me?” 

Pale cheeks immediately burst with a bright pink color. His head snapped to the left, averting her eyes. 

“N-No...I…” 

“I’m sorry,” she said, cutting off any excuse he could have planned. 

“H-Huh?” With the look he was giving her, one would’ve thought that she said something fantastical, extraordinary. 

“I’m sorry about Rin.” She never called him nii-san or aniki. “A lot of people say that he’s polite and charming, but he’s a bit of an ass in real life. But still...what he said to you was unforgivable.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. A part of her was happy he was focused on her brother rather than his own. “I should’ve warned you about him.” 

The boy in front of her seemed to grow smaller if possible. He hunched his shoulders and pointed his shoes inward, eyes downcast as his bangs hid his expression. 

“I’m not going to lie to you though.” She said, bringing him out of the heavy pit of his thoughts. “Rin’s not someone you get along with easily.” Her frown was deep, with eyes as firm as steel. Sasuke knew that she wasn’t telling him this just to challenge him. Give up, don’t try, she seemed to tell him. 

“So what…” Patterns were drawn in the dirt with the tip of his sandal. “So what do you want me to do?” 

“You can do whatever you want,” she said easily, tucking her papers into her messenger bag by her side. “I just thought I’d tell you because honestly, you’re better than his words. I don’t want him to weigh you down unnecessarily.” She fixed her sandal and zipped up the sides. “Don’t take it personally, okay? I’m not sure he even likes anything.” 

The two of them were able to fall into a slow stride to the Academy together. Sasuke kept his eyes down on the bento between his hands. Hari liked different colored wraps for her bentos, different from his mom’s tame greens, tans, and yellows. Hari liked deep reds, dark greens, soothing blacks with floral patterns, but there had been a recent rise in cutesy animal patterns in the cabinet where she kept them. 

“He likes you,” he mumbled softly. 

The girl beside him let out a loud, bark-like laugh, almost startling him. “Does he?” she asked, amusement in his voice. Instead of answering, Sasuke had only turned pinker and chose to hide behind his high collar. Several steps ahead, he had gotten so close to her that his shoulder nearly brushed with hers if it weren’t for their difference in height. 

The Academy was coming overhead again and she turned to him once more. 

“Hey, Sasuke.” 

“Yes...Nee-san?” he said quietly. 

“I know what I said about Rin.” They stopped in front of his classroom once more. “But I was serious when I said I wasn’t going anywhere. You believe me, don’t you?” 

The door stood between them, containing the sounds that were held behind it. 

“I…” He turned his eyes to the ground. “I do.” 

A small smile appeared on her lips. 

“Do you want to eat lunch together?” she suddenly asked. 

“Yes!” He caught himself after his burst, but Hari appeared to not notice it when the bell rang over his words.  Her head inclined up at the sound, and she soon turned, waving at him then dashing off to make it to her own class. His head dropped down until all he could see was the weathered wood floor again. “...Nee-san.”

“Sasuke-kun, do you want to eat lunch with me? I prepared cookies for both of us!” 

“No, Sasuke-kun is going to be eating with me, right?” 

“Move over, Ino-pig!” 

“Your billboard brow is taking up all the space though!” 

Sasuke’s shoulders tensed as this commotion rose around him again, squaring against his small frame. Despite their initial hesitation at the beginning of the day — looking at him as if he was going to break any second, watching him with wide eyes like he was going to have another breakdown — they were back to hoarding him like bees, fluttering around him like hummingbirds. He felt eyes on him among this chaos, and when he turned his head for the briefest second, he saw the laziest person in class stare down at him from his seat. The Akimichi beside him was glancing at the two of them worriedly while the Dead Last in class stared at him with worry. 

He felt pressure build in his chest again at this attention, his breaths coming out shallow and quick, but then the door slid open and she was there. The feeling caged in his ribs suddenly felt light enough for him to take flight. She remained rooted at the door frame, hands to her side. 

She scanned the room, but brightened when she saw him. “Sasuke! Are you hungry?” The smile she sent him elevated the rising heat in his body. 

He nodded quickly and grabbed his bento before rushing to her side, sliding his hand into her outstretched one. 

“Hm!” one of the girls called out, furiously placing her hands on her hips as she glared at Hari. “Who do you think you are, talking to our Sasuke-kun so casually?!” Sasuke tried his best to hide his flinch at the sound, shuffling so that he stood in front of Hari instead of sliding closer to her side, blocking her view from the younger girl. Hari sent a small smile down at him, he was trying to protect her then? The Gryffindor sympathized with him, her head caught up in flashes of blond boys with cameras and girls with fiery hair, and she guessed that fans were the same no matter where she was. 

She hadn’t even realized that the interrogation on her increased until the boy in front of her snapped out a, “Leave us alone!” 

A poke in his cheek silenced him, and the boy almost sputtered in response. “It’s okay, Sasuke. Be nice to your classmates.” He looked ready to protest, but her smile easily disarmed him. Her head inclined toward the door and he quickly nodded, ready to get out of there. 

They barely made it out of the door when the unnamed girl tried again. 

“Hm! I was talking to you, you know!” 

“I’m sorry.” Hari’s words cut through the air, creating a hush around the classroom. “Do I know who you are?” she asked, looking down at Sasuke again. “Sasuke, do you know who she is?” 

He paused for a second, ripping his gaze away from the crestfallen girl and looking up at Hari. “No.” 

Hari barely concealed the smirk on her lips. “Then I guess you shouldn’t be bothering us with this, hm?”

Even before the Massacre, he ate alone and the loneliness was never something he minded until now. Hari’s presence was unexpected, but not one that he turned away. The presences that did bother him were the ones that trailed behind him now, pretending as if they were casually going in the same direction he was. The boys in his class went in a line, with the Nara up in front, Akimichi behind him with a chip bag in his hand, Dead Last hurriedly catching up, Aburame slowly trailing, and Inuzuka behind them with his hands behind his head. In the background, he can see flashes of long hair as the girls tried to hide. Undoubtedly they were attracting attention, but Hari went on as if she didn’t notice any of them. 

Sasuke’s anger bubbled inside him again, creeping up on him slowly as he became aware of every sound that surrounded him. Before he could bark out another sentence at the growing caterpillar of people behind him, Hari placed a hand on his shoulder. The door to the roof was already wide open, cascading bright light and soft wind into the hallway. When he glanced at her, he could barely see the features of her face. 

“Hello, Shikamaru-kun,” she said instead, immediately silencing the Uchiha. Sasuke gaped, his head turning from the lazy boy to Hari. Nara easily reclined on one leg and for a second he moved so slowly that Sasuke wondered if he had heard what she said. 

“Hi, Hari,” he finally exhaled.  

She just smiled and turned to the other boy. “Hello, Choji-kun.” 

“Hiya, Hari-chan,” the boy nervously said as he munched on his snacks. His eyes were nearly closed, but even Sasuke could catch his gaze go from Hari to him and back again.  

She gave a short bow to the growing crowd. “Thank you, everyone, for checking up on Sasuke — “ He wanted to shout that he didn’t need anyone to worry over him. “  — but we would like to eat lunch alone — “ Her grip clamped down on Sasuke’s shoulder, and he even accepted it, ready to turn away from this crew. 

 “Hari,” Shikamaru interrupted, cutting her off. In the background, the growing crowd of people dispersed. “My family heard about what happened. My mom wants to check up on you and Rin.” He scratched the back of his hand before dropping it. “Troublesome,” he sighed. “She wants to have you guys for dinner sometime.” 

“Really?” Her eyes flashed. “When?” 

“She said as soon as possible so...if you say okay she can get ready tonight.” 

“With Rin too?” 

“Yeah…” His tone suddenly became crystal clear, rising out of that slow drawl he permanently had in his voice. “Though if Rin is busy, my mom wouldn’t kick up too much of a fuss — “ His body had straightened up, thinking of the man she lived with. 

“No,” she said. “That sounds perfect. Rin will be there. Sasuke and I will be there around five. Will that be okay?” It was hard to hide the devious smirk on Hari’s face, the sudden flash of mischief in his eyes. Sasuke wondered for a second if he was looking at the same person, trying to see if she was suddenly replaced with a kleptomaniac in a room full of gold.  

His eyes were searching her up and down before he eventually nodded and Sasuke narrowed his eyes, trying to catch what Shikamaru was looking for, what he was up to. He left with a soft, “C’mon, Choji,” and the two boys turned without looking back. 

Another soft, “Later, Hari-chan,” escaped Akimichi’s mouth and she returned it with a wave. 

Soon it was just the two of them, and Hari quickly ushered them out to the roof to quickly finish their meals before their break was over. As Sasuke walked out the door, it was hard to deny the flash of orange he saw.

After class let out, they came back home, dropped off their stuff, and quickly finished their homework at the dining table. At 1600, Sasuke put his pencil down with a sigh, cracking some of the bones around his shoulder and back through some languid stretches as if he was a cat out in the sun and was immediately herded out the door by Hari. 

With one sandal barely on and the other in his hand, he hopped around in his spot to see the older girl hurriedly writing a note as she ushered the two of them outside. Rin’s clock hand still pointed toward HOKAGE TOWER and hadn’t shown any signs of moving in the couple hours they were home. By the number of underlines in Hari’s note and the forceful way she slammed the piece of paper on the door, it was clear that she wasn’t giving the man any space to argue with her. 

“Nee-san…” he finally spoke up after he realized they were going to the village center instead of the Nara compound. Comfortable silence had filled the space between them and he almost felt bad for ruining it. “How do you know Shikamaru?” 

“Hm?” slipped out of her lips as she turned to him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I keep on assuming that people just know.” She shrugged. “Shikamaru’s dad was Rin’s Jounin sensei.” 

