Off the Mark

Loss

Mikoto shifted the wicker basket that hung from her arm, subconsciously making sure she had all the ingredients she needed. Two of her sons were due back in a few hours and she was determined to give them their first taste of real food in so many weeks. True, she knew Itachi would never allow Sasuke to live solely on cheap, fast food but that didn't diminish her determination in the slightest. A ghost of a smile appeared as the small bag of cherry tomatoes grabbed her attention. Sasuke adored the tiny fruit despite his obscene dislike for the color red. It was something that never failed to entertain her as were the many other odd quirks of her four sons.

Scarred fingers tucked several strands of ash colored hair behind her ear, pausing to tap gently at where the tip of her left once had been. It had been lost during one of the many clashes between the Uchiha and Danzo before the war had officially broken out. She supposed that out of every wound that had marred her skin, it were the burns on her fingers and the thick scar across her throat she would remember most. Their story would always be available to her, because she had earned both during Danzo's first attempt of capturing Naruto.

Mikoto's face slipped into the expressionless mask that she had become accustomed to wearing these days as she quickened her pace a bit, trying hard to repress the memories threatening to take over. As was often the case, she failed quite miserably.

"Mom, can we stay for a few minutes longer?"

The woman couldn't fight off a grin matching the little boy's as she nodded once, ruffling his sun kissed locks. He quickly threw his arms in the air to cheer. Still standing beside the swing set and reserving both seats, Sasuke was smirking in triumph. It was a well-known fact in their home that Mikoto would not often deny something that the little blonde requested and her sons and nephew had quickly adapted to using Naruto to get their way.

Even Fugaku had resorted to such tactics when she was particularly adamant about something.

Mikoto relaxed against the bench she sat at, her oldest baby watching the occasional Jonin leap across the nearby roof tops from her side. Itachi had blown through everyone's expectations of him in the last few years. Now, having been a genin since he was 7, he was well on his way to becoming a chunin. She had heard from her son's mouth that his teacher was planning on entering him in the chunin exams shortly after his 10th birthday. Mikoto glanced up at the sun to gauge the time and not allow herself to worry over Itachi. Whatever came would come no matter how much stress she put herself through.

"Come along, its nearly time for lunch!"

The Uchiha did not wait as she began the journey home, knowing that her sons would follow without delay. She was not disappointed.

"What's for dinner," Sasuke asked. His tiny hand wrapped around his mother's hand, careful to mind where he was walking while watching her.

"Ah, I was thinking along the lines of maggot and rotten fish stew with Itachi's toenails for seasoning," Mikoto laughed softly at the disgusted distortion of Sasuke's face and the gagging sounds that no doubt belonged to Naruto.

"Yuck, I'll eat the maggots and stinky fish but not Itachi's toenails! He never washes." The blonde spoke in a tone that Kushina had often used when something truly grossed her out. Mikoto did not miss the sharp look Itachi shot the blonde child, unconsciously combing his fingers through his hair.

"Yea, but you're just as bad. You never clean your room unless mom threatens you," Sasuke spoke up in the defense of his hero, crossing his arms as if those words ended the discussion.

"I walked into your room and saw a pair of green underwear crawl under your bed!" Naruto mimicked his best friend's posture before going the extra distance of sticking his tongue out.

"They were made green, dummy!"

"Yea, after you wore them, Mr. Stinky pants!"

"I would prefer to eat the toenails instead of the maggots or rotten fish."

The dueling duo stopped in favor of staring after Itachi in part horror and part surprise. Of course the relative quiet that had been created did not last long before both 4 year olds were muttering 'yuck' and pretending to be gagging.

It was only due to her instincts that Mikoto managed to dodge the first kunai thrown at her, tugging her Sasuke with her. Unfortunately, years without sharpening her skills left the once Jonin open for a sneak attack.

"Don't move," the voice was monotone as it brushed past her ear. A sharp blade, which a part of her instantly recognized as a kunai, was pressed tightly against her throat as if her unseen enemy knew not to take her lightly. Sasuke stumbled out of her grasp and pity struck her as he landed at Itachi's knees. The eldest brother moved to defend the boy when a large hand tangled itself his long hair. It took all she had not to scream as another man pointed the tip of his kunai to Itachi