“Huh?” Sasuke was sure that his look of incredulousness was almost comical, something he fixed as quickly as it came. It was hard to imagine that someone as unmotivated as the Nara clan had a hand in tending Rin to the powerhouse of a shinobi that he was now. 

“So I practically knew Shikamaru ever since we were in diapers,” she continued on, pausing to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I lost my mom in the Kyuubi Attack, so Rin had to take me basically everywhere with him. When he went on missions Shikamaru’s mom took care of me.” 

He went silent at that. The Kyuubi Attack was something that still soured everyone despite the fact that its seventh anniversary about to come around the corner. Everyone spoke about the tale like a scary story parents told children to get them to behave. If you don't listen well, the Nine-Tails is going to come and be sealed inside you. Just like how the Fourth Hokage sealed the demon inside an unknown baby that was born on that day. Those words rang heavy in their mouths. Hari believed that it was the seriousness of the situation that caused her newly appointed cousin to go quiet, but he was weighed down by something else. 

His mom had told him that Itachi was the one who saved him during the Attack. Itachi was the one who carried him to the shelters and was the one who shielded him from external dangers on that day. 

“Though…” Hari didn’t know what compelled her to speak. “That makes it sound like Shikamaru and I are really close. We were both really young when it happened, so it’s not like we have a lot of bonding experiences. And after what Rin did we kind of just lost touch with the Nara family.” 

“What did Rin do?” Sasuke pushed the memories of his brother to the back of his mind eagerly accepting this news. 

“In here,” Hari cut off, pointing her thumb to a wagashi shop. She turned into the small store with the boy quickly catching up to her strides. “Do you have a favorite, Sasuke?” 

“I don’t like sweets,” he immediately said, face automatically puffing up into a pout. Hari managed to hide her relieved expression after she was successfully able to change the course of the conversation. “Why are we getting desserts when we’re going to eat at the Nara’s later?” 

“It’s polite to get a gift for someone if you’re going to their house, Sasuke.” For a second he almost thought that she was chastising him, but he caught the edge of her smile like the flash of a knife and smoothed his face from his childish expression. “Do you have a dessert that you hate the least then?” 

He kept his small arms crossed. “...Anything but dango.” 

A soft hum escaped her lips and she caught the attention of the worker, sending them an easy smile. She scanned the wide variety of the desserts from the window they were kept behind and straightened herself up after a short minute. 

“The imagawayaki, please.” She tapped her finger on the glass, hovering over the fried dough. 

“Coming right up!” the worker nodded to her. 

“I know someone else in your class,” Hari started off as she fished for her wallet and the village’s hanko. Despite the Hokage’s underhanded methods, he truly did mean that they would never have to think about finances again. Ever since that day, Hari and Rin never had to pay for their own groceries. The stamp in her hand was proof of that. 

Sasuke almost recoiled when she said that. “...Who.” 

“Uzumaki Naruto,” she said easily as she was handed the plastic bag of her sweets and placed a sturdy stamp on the paper handed to her. 

It was when she said his name that she got the first animated reaction out of him, almost as if he jumped to life. His collar seized, rising up above his nostrils as his shoulders raised like a cat about to attack. 

“Dead Last?” he nearly shouted as they exited the store. 

“That’s not very nice,” she said, giving him a weary smile. They both turned towards the path to the Nara compound. 

“Tch — ! It’s just — ! He’s so… How does someone like you know someone like him ?” This was the least composed she had ever seen Sasuke, and she was sure that she was going to drag this on for as long as possible. Perhaps this was the spark that ignited in Fred and George every time they saw Ron, the instinct to see their younger sibling squirm. She wondered why Naruto would get such a reaction. 

 The spikes of hair on the back of his head rose like the fur of an indignant kitten. 

“Rin doesn’t like going to the orphanage, so I would go.” No matter where they were, it seemed as if Wool’s Orphanage appeared in several different reincarnations all around them. “Whenever I picked up our monthly allowance, he was there.” She took a sharp turn to the left. “I like Naruto,” she spoke it as nothing else but raw fact and she ignored the look on Sasuke’s face that made it appear as if she had sprouted another head or told him that she was kicking him out of the house. “He’s usually alone...isn’t he?” 

Sasuke clicked his tongue again and crossed his arms. “He keeps on saying that he’s going to be Hokage, but he has the worst grades in class and he’s always pulling pranks,” as if this had answered her question.  

“Can I ask why that bothers you so much?” 

The dots didn’t connect. Hari equated Sasuke to a weird mix of Hermione and Draco in school. Hermione had a habit of looking down on people who didn’t take schooling seriously and Draco just looked down on any lowly activity that she and her band of misfits took to. Then again, they were the two smartest people in her year. 

“It just — How can it not?! He talks big for an idiot and attempts to challenge me every chance he gets, but we all know he’s going to lose. Every word he says is dumb.” Nose in the air, he fixed his voice until it sounded comically nasally and high pitched, “‘I’ll never lose!!’” He scoffed. “ Like that,” Sasuke stated, giving her a flat look. Enough about him, he huffed. “Why do you like him?” 

“I like the underdog,” she said simply. Sun started to shine bright rays downward, lowering in the sky and appearing golden through the leaves that hung high above them. “I think he has a good heart.” 

And that was the only thing Harry Potter ever cared about in his first life. 

“Tch. Whatever.” Lame, she was sure he was thinking in his head, yet he inched closer to her as if he was waiting for the orange menace to jump from any corner and snatch her as soon as he blinks.  

“...You never answered my question though.” 

“Huh?” He hated how much he was saying that now. How Hari and Rin kept on catching him off guard. 

“You’re observant. I even noticed your high grades in Observation and Reconnaissance. Do you know anything else about him?” 

He didn’t know why they were still on this topic, but he guessed that the praise at the end of the sentence was manipulation. They taught that in class, but even he found himself eating it up. “I guess,” he bit out. “The civilians are mean to him. They call him ‘demon’ every time they see him and throw him out of stores and stuff.” His face lowered further in his collar and he slouched. “...My mom never minded him,” he said almost as an afterthought. Sasuke himself didn’t know why he was sharing this, the soft looks his mom always gave the lonesome boy by the swing. 

“...His birthday is October tenth,” Hari eventually said. “The anniversary of my mom’s death.” 

Silence. 

It clicked. 

He gasped softly and turned his head to the girl beside him, looking up at her almost proud expression. Something like this —  

“...What?” his voice came out no louder than a whisper. 

“It’s an S-rank secret.” She shrugged. “I only know it because Rin told me when I asked. But I didn’t tell you — you figured it out yourself.” Her smile curled at this, as if she was patting herself on the back for finding the loophole.

“Does he — does the dope know this?” The idiot smiles as if there was no end to his days, Sasuke believed, there was no way he could’ve known. The village was hiding this from him but not the adults. 

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied. 

“You — Why did you tell me this though?” his voice came out raspy. If it really was S-rank, expulsion and prison time would be the least of Hari’s worries if anyone found out. 

“I guess I just wanted to know how you would react. Does this change anything about him?” The way she looked at him — green eyes calculating, smile flattened into a thin line. She was trying to test him somehow. 

He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked the other way. Away from the cold, hard look she might’ve sent him. He scoffed again, swinging his leg so hard that it kicked up a dust cloud. “Tch. No. He’s still the same usuratonkachi .” 

Tension melted from Hari’s shoulders, giving him a pat on the head and smiled even when he tensed up. “You’re a good kid, Sasuke.” 

“I know Sasuke,” that voice rang in his head. “He will always be a pure person.”  

He rolled his eyes but didn’t push Hari away. Faint pink had streaked across his cheeks. “Whatever.”

“Hari-chan!” Yoshino gasped. “Look at you! You’re so tall! You know you used to be small enough for me to carry you and Shikmaru in my arms at the same time.” Cold hands clasped her cheeks and squished them together, making her appear like a fish in a tank. 

“H-Hello, Yoshino-san. R-Rin’s at the Hokage Tower, but he’s coming after.” Her voice came out muffled and Sasuke intelligently hung back where the door was. She liked to think that he was entertaining the thought of bolting right there, seeing how she was completely in the mercy of this woman.  

“Yoshino-obasan!” the woman snapped with a bit more force than necessary. When she released Hari’s face, her cheeks came out red. “Seriously, kids these days, don’t you remember how I practically raised you?” Her hardness melted when she got a good look at her face again. “Oh, but you’re still so cute. You and your brother both — “  

A loud yawn cut her off. “Geez, woman, are you trying to smother her?” Hari turned to see Shikamaru pad into the house from the engawa. 

“Say that again, young man. I dare you .” 

Shikamaru immediately pulled a look that just screamed fight or flight. 

“Hello, Shikaku-san.” Hari bowed politely when the man came into view, coming down from the stairs. She held out her box to him. “I brought wagashi as thanks for inviting me over.” 

In the background, she could feel the two schoolboys nod to each other in recognition. 

He gently took the box out of her hands. “Thank you, Hari.” After a pause, he finally said, “It’s good to see you again.” 

They both politely ignored the fact that the last time they had seen each other was when the Hokage forced them to take Sasuke in. 

“In my opinion, you don’t come by enough,” Yoshino spoke up from behind her. Brown eyes went to the silent boy at her door. “And welcome into our humble home, Uchiha-kun. Thank you for accepting our invitation.” As slow as a snail, Sasuke nodded and finally took off his shoes completely. She took the box from her husband and carefully placed it on the kitchen counter. 

“Do you need any help?” Hari asked, taking one step closer until the woman practically pushed her away. 

“Not at all! I invited you over, so you can play with Shikamaru until I call you for dinner.” Sasuke followed her as the woman shoved her into the backyard where her son and Choji were waiting for her on a soft patch of grass in the forest. 

Sasuke tried his best to hide his flinch when Yoshino slammed the sliding door closed behind them. 

Hari sighed and closed her eyes but opened them looking like a new, refreshed person. A gentle hand was placed on top of Sasuke’s shoulder and she gently led him to where Shikamaru and Choji were waiting. 

“Shikamaru, can I borrow some money?” the Akimichi easily asked, prodding the boy who was laying flat on his back and soaking up the sun like a plant. 

“Snacks again, Choji?” he drawled out, not bothering to open his eyes. Hari came up to them and plopped right by Shikamaru’s side, laying down and sprawling out her hair. Sasuke stood awkwardly off to the side, looking around and searching for something to do until Hari gestured for him to lay down too. 

Sasuke was like a robot winding down, doing every movement in awkward, slow gestures, bit-by-bit until he finally laid down next to Hari. 

“Do you need money, Choji?” she asked, pulling out her wallet and looking up at him. The boy blushed before he quickly tried to deny it. She laughed lightly. “I don’t mind,” she said as she pulled out several bills. 

“Troublesome girl,” Shikmaru said, gently elbowing her side from his spot. “Don’t you need to save money?” 

“It’s alright. I don’t care,” she said, blinking her large eyes at him, her tone as clear as day. “It’s Rin’s money.” 

“God…” He reached a hand up to ruffle his hair. “It’s like you're looking to antagonize him.” 

“Hm. He won’t do anything to me,” she said with soft confidence, turning her eyes up to the sky.  

The four of them lay like that in silence. 

She sounded so sure of it, but Shikamaru couldn’t help but suspect something wrong in her words.

“Rin-kun…!” Yoshino gently gasped when the tall teen appeared at her door. He smiled pleasantly at her, making his eyes sparkle into an apple-red when he looked at her. 

“Hello, Yoshino-san, Nara-san,” he said pointedly at the two adults. He bowed deeply. “Thank you so much for inviting Hari and I for dinner, and for taking care of my younger sister.” He rose slowly. “I brought wagashi.” 

Yoshino reached out and chatted easily about how it was no problem at all, and she wanted them to all be together again, as if they were a big family to start with. She told him that the kids were playing together outside, but since he was the big kid among them, he probably wouldn’t want to join them. Among her words and Rin’s nods, her voice trailed off as she opened the box. 

“Hm? Is there something wrong?” To Rin’s credit, he managed to look genuinely concerned about the state of the desserts. 

“It’s nothing at all.” Yoshino smiled up at him. “It’s just that you and Hari managed to get me the same thing!” She laughed and gestured to the kitchen where she carefully laid out the imagawayaki on a plate. 

“You two are siblings after all.” 

He only smiled in response.

“Cloud watching?” Sasuke repeated, trying to keep the tone of incredulousness from slipping out of his voice. He had to play it over in his head to confirm with himself. This is what his classmates did while he trained the day away. 

“Don’t knock it until you try it!” Choji rang from the other side of Shikamaru. After Hari managed to talk to him about his favorite subject he inched away from that shell he was in. “It’s no food-testing, but it’s pretty relaxing!” 

Hari sighed deeply. “I missed this,” she stated softly. She nudged Shikamaru and grunted. He opened up one eye to glare at her but she only sent him a smile and pointed to the largest cloud in the sky. “What do you think that one looks like?” 

“A bunny...!” Choji guessed. 

“A cumulus cloud,” Shikamaru said. 

“Haha,” Hari said without humor as she sent a playful glare toward the Nara. He tried his hardest, but even he couldn’t hide his smirk in the face of the girl. 

He didn’t know where she got the desire for this game from. When they were still young kids, he used cloud-watching as an excuse to nap, but Hari always pulled him out of his slumber to get him to guess the shapes of the clouds above. Her brain would conjure up the wildest creations. An animal that was half-eagle, half-horse. A crab that shot fire from its end. A nargle. Whatever that was, she never told him. Despite them not speaking for about five years, she still felt the need to continue the tradition, and he would be lying if he said he minded it. 

“What do you think, Sasuke?” 

The solemn Uchiha shrugged from beside her. 

“I don’t know.” 

Hari rolled over until she faced him and knew from the look in his face that he could’ve replaced that statement with an I don’t care . 

“Well, humor me?” she asked so earnestly that Shikmaru would be surprised if she didn’t give him puppy-dog eyes then and there. 

“...The top of a piece of broccoli,” he said carelessly. 

Hari and Choji playfully groaned and rolled their eyes at his response. 

“That’s lame!” the Akimichi said, and even though they couldn’t see his smile everyone could practically feel the large grin in his voice. 

“You need to have more creativity, Sasuke!” Hari urged. “Every good ninja needs creativity.” 

  “...A dinosaur from the side.” 

“Really!” Hari chimed in. “I think it looks like…” 

The rest of their hour went like that. The four of them bounced around ideas like a tennis match and Sasuke put in his two-cents whenever he was coaxed by Hari or whenever their ideas were so off that he had to share his thoughts. 

It didn’t take long for his eyelids to drop gradually, heavily. It weighed more and more as time went along, a dragged out pattern of up and down, until he finally fell into restful sleep. 

“Sasuke…?” Hari asked softly, turning to him only to find him slumbering. 

“ Finally ,” Shikamaru said, closing his eyes and settling into a better position to nap. 

No one said goodnight, but they all dropped into sleep like princesses under a spell. 

It was the first time Sasuke had a dreamless sleep. He woke up later recalling that this was the most well-rested he had been in a while.

He walked himself out to the engawa, overlooking the large forest that the Nara owned and the soft setting sun. The entire backyard was plunged in a deep orange and gold. He breathed in and out, taking in the scents of the different plants they had planted around them. 

Several minutes later, his former sensei came out, closing the sliding door again with a near quiet click. Rin didn’t bother to turn and greet his old teacher, and instead kept his eyes planted on the large expense in front of him. The sound of a lighter opening up played by his side, and he looked down to realize that Shikaku had offered it to him, a cigarette in his mouth. 

He laughed politely, artificially nervous and pushed the match back to the man and shook his head. “No thanks, I still don’t smoke.” 

He never did anything that could potentially harm his body in the long run. 

The man nodded and put it back in his pocket, and they stood like that, drenched in silence. Shikaku let out several quiet puffs of smoke every now and then, but they never said a word to each other. Rin noticed that he was the same height as the man now. The last time they really spoke, he was up to the man’s neck and he was still growing. 

“How are the funeral preparations coming along?” Shikaku suddenly asked. 

Rin blinked at the man in surprise. 

“Thank you for your concern. They’re going really well. The temple is handling a majority of the major processions, so I don’t need to sweat too hard over them.” He chuckled softly at this. “I was at the Hokage Tower today and I finished planning out most of the actual ceremony. I’m sure once the Hokage settles on a date, he will send out a notice to everyone so that the village can pay their respects.” 

Give a lot of minor details, withhold major specifics. 

“You’re working hard,” the Nara remarked. “Make sure you take it easy.” 

Rin laughed. “Always checking up on me. I’m thankful that I had a sensei like you — “ 

“I think…” he sighed and a large cloud of smoke came out. “We both knew that you never really saw me as your sensei.” 

“I’m forever grateful to the knowledge you gave me.” 

His smile was razor sharp now, but he didn’t do anything to deny or confirm the man’s words. 

“...I’m glad that you decided that that was the most valuable thing that came from your three-man-unit.” 

Something flickered in Rin’s eyes, bleached a pale peach in the light of the sunset. 

“Ah…” Rin knew this man’s game. He was waiting for this conversation to come up some time in his life. “ Shikaku-sensei, are you insinuating that I didn’t even care about you ?” 

His smile was something dangerous, eyes narrowed and so sharp he could cut with them. 

Shikaku wouldn’t say it aloud. Not now. 

Then it was gone, and he was replaced with another smiling handsome teen again. “Of course I’m just kidding. I care about — ” 

“You...you can just drop the act. She’s already dead.” His voice came out raspy, weathered by stone and sandpaper. He believed that his former student could at least give her some solstice in her rest. There was no need to have her chase him around in his game anymore. 

“...Excuse me?” For some reason, there was a spark in his words. “Hah...I don’t quite understand what you’re saying…” 

“What about Seiko?” Shikaku asked, quietly coughing into his fist, cutting him off. Do you miss her. Did you care when you got the news. Do you even remember who she was. If Rin spoke, lies would come from his forked tongue. Shikaku didn’t do it for the sake of himself. The topic moved quicker than the man’s shadow. “Did you finish the burial paperwork for her?” 

“...I’m not burying her.” 

“...Huh?” 

Of all things, Shikaku didn’t expect that. His mouth gaped open so much that his cigarette nearly dropped. 

“She said she wanted to be cremated. That’s what I’m going to do.” 

That was a fact from so long ago, so buried in their minds that even Shikaku nearly forgot. Let alone it be something that he thought Rin would remember. He took pleasure in the Jounin Commander’s undignified face, an emotion he didn’t even fabricate. 

Rin was mockingly coy, looking at Shikaku from behind his long, dark lashes. His smug expression was enough to make the older man feel annoyed. “Well, aren’t you a bad sensei for not remembering that. She said, ‘Cremate me and throw my remains on the day of the year’s strongest wind.’ So I’m going to do whatever she wanted.” To his surprise, Shikaku couldn’t catch any hint of a lie in the tail end of his words. 

All for her.

Their first C-rank ended in disaster. 

It had been only half a year since they had graduated, toiling between painting fences, repairing buildings destroyed in the war, doing installations for richer patrons. A bead of sweat dripped down Rin’s forehead after he had finished his side of the roof, wiping it off with a flick of his wrist before adjusting the baby sling he had across the back. The sun beat down on them and Hari had long since fallen asleep due to the heat, lolling her tiny head on the skin of his spine in her nap. If he was not Rin, maybe he would’ve fallen to the temptation too. He knew that Inuzuka had taken a nap a little while ago, curling on the roof with his puppy, Aomaru. Shikaku-sensei had caught them in their act and sighed before commanding them to do some of Seiko and Rin’s side of the roof as well, and Rin forced himself to smile in gratitude toward his new teammate while Seiko giggled to herself at Takashi’s pained expression, hands knotted through his brown hair. 

The mission was finally done, and the moment they left the Administration Building Rin had pulled out his ration book again, pen already in hand. 

It was always the ration book. 

The book came out like clockwork, always being ticked off seconds after they had received their pay for their meager D-rank. 

Seiko and Takashi shared looks at one another, not nearly as subtle as their sensei when they caught sight of that brown, bound paper. 

Later on, it wasn’t Rin who came to Shikaku to pester him for higher-ranked missions, but rather Seiko and Takashi were always up in his face, knowing that they came with a higher pay grade. It was not proud Rin, who silently worked away with his baby sister tagging along, but it was Uchiha Seiko who lived a comfortable life with her infamous craftsman grandparents. Nor was it Inuzuka Takashi, whose mother was the sister of the clan head and who received a large allowance every month for helping her at the veterinary clinic. 

The two put up airs, faking tantrums about catching cats and hating the fumes of paint and sawdust, but Shikaku silently knew what they were up to. 

They didn’t want higher-ranked missions for themselves, to keep them entertained, or to stuff their wallets a bit more. 

When Shikaku asked them for clarification, they only looked at him. Their mysterious third member. 

. . . 

It was a simple delivery mission. 

Rin held onto Hari for a few seconds too long before relinquishing his hold to Yoshino’s waiting arms. His gaze remained on Hari, then moved over to the woman who offered to look over his baby sister for the duration of the mission. He looked as if he was searching her soul, but then he turned without looking back. 

They were to deliver the scroll to a town on the outskirts of Hot Water village. The person they were to meet up with was a low-key subject. Hot Water had recently become a tourist destination with a declaration of peace, letting Shikaku breathe a bit easier. The mission was so slow that Shikaku was able to make multiple stops along the way, showing them sights and destinations that he found in his own childhood with Inoichi and Chōza. They were all kids who had never left the village before, all hidden from the front lines of the war in their earlier years, so he saw no harm in treating his team. 

He hadn’t picked up a Genin team in a while. His old team had already been all grown, greeting him whenever they passed him on the street, living their own lives away from him, giving him gifts when they heard the news that Yoshino was pregnant. They all perished in the Third Shinobi War.  

But his current team was still here — in front of him.  

Then Yugakure exploded into chaos. 

Rin, Seiko, and Takashi stood like statues as civilians screamed around them, scattering the busy marketplace like ants. Their bodies moved closer together on instinct, loosely creating the formation Shikaku taught them during their training sessions, but this wasn’t an improv show in Konoha’s training fields. Their chances of dying had just increased. 

Rin felt the blood in his body run cold, his sweat like ice. 

Shikaku immediately forced them to retreat, attempting to pull his genin team back from this situation that they were not responsible for. But as Takashi pulled on Rin’s arm and pulled him aside from the running crowds, his head whipped around, curtaining his face, and his eyes landed on a symbol drawn in blood in the ground. 

A triangle within a circle. 

A necklace on the chest of one of his prisoners. A symbol within a cursed ring. The image in his limbo. Even with the Elder Wand missing, there was no mistaking, forgetting what it was. 

The sound of fabric rubbing against fabric rang in Takashi’s ears and a shout slipped from the boy’s lips. Rin slipped out of Takashi and Seiko’s hold as quick as lighting, maneuvering past their outstretched fingers. 

“Rin!” Shikaku shouted, voice going raw. He showed no sign of listening to him, dashing forward with such speed that he almost tripped on his own two feet as he got away. 

He skid to a stop in front of the enemy shinobi, hair as white as paper and broad chest larger than two of him. His feet cut across the symbol drawn over the ground and the sound of metal meeting metal resounded in the air. 

For the first time in Rin’s two lives, he had never felt so small. So tiny that the enemy easily towered over him, the man’s Killer Intent creeping upon his body like water while his mind remained clear. 

He feels something bubbling within his chest, weighing him down heavier than the Kyuubi’s chakra, gripping at his muscles like ropes around his limbs. 

He feels fear as vividly as the day he died. 

The three prongs of the scythe were aligned with three vital organs. His brain, his heart, his liver. Skinny arms trembled as they struggled to hold them up and away from his skin. In a puff of air and a strike of desperation, a gale slammed into his back and made him slip from underneath the weapon. Strong enough to send him tumbling, but weak enough not to crack his spine. An ally's attack. The scythe came crashing down and sunk into the ground like clay. His face smashed against the unpaved ground, cheek smearing against the blood drawn on the ground and gravel cutting into every inch of his skin. The enemy’s foot came down on his face and dug into his other cheek. 

The scythe was stolen by Aomaru and Seiko brandished it like a deer walking for the very first time. 

It’s something strange when his teammates shouted something like reassurance instead of war cries. Protecting him within every inch of their lives when he was the one who endangered it, fighting for his safety instead of overpowering the enemy. 

It was something even stranger when a blind desire rushed through him despite his clear mind and unclouded thoughts. He didn’t know what he was doing, but the scythe was yanked back by the white-haired man, Seiko was vulnerable, out in the open, Shikaku-sensei was seemingly worlds away. 

Rin rushed into the scene and the scythe tore into him from his shoulder to his hip. 

His cheek grew warm with the spray of his own blood and his eyes became as unseeing as fogged glass. 

A tongue lapped up the blood from the metal. 

He collided with the floor. 

Nothing happens. 

. . .

His body was dragged across the grass, half-propped, half-carried as Takashi and Seiko finally dropped him in a patch where the cliff overlooked the city. Shikaku-sensei’s shout still rang in their heads, echoing like a gong as he all commanded them to go away, get distance between them and the enemy. 

Takashi couldn’t even get out a hoarse, “But what about you?!” before he fled with his tail between his legs. They broke past the path hidden by a fortress of trees, hanging above them as if the leaves wanted to card through their hair, and gently laid down their bleeding teammate. 

This location meant several things. It was close to Ground Zero. Shikaku had taught them where it was not an hour before chaos broke out. It was well hidden. And… a cliff meant that they could all commit suicide if the enemy found them. 

It was almost sundown. The sky above them was amber and painted all of them with an orange hue. 

In and out of consciousness he noticed several things: the whining of Aomaru, Takashi’s trembling body, and Seiko’s sobs. She stared at the glowing sun, eyes becoming raw and red from the bright lights, but she couldn’t force herself to look away. Dots appeared in her vision from looking for too long. 

This is the last one, this is the last one , she hurriedly repeated. 

“I don’t even want to be buried…!” she finally said, gulping air. Her shoulders slumped visibly. “I don’t want to be buried in the family plot… I didn’t even tell anyone to cremate me.” Her voice cracked hopelessly. Takashi and Rin both stared at her from bloody and bruised eyes. “I want my clan members to throw my damn remains off the Hokage Monument on the day of the strongest wind. I want to be gone as soon as possible.” 

. . .

Shikaku ended up stumbling out of the trees thirty minutes later. His vest was soaked through with blood and he was favoring his right leg. He earned two new scars on his face that day, but they escaped the enemy. 

They were going to live. 

. . . 

Afterward, their hands shook whenever they clutched a kunai, and Takashi threw up at the smell of blood, and Seiko wanted to hang up her forehead protector for good. 

Then, when one of the nurses handed them a plastic bag of Rin’s belongings, that ration book they grew to hate sat on top. 

After that day, Takashi and Seiko always hesitated, but those forehead protectors they grew to hate still remained bright and shiny on their persons. 

. . . 

Then the Chuunin exams came overhead like the arc of a rainbow. 

. . . 

“What is wrong with you, Rin ?!” 

The words echoed endlessly in his ears, drowning out the adrenaline from the crowd. 

. . . 

“Why?” The heart monitor pulsed listlessly in the background. There was more between them that Rin didn’t voice. 

“We’re teammates, Ricchan.” Hands threaded through hospital sheets. “We’re supposed to help each other. It’s natural — what I did.” 

“But I didn’t do that same for you.” 

A pause. 

“I know.” 

“I…” When Rin released his fist, his fingernails came out red. “Wouldn’t do the same for you.” 

“I know, Rin.” 

Chapter Text

“Would you like some tea?” one of the monks offered, smiling up at him with his arms folded behind his back. Rin beamed back, answering politely and nodding. “Is it just you?” the monk asked next, slowly gesturing to the coffin beside them. Both of them turned to face the smooth wood and then to the Uchiha crest engraved on top. “And just the one?”  

“Yes — it’s just me,” he replied, just as pleasantly. The man’s weathered face nodded, eyes and cheeks sagging with his small frown and a distraught expression. 

“Ah, yes — of course,” the monk said almost to himself. “The Uchiha Clan is known for traditional burials…” Deep in thought, the monk finally shook his head after several seconds. “Young man...I just want you to know, you are free to use any of the temple’s resources if you are feeling...weighed down by the loss of your clan,” the old man supplied helpfully, in a soothing tone. “We can only sympathise with what you and young Sasuke-kun might be going through… I am truly sorry for your loss. This event has been one of the most devastating events of the decade.” 

“Thank you so much for your kind words.” Rin’s face was the picture of empathy with upturned eyes and a kind smile. He patted the hunched monk’s arm gently. “I’m positive with the support of people like you, the remains of the Uchiha Clan will heal from this tragic event.”  

The man nodded quickly, never meeting the eyes of the young teenager in front of him. “It’s good that such a young person still has hope in the face of this massacre. May I ask how young you are?” 

“I’ll be fifteen on the last day of the year,” Rin answered easily. He held himself up like an adult, a man of a hundred years, but the smallness of his face and the baby fat around his cheeks always got in the way. 

“That will be soon…” the monk muttered to himself, but shook his head afterwards. “I’ll go get the tea and then we can start with the cremation ceremony afterwards.” 

Rin nodded as the man shuffled away, leaving him alone in the large room. High wooden arches hung above, supporting the pagoda outside, and leading toward the altar in the front of the room. He remained in a perfect seiza pose in his lonesome, shins pressed against a thin padding that kept him from knocking against the polished wooden panels underneath his feet. 

Eyes closed, he exhaled. The windchimes outside clattered together gently, the melody flowing through the empty, vast room and carrying the ease of the sunny day outside in with him. It was just him, red eyes turned to the coffin beside him, and the body. 

It wasn’t him who brought and prepared the body. 

Steady, slowly, a single pale hand raised, going higher and higher until it fell upon the seams of the polished wood, fingers falling in the etches of the uchiwa fan. 

He received the paperwork for the first time the other day. Eyebrows furrowed. A frown appeared on his lips. The mortician’s bill was paid in full. 

He stood upright by now, hung over the coffin like a ghost. 

Static filled his ears. 

The lid of the coffin was thrust wide open, crashing on the side with a grand rise and fall in volume that could have blown his eardrum out. Dust picked up, the fabric they placed on her face fluttered away, landing on the ground beside his feet like the single beat of a bird’s wing. 

Black bangs hung beside his face as he looked down. 

There was not a single hair out of place on Uchiha Seiko’s body.

“And today we all gather to remember all of the beloved members of the Uchiha clan…” The Hokage remained slouched in the front of the crowd of black, arms folded behind his back. Standing up there, weathered and wrinkles hanging down his face, it was hard to believe he was only sixty years old. 

Black lashes fluttered closed, holding back all of the pitiful huffs and sobs of the small boy. The entire village was here — he couldn’t cry in front of them. His heart constricted painfully, leaving him with short breaths, heavily silently. 

“The village has suffered a great loss in the face of their deaths.” 

Hari’s hand reached out from her spot behind him and clamped down firmly on his small shoulder. Flinching, he nearly jumped in his spot, whirling around to see her dressed all in black, leaning forward and shaking her head softly. The sky above was a clear blue. 

The monk stepped forward to recite his sutra. 

The steady beat of his voice easily went from one ear and out the other. Wind picked up around them, running through their hair. 

“May they find peace in the next life.” 

At the conclusion of the funeral, everyone shuffled forward slowly to the altar, their last chance to pay their respects. Hari kept her hand firmly on Sasuke as she threw her white flower forward. 

It appeared to be in slow motion as it soared forward, petals rising and falling as it crashed on the bed of identical flowers. It didn’t make any noise, but with every flower, the impact rattled his brain as loud as a bomb. 

The ringing of metal appeared three times in his head then dispersed completely along with the crowd of people before him. The neat rows merged together and the mutterings rose in volume, closing in on him like the smoke from the incense. 

One person after another came up to him and Rin to pay their condolences, a sea of blank and empty faces. It was easy to disappear into the background even if he was the only living member left. There were just so many ways someone could repeat “I’m sorry for your loss,” until it became like a broken record, grating on his ears and burrowing underneath his skin into his nerves. Sasuke watched Rin’s back, eyes following every thread of the montsuki haori that the Jounin wore, emblazoned with the Uchiha crest. He looked every bit of a Uchiha, so much like the ghosts that it was simple to ignore Sasuke, the firey, somber, silent child that hung in the back. 

Disgusted, the Uchiha watched as Rin morphed into a person he didn’t know. The strict, quiet teenager that hung around their house like shadows in the dark, always talking quietly to his sister as if every word he said was a secret. Instead he was replaced completely, an apathetic expression forming into a sympathetic mask, eagerly accepting everyone’s hollow words of sorrow, even giving him their shoulder to cry on. He forced himself to have red-rimmed eyes, a small frown and a permanent soft look in his eyes. When the person in front of him would break out into tears, the teen never hesitated to scoop them into a hug, and Sasuke watched as their tears created a darkened patch on his shoulder while the male patted them on the shoulder consolingly. He was so convincing. Head turning to Hari, Sasuke noticed the blank look in her eyes, the uninterested stare that she had while she observed her brother. 

He didn’t know how someone as righteous as Hari let Rin go on like this.  

Sasuke felt his fingernails dig into the soft flesh of his palm. Did Rin even care about them? Who did Rin think he was, wearing that crest like a peacock, accepting everyone’s genuine affections only to disregard them the second they turned away. 

“Asuma-san,” his voice picked up from the mess inside of Sasuke’s head. The teenager smiled with faint amusement. “I understand that the funeral is over, but please refrain from smoking around my sister. And Uchiha Sasuke-kun.” Sasuke looked up, meeting eyes with the bearded, tan shinobi that just shrugged carelessly in apology before turning away with a black-haired kunoichi following after him, apologizing all the while. 

“Hey,” Hari whispered carefully, leaning closer to Sasuke. To his surprise, he didn’t lean away from her touch. The smell of smoke and incense stuck to her funeral clothes like a second skin, intensifying when instead he sidled closer to her. Her hand must’ve been cramped, he thought listlessly. As the last member of the Uchiha clan and the Uchiha clan head, Rin and Sasuke were allowed to stand at the very front row of the funeral, but Hari was forced to stand in the row behind his, and she kept her reminder that she was with him for the handful of hours. Green eyes peered at him carefully, analyzing every hint of body language. “Do you want to leave?” she asked. “It’s getting late — “ 

“Takashi-kun,” the voice spoke up from beside him. It didn’t become any louder, but the broken cadence was enough to startle the two of them. Rin spoke like he rehearsed every line he said, but the break in composure was enough to get the kids on edge as if they were thrown in battle. Hari looked up at the man in question and relaxed her body. A tall, nearly as tall as her brother, brown-haired teen with two triangle marks on his cheeks walked forward, a shaggy black dog following him cautiously. 

“Rin.” The man smiled broadly. “It’s good to see you again.” 

. . .

Although the chatter around them didn’t cease, it was as if they were closed to everyone else in the space. 

Black slits met red eyes and the two stared at each other endlessly. 

Hari watched as the fur from the dog stood up on the ends, large muscles tensing under a thick black coat. Those black beads glared up at Rin, unwavering, but hooded in a confused game of predator and prey. Takashi’s hand fell on top of the dog’s head and like ripples in a pool, the dog forcibly relaxed.  

“Hello, Hari-chan!” the teen said, looking behind Rin and right at her. 

“It’s good to see you again, Takashi-san.” A polite smile appeared on her lips. 

“You can call me nii-chan, you know!” he grinned easily, just as laid-back as the rest of his clanmates. Even in the stiff funeral clothing, his loose posture was clear to see. It still crept up on him, just how many people Hari was familiar with. The number of people Sasuke knew could be counted in both hands. Now that most of them were dead: one hand. “You’re just as big as Aomaru now! You guys seem to grow at the same rate.” The dog underneath his hand, Aomaru, barked once at the sound of his name. The dog was large, a given for nin-dogs, easily large enough for the teenager to sit on top, but the back of her mind suddenly flashed to the image of a tiny puppy. Sasuke didn’t know what to say when her smile suddenly faltered before picking itself up again. Her eyes became glassy as she gazed at the black dog, thinking of certain stars in the sky. 

"Hello, Aomaru!" She reached down to ruffle the dog's head. 

“Do you mind if I talk to your brother for a bit?” he asked, pointing to the quiet boy in question. The back of his body was like a wall to them: silent, imposing. 

“... Yeah, take him away,” she said, her voice foreignly composed. Turning down to Sasuke, his eyes grew wide, panicked at the thought of being left alone at the funeral. “We can go get lunch while they talk, right?” He nodded quickly, agreeing more with Hari than with Rin. 

“Yes…” Rin grabbed his wallet from the folds of his haori fishing out several bills and handing them off to Hari. Without another word, she took his hand and they walked off together, the softness of the grass beneath their feet cushioning the sound of their steps. Several seconds ticked off after the two kids left. The crowd at the funeral dispersed more, only leaving stragglers who wanted a word with the Hokage, the monks, or to stare at the framed picture of their lost ones, almost long enough to appear like their life was going to waste away, Rin thought. 

Takashi inhaled, his chest rising dramatically. 

“Seiko-chan?” he finally asked, lungs deflating, voice cracking. 

Rin tilted his head, opening his mouth to speak. 

“‘I want to be cremated, my remains thrown off the Hokage Monument on the night of the strongest wind’,” they recited together, their voices falling back on a harmony that hadn’t appeared for five years. The Inuzuka stared at Rin as if he couldn’t believe the boy in front of him. 

“You remembered,” he said, the strength in his voice wavering. 

“Of course I did.” Rin smiled pleasantly, eyes closing and head tilting. “She’s been cremated. I’ve already done the bone picking ceremony and I buried it. Her urn is at my home.” 

A chuckle escaped Takashi’s lips, and from his closed eyes, Rin thought that was the end of that. His foot was ready to take a step backward, turning and finally closing the chapter on Team Five, but a call of triumph rang into the air interrupted him. He opened his eyes to see Takashi fist-pumping with the air. “You remembered, you bastard!” He crowed in excitement before running head-first at Rin, crashing into him, arms wrapped around his waist. An “oomph! ” escaped from his lips, but Takashi didn’t listen. Rin’s body underneath his arms were like a statue, frozen, unmoving, but he didn’t release. The dog bites down until the competitor gives up. Rin’s arms hovered above his body, unsure. Takashi had his eyes screwed shut and he tightened his hold around his former teammate, squeezing him like a toy, and burrowed his face into perfumed black fabric. Those arms in the air trembled, then fell softly on Takashi’s head, stroking his hair softly. 

His clan called him stupid for holding onto this hope.  

After what seemed like an eternity, Takashi finally released him and waited as Rin straightened out his clothing, smoothing over every wrinkle. Rin’s eyes softened. 

“How are you?” he asked, voice composed. “Have you been taking up missions?” 

Takashi folded his arms behind his head, leaning back and forth from his heels to his toes, eyes wandering. A smirk appeared on his wild face as he pointed at himself with his thumb. “You’re looking at an official Jounin of Konoha, bastard!” His voice raised up and down with pride, every inch of it filling with a beat that tone. 

“I became Jounin at ten-years-old.” 

“Wha — “ His arms fell, as he sputtered, eyes as large as plates. “That means you were only Chuunin for one year!” 

It was Rin’s turn to smirk this time. “Looks like you can do math, baka.”  

“S-Shut up!” Takashi growled. “I can’t even go on strenuous missions anyway.” Two pairs of eyes fell down to his leg. Huffing, and crossing his arms, he turned away with his nose in the air. “My leg acts up if I work on it for too long.” 

A nine-year-old Rin easily slipped down to his knees, sleeves rolling up as he did so. Takashi’s large black eyes stared up at him, pupils wavering in fear and surprise, body planted on the ground. All around them, the crowd rose in suspense. The desert around them was hot, but the look Rin was giving him was frigid. 

“I’m going to break your femur next.” It was scary just how monotone Rin sounded as he stated that. 

A single pale hand rose in the air before coming back down like a guillotine. 

His scream rang through the air. 

Something flashed across Rin’s face, sharpening his features. Before things could grow awkward again, Takashi spoke up. “But I don’t care about dumb diplomacy missions anyway. I miss the good ol’ times where we just picked fruit all day — “ 

“Nara-san used to scold you because you would eat on the job.” 

“Shut it! I was a growing boy!” the teen defended, huffing like a dragon. “That doesn’t matter. I’m the head of the Inuzuka veterinary clinic so I spend most of my time there with Aomaru anyway.” His smile grew. “You still have your raptors, right? You can come on over anytime. I might even give you a friends and family discount — “ 

“If you were giving out a friends and family discount you would go out of business. You appeal to the Inuzuka clan first and foremost.” 

“Can you just stop interrupting me for once?” he whined almost pitifully, but stilled once a genuine smile appeared on Rin’s lips.   

Could he imagine, just for a second, that they were children again? Standing face to face with their new forehead protectors shining under the sun.

“You haven’t changed the slightest, Inuzuka.” He stated it as a fact, with a biting tone and for a second Takashi wondered if he was visibly looking down on him. He was ready to open his mouth, snapping back about Rin having a stick up his ass, but stopped before he could get to it. A wistful expression fitted on Rin’s face, his features seemingly wiped away the hard lines from his face. It was amazing how young he could look, turning that attitude of his on its head. 

“I — “ Takashi tried to say. He blinked owlishly as his mouth became dry. 

Even at night, he rolled over in bed calling himself an idiot. 

“Takashi!” a voice barked out from behind them. The two boys turned simultaneously to see Inuzuka Tsume standing several yards away from them, arms crossed and a scowl on her lips. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that that glare on her face was for Hanasaki, burning with old resentment. She ripped her gaze away from Rin’s once his expression became tight despite the smile he had on his lips. “You have a couple appointments coming up. C’mon, you can’t dawdle here.” 

Hanasaki Rin was not someone you commit to.  

“Got it, Auntie!” Takashi called out, waving his hand. Aomaru began to pull on his owner’s pant leg. “Hey — “ His head snapped back to Rin, eyes moving back and forth as if he was trying to remember every inch of him. “I mean it, alright? Drop by the clinic anytime!” He started to give in to his dog’s pull and steadily took one step after the other backwards. “Let’s meet up again one day! I want to catch up!” 

“Takashi!” 

“I know!” He snapped, but immediately flinched back when his clan head glared at him for his attitude. Face contorted with fear, he slowly looked back at Rin who waited expectantly. He took the boy’s hands into his own. A wolfish smile appeared on the boy’s face, but his eyebrows turned down and narrowed his eyes with determination. ”I’ll see you again, Ricchan.” Red irises reflected the image of the boy before him. 

He guessed that he was just an idiot by nature.  

With that, their hands dropped and the boy rushed off to his aunt who slapped himself in the back of the head the moment he got to her side. Tom Riddle watched the pair leave, accompanied by their dogs and felt himself tilting his head. 

Takashi was always a person he never was able to understand. 

For chasing someone whose friendship is as stupid and cruel as his.

Hari led Sasuke back to their house where they changed out of their funeral clothes, but the smell of smoke and incense that clung to their hair still lingered. Their walk to the market square was slow yet purposeful, eerily quiet as Sasuke kept ahead of her, head bowed low. Hari felt her attention drift elsewhere, to anything and everything. The only funerals she had really been to were Dumbledore’s, the mass memorial for everyone during the Battle of Hogwarts, and then Fred’s. She doubted that those experiences would amount to much when it came to finding the right words to comfort Sasuke. Immediately after Dumbledore’s funeral she broke up with Ginny and dropped out of school, going out on a life-threatening trip as she tried to track down the horcruxes. Fred’s funeral was incredibly solemn, such a polar opposite to his prankster behavior that George had to crack all of the jokes in his arsenal until they were all laughing, bent over with hurt stomachs. 

She doubted that cracking jokes or breaking up with her girlfriend would do the little boy in front of her any good. If anything, she’d probably just scare him away, and she already had Rin for that. 

Sasuke was just so different from any child that she had ever experienced. Angry and shy in the way that Teddy never was. All of the younger students at Hogwarts were usually starstruck when they saw her, causing her to leave them after a couple awkward words. He had been through more than most adults have, and that made Hari think that instead of any other child she’d interacted with, he was the most like her before anyone else. And that was what got her stuck. 

Eyes drifted away, hands deep in her pockets until they landed on the empty training field beside them. Kunai littered it like confetti with ninja wire tangling in the grass. Noticing that Sasuke had stopped his stroll too, she glanced down to see him staring at the training field as well, eyes yearning. These past couple of weeks they were on a strict chakra and weaponry schedule. She sighed, putting her arms up to stretch up to the sky and winced when her bones cracked as a response. It had been a while since she did anything strenuous. 

“Do you want to have a spar?” she asked. 

Her words went off like the toppling of dominos, making the Uchiha’s head snap immediately to the left where she stood. 

“...What…?” he asked. He made it sound like she was speaking another language.

She kept her face forward, eyes on the large stretch of green. Perhaps some exercise would do them good, get some endorphins running in the both of their brains. 

“We haven’t had a taijutsu spar in a while,” she commented. “I kinda miss it.” Smirking down at him, she was sure to word herself to make it seem like she was the one who desperately wanted to fight. “Besides,” she didn’t need his verbal confirmation to know what he was already in. Leaving him behind, she stepped forward. “I’d like to know what the top rookie’s like.” 

. . . 

Watching the boy several feet across from her, she noticed the way his muscles were tensed, limbs corded and prepared to strike. He recognized her as a viable opponent and threat, she summarized. He wasn’t going to hesitate. 

Leaning back on her heels, she felt herself relax. Hands raised in a traditional fighting stance. 

The rock she threw up in the air crashed back down to earth. 

Immediately, her head twisted to the side as his fist sailed past her ear, whistling in the wind. She sprang into life, striking the inside of his elbow with one grand smack. His arm buckled and Hari took it in her hands, flipping him over her and into the ground. 

It was over in ten seconds. 

In the Academy, they would’ve expected her to then climb atop of his body, pinning down his limbs or place a hand near his vital points to end the fight. But she took several steps back, hopping on one foot and waited for him to get back up and fight her again. 

His eyes were wide, nearly popping out his skull from his place on the grass and Hari watched as that shock quickly moved aside for the next emotion: irritation. The younger boy lept up and started to advance again, going on the offense. 

But Hari was the fastest student in her class — now that she fought against Sasuke, perhaps that she was the fastest student in the Academy. Whenever he raised his legs to deliver a particularly high kick, he easily left the rest of him open for her to attack. 

Nevermind the fact that she had years of practice with the god-forbid Harry Hunting game and Quidditch. Her eyes were trained to hone in on every subtle movement he made. 

Her feet slid backwards after she blocked one of his kicks with her forearms, noticing how pink they started to become. On her days off she only wore civilian clothes, and the lack of arm wraps were becoming apparent by the jolts of numbness. Flipping her hair out of the way, she landed multiple hits at different points in his body, pausing once she saw the way that he wheezed in response, clutching his chest once the air was knocked out of him. 

If Harry Potter had it her way, she would’ve done her best to keep her fighting style evasion-focused, avoiding her enemy to the best of her ability, but Rin made sure to knock his own offensive style into her. She was sure that beating her around the training field was his way of getting revenge on her after all these years — the only way that he could be sadistic and she couldn’t say or do anything about it. 

Sasuke jumped to counter again, going for another high kick, but her hand came down on his limb in a vice grip. Ducking when he moved to grapple her, she kept her eyes trained on his form. “You keep on going for my head — But you need to think about the basics, Sasuke. Go for my balance.” It scared her how flat her voice came out in the way his did. Perhaps she had picked up some of Rin’s traits, the cold way he would look down at her as he was training her. Wrenching his shin out of her grasp, Sasuke tried to duck low and follow her advice, but she already prepared for it. It seemed as if she already knew the conclusion of this fight. With her upper body relaxed, she swung her foot up. Knowing that she was going for the back of his knee, he moved accordingly, but fell right into her trap as she slipped her other foot in front of him, targeting his ankle and finally toppled his balance. The grass underneath his hands crumpled as he fell to the floor, eyes downturned. 

Hari didn’t move back this time. She reached out her hand to offer it to him, but immediately retracted it once Sasuke began to move his hands in rapid succession. 

Ninjutsu? she quickly thought, her expression scrunching. Hari thought the boundaries of this fight was already established: hand-to-hand only. 

Eyebrows furrowed, she watched his movements, trying to recognize the different seals. 

Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger. Wait a minute — That’s — !    

Flipping backwards and out of place, she forced distance between them as Sasuke’s chest expanded and expelled. 

“Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!” he cried out. A fireball puffed out of his mouth like a Hungarian Horntail and Hari immediately threw her hand up. The heat became uncomfortably close. 

Protego! The wave of fire crashed against an invisible wall and extinguished upon contact, spreading out in a circle around her; close enough for her to feel heat licking her cheeks and for sweat to build up along her hairline. When the last of the flames were put out and she appeared completely fine, she noticed the way he clicked his tongue with irritation. One foot came forward in hesitation, but once his shoulders sagged and the sudden poison inside his eyes faded, Hari felt herself relax despite the growing storm of thoughts. 

“Good job,” she said, walking towards him and holding out her hand for the seal of reconciliation. Several seconds too late, Sasuke left her hand hanging there in the air before finally hooking her fingers with his own.  “You’re just as talented as the reports say.” Here she gave him a smile. 

Even as she said this, her thoughts swirled inside of her head like a crystal ball. What the hell was that? She couldn’t help but think. Was he seriously trying to hurt her? 

No, she thought. The actions he had displayed throughout the weeks were not acts. There wasn’t any resentment when he talked to her, and his attachment toward her was real. So what was that? 

“...You’re stronger,” he simply said, turning away. When he said this, his voice filled with self-resentment. His hands balled up at his side, opening and closing. She looked down at his figure as he swayed slightly in place. During the tail end of their fight, he became sloppier. His priorities switched like a shuffled deck of cards, going from focusing on his form to beating her with everything he had. His movements became quicker, but easier to overcome.

What came over him? she started to think. She was certain it wasn’t that he wanted to be malicious toward her, to hurt her intentionally. She pushed aside any potential pain in her heart at the thought. 

He wanted to beat her with every fiber of his being, she summarized.

“That was a nice Fireball jutsu,” she said, consoling in a way that wasn’t obvious. She didn’t want to set him off more than she already had. But was he expecting her to go easy on him? It was as if he became a different person when he realized that he was going to lose. “Rin and I are fire-nature too,” she said, hopefully to move the conversation aside. “I also have an affinity for lightning-style. What are your chakra types?” 

He was surprisingly reserved now, hiding away from the person he stuck to like a limpet. Breathing heavily from the workout, he straightened up. Half of his face was hidden by his collar; she could only see a sliver of his face as he looked anywhere but at her. 

“...I don’t know,” he finally mumbled out, so low that she was tempted to lean in to listen better, but she didn’t want to invade his space and make him more closed-off. 

After another pause, he straightened out his breathing to a steady rhythm. “Every Uchiha is supposed to be able to use the Grand Fireball Jutsu. It’s a rite of passage.” He kicked a pebble with the tip of his sandal, watching as it soared and hit the base of a tree. He moved on quickly, she noticed how he was back to sharing with her again. 

She forced herself to smile. “We can go check,” Hari suggested. “Let’s go to the supply store. I’m sure they have some there.” He raised an eyebrow at her. 

“I thought only registered ninja could buy that,” he said, but even as the words came out of his mouth he started to walk toward the marketplace. 

“Not always. If you’re on track to graduate, they allow some exceptions. Chakra paper isn’t dangerous so it should be fine.” 

At the mention of her graduation, Sasuke seemingly soured again, twisting his features into one of anger. However, he quickly smoothed it out as soon as it came. 

As they walked to the store together, Hari allowed herself to ponder, hands deep in her pockets as her feet led her in multiple directions. 

It became obvious that his anger only came up when he recognized that he was losing to her, causing him to fight her in desperation and even used ninjutsu against her. He was not angry at her, but — her skills? Sasuke hated the fact that she was stronger than him, Hari confirmed. But that didn’t make any sense to her. She was in the grade above his and so wouldn’t it be natural to be better? She had average chakra control and as a clan kid, she was positive that he would be able to outgrow her there. Magic was immediately skipped over in her mind. He was going to be stronger than her in a couple of years, so what was the matter if he was the weaker one now? If it was a question of Itachi, or being exposed to danger, Hari was certain that she had more than enough power to protect the both of them until then. Yet she held this to herself. Hari had more than enough experience with Harry Potter’s old temper, Draco Malfoy’s jealousy, and Ron Weasley’s irritation to know that if she brought this up he would just grow angrier. Nevermind the fact that his mood skipped around so easily. 

Where is this superiority coming from? ... Don’t tell me, she thought, looking down at him as he pushed the store’s door open. The bell above it chimed quietly. She tilted her head as a pit formed in her stomach, the dots connecting in her head. An inferiority complex? 

She was getting ahead of herself, shaking her head as she walked up to the shelf that housed the chakra paper. These were too big of leaps, but the smallest part of her still said that he could only get worse from here. She wasn’t a psychologist, but — where the hell was his therapy sessions anyway? 

It had been several weeks since the Massacre and not one mention of therapy came to them. Some ninjas and older civilians abhorred the thought of mental illness, but after the Third Great Shinobi War, the Fourth Hokage made some pushes toward mental health and therapy. As an Auror and fighter in the Battle of Hogwarts, she agreed wholeheartedly with the dead man’s efforts. Also, she thought wearily, Sasuke is a kid who had his entire family killed…  

She would have to check up on that later, she told herself. 

Now that I think of it… I didn’t even know that Sasuke existed before this, she thought. She knew of Itachi, sure, but not knowing Itachi as a Konohagakure native was like navigating a straight hallway and still getting lost. The Uchiha Clan used to hold the boy up like a peacock, and the feats he managed and the intelligence he had made her wonder if Itachi was a reincarnation too, despite how outrageous that seemed. Though … Hari silently watched the back of Sasuke’s head. That might explain why he’s like this. Genius first-born and “the spare,” she summarized. Itachi was so grand that Sasuke might’ve believed that will never be able to catch up. Ron certainly felt the same, shadowed by his older brothers as the "talentless" sixth brother. Hari closed her eyes and imagined herself, her past life, going to him for advice. She thought of her two best friends talking to Sasuke, teasing him easily and getting him to open up. Harry didn't know it then, or he was too angry to recognize it, but those two were the perfect people for Prefects. Ache filled her heart, but the absence of her best friend wasn’t something to ponder about now, not when she was already standing in front of a tall shelf. 

“Of course it’s on the highest shelf,” she said almost to herself, sighing pitifully, hands on her hips. The two of them turned left and right, looking around the store for a small step stool. Harry Potter never made it past average height, but even he would have reached the shelf with ease. One of the things she hated the most about being a kid again was pitfalls like this. Especially when they were being passive aggressive toward each other, Rin would put stuff on the tall shelves just to annoy her. 

“I can get it, Nee-san,” Sasuke spoke up when their search came up empty. She held back whatever words that came to the tip of her tongue. He was even shorter than she was. “I can climb the shelf.” 

“Uh.” She craned her neck up to look at the basket of chakra paper, placed right next to a loose stack of books and right above a careful pile of scrolls. “I don’t know if that’s the safest option.” His eyebrows formed a deep V. 

“I can get it,” he repeated firmly. He turned to the shelf and prepared to scale it like a cliff wall. 

Feeling a sigh build up in her chest, she closed her eyes before Hari gave away any signs of doubting him. “Sasuke — “ 

The Uchiha had already climbed the first two bottom shelves, hand reaching up far above his head. Right before his fingers brushed the woven basket, almost toppling it over, a larger, gloved hand reached over his and snatched a bound pack of chakra paper. 

“Maa,” a voice called out from behind both of him. Hari flinched, but immediately reached a hand out to stop Sasuke from falling over in surprise. “Little chibis shouldn’t be doing things that would irritate the store owners, hm?” 

She froze in her spot, like if she didn’t move the mystery man wouldn’t be able to see her. Hari hadn’t even sensed him come up to her. 

Craning her neck until she was nearly looking backwards, Hari caught sight of a masked face and silver hair. His posture just screamed lazy , but no unskilled ninja would’ve been able to sneak up on her like that. 

His single exposed eye curved up into a smile and he leaned in close to her face. “Hello there!” 

Sasuke was immediately in the middle of them, his tiny face twisted into a pout. He spread out his arms to create as much of a wall between them as he could, quickly snatching the chakra paper from the ninja's hands. 

"Nee-san," he said, turning his head to Hari and ignoring the man in front of him completely. "I could've — " 

She pinched him in the back of his bicep where the mystery man couldn't see him, causing the boy to yelp and flinch quickly. 

Narrowing her eyes, she stared harder at the man in front of her. Green eyes scanned him up and down, taking note of his hitai-ate and the body hidden behind the bulk of the flak jacket.  His posture or composure didn't change the slightest despite Sasuke's rude or snappy behavior. Raising an eyebrow, she didn’t look twice at Sasuke’s sudden protectiveness. 

The Uchiha were a coveted clan, and now that they were in scarcity, it wasn’t surprising that just about anyone wanted to reach out for them now as if they were fruit at the top of the trees. Rin had always been receiving love confessions left and right, civilians and shinobi alike, but ever since the Uchiha clan was killed, those confessions had increased tenfold, stretching from Konoha to the neighboring villages. They go from talking to him shyly on the street to having marriage proposals shipped to their door. Although Hari knew the truth, Konoha had recognized Rin as an adult even though he was barely past his preteen years. But Rin could handle himself, she thought, but the disgust came from the fact that now those same girls would look at Sasuke too. 

Sasuke, who wasn’t even ten years old. 

It didn't even stop there. The list of people who wanted to get close to them just for association was a mile long and a mile wide. 

She was the spare in the remnants of the Uchiha, but Hari would be lying if she said the number of people she talked to didn’t increase in the past several weeks. 

The man in front of them didn't look at them like a piece of meat, but after weeks of turning away random girls and guys that stopped Rin on the street or even at their door, their suspicions were mountain-high. 

“Oh — “ She pulled Sasuke closer to her. “Thank you, shinobi-san, but I was actually reaching for the book right next to the chakra paper.” 

He tilted his head, but to her frustration, there was nothing in his eyes or body language that told her he caught onto her lie. Instead, he easily reached over and got the book that stood right beside the basket of chakra paper. It was here that he raised his visible eyebrow. 

“Advanced Taijutsu for the High-Ranking Shinobi?” he read. She narrowed her eyes when the man didn’t just give him her book and go. He looked down at her. “Shortie-chan, isn’t this a bit above your...ah...paygrade?” 

She gave him a flat look. So that’s how it’s going to be. “It’s not for me,” she immediately said. “It’s for my older brother. He’s a Jounin.” Hari forced herself to speak higher, conjuring the image of a first-year Hermione in her head: young, slightly haughty with a dash of I-will-sic-authority-figures-on-you. Hanging the bait, she wanted to know if he would catch onto her act. 

That lone eye curled upward again. “Then your brother would know that this book is targeted toward Chuunin-level shinobi.” 

Hari’s frown deepened. “Taijutsu is his weakest subject.” That he did recognize from the flicker in his eyes. 

“Wouldn’t it be better if he learned taijutsu from a fellow ninja who can properly train him then?” 

She was sick of this game of back-and-forth and the ninja’s unmovable composure. Lowering her voice into a near hiss, she turned the heat of her glower up. “Why would I let some strange shinobi around my brother?” she said, as if daring him to challenge her. 

Sasuke caught wind of her hostile energy and started to square up too, glaring at the man in front of him. 

He tilted his head at her sudden anger. “Not even if it’s from the best taijutsu user in Konoha? Your brother would greatly improve then.” When her frown didn’t ease up, he sighed dramatically. “So suspicious, hm? Back in my day, children weren’t as serious as you, Shortie-chan.” 

“I don’t know about you, Shinobi-san, but things have changed since the Second Shinobi War.” She looked down at the boy in front of her. “C’mon, Sasuke, let’s go pay.” The boy quickly nodded and trailed behind Hari, making sure to never remove his heated gaze from the ninja. 

“Hm? Second Shinobi War?” The man suddenly perked up once her words registered in his brain. “Hey! Wait — how old do you think I am?” 

“Thanks for your help,” she said as she ushered the Uchiha out the door of the shop. “But we have to get going now.” 

It came as prickles along her skin, how analyzing he looked for one second then completely casual the next. 

“Alright then, Shortie-chan, Shorter-chan. Make sure not to bother any more shopkeepers, hm?” 

Hari showed no signs that she heard him, making sure to push the door open as loud as possible until the bell rang over the man’s words. 

As Sasuke kept his hand firmly around hers, Hari walked with her head deep in thought. 

The Notice-me-not charm she put over them when Sasuke climbed the shelf should have remained strong, but the man still interacted with them and caught on to her lie about the book. The only way he would’ve known was if...he was watching them even before she cast the charm. 

She sighed deeply, listening with half an ear when Sasuke called out, “You’re so slow, Nee-san!” as he pulled on her arm. 

First two masked men, and now another masked shinobi? Hari’s three step plan for a normal, simple life was wilting away before her eyes.

“Yo!” 

A broad-shouldered man with a bowl cut turned around at the sound of the greeting, a smile immediately igniting on his face. 

“Kakashi!” the self-proclaimed “Green Beast of Konoha” shouted. “My Rival! How are you?” 

“I’m good,” he said casually, a single hand raised in greeting. “Say, Gai, I might have a favor.”

“Why — Of course, anything for you, Kakashi!” Gai nearly shouted at the top of his lungs, lit with hip and cool energy. “Ha Ha Ha!” 

“Do you know someone by the name of Hanasaki Rin by any chance?” When Gai’s face immediately frowned with thought, Kakashi opened his mouth to speak. “He’s — “  

“No!” Two hands held themselves up with a grand flourish. “Don’t tell me — Don’t tell me! I Will Get It!” Gai held a hand up to his chin in thought, face scrunched up with deep concentration. A rumbling hmmm sound came from the very bottom of his stomach to his throat. Gai snapped his fingers and flashes his eyes wide open, a shine appeared on his pearly white teeth as he gave a thumbs up to his Lifelong Rival. “He’s the mochi-pounder from down the street!” 

Kakashi sighed dramatically as he shook his head, arms coming up to make an X as a buzzer sound appeared out of nowhere. 

“The fisherman that can juggle!” 

Another buzzer sound. 

“Incorrect.” 

Gai’s deep sound of concentration became louder. His eyes became more and more watery with every wrong answer. 

Snapping his fingers, he shouted, “He’s the bass player from the band at the bar, The Jumping Leaf!” 

“Wrong,” Kakashi said again. “And he seems more like a piano or koto player.” 

Tears were streaming down Gai’s face like two rivers now. His fist was clenched tightly as he shook it in the air. 

“The anticipation is killing me, My Rival.” Gai screwed his eyes shut. “Tell me — No! That would mean giving up! Give me a hint.” 

“Hmm.” Kakashi posed, fake in thought. “He’s this tall.” Kakashi held his hand up to about 175cm off the ground. “And he kinda looks like…” His image suddenly flashed before their eyes to show Gai short, disheveled black hair and his clothes were switched out to a loose black and green kimono shirt over a tight, black mock neck shirt. Kakashi kept the same masked face of his but smoothed over his thoughtful expression until he had one of pensiveness. In a blink of an eye, Kakashi was back to his regular clothes and hair. “That.” 

“Oh!” Gai slammed his fist into his palm, eyes brightening as the lightbulb went off in his head. “Yes! I know him now! Young Hanasaki-kun was in Genma’s squad for a while!” 

“Yea, that’s him.” Kakashi leaned on one leg. "Anyway, a little birdie — ah, rather, a little crab told me that Hanasaki Rin was struggling a bit in taijutsu. I thought that — " 

Gai's hand came up to stop him right there. "Say no more, Kakashi! How cool of you to think of the newer generation!! It shall be an honor! A right to pass on my taijutsu knowledge!" A fire was lit in Gai. "If only I thought of helping our kohais before! I shall run around Konoha five times. No — ! I shall run around it ten times for neglecting the young shinobi! Our comrades!" 

"You do that, Gai," Kakashi said breezily. "Oh and one more thing. He's supposedly really shy and thinks it's shameful to ask for help." Kakashi leaned in close, hands in his pockets as his single eye lazily peered at the man in front of him. 

"But there's nothing wrong with asking for help!" 

"I know, but he doesn't." The copy-nin sighed dramatically, his hair drooping as he slouched. "So no matter how many times he refuses, don't let him say 'no,' okay?" 

"You got it! Hanasaki Rin will accept my teachings or my name isn't Might Gai!" 

A faint smile appeared on Kakashi’s face at his friend’s passion and his exuberant exclamations, but faded not long after. The jumpsuit-clan man dashed off not a second later, and Kakashi allowed this moment of silence all to himself. 

The Hokage’s words rang in his head, repeating over and over like a broken record. The mission to keep an eye on Hanasaki Rin was a strange one, the only person that was able to evade Uchiha Itachi, but not a mission that he would ignore. Nobody said it, but Kakashi caught onto the connotations. The Hokage's faith in the Hanasakis was given, but not one that he blindly overlooked. Their leader relied on Rin to be the one Uchiha that was able to challenge Itachi and keep his beating heart, but Rin's wavering loyalty in the village was a sentiment the teen wore on his sleeve. No one knew if he was going to be the next one to snap too.

His sister proved to be nothing special, he confirmed. Fiery, but at the very least he could admire someone who tried to protect their friends. It was truly the oldest that he needed to keep watch on. He couldn’t tell Gai about his mission, but he knew first-hand how persuasive the “Green Beast” was. The official papers and his own sister confirmed it, but if taijutsu was truly Rin's weakest point, then if anything were to go to hell, Kakashi relied on Gai to stop him. 

Deep in his heart, Kakashi knew that he could've done better to prevent Itachi from descending to madness. The downfall of another genius wasn’t going to happen under his watch. Even if he had to gather all of Konoha to stop him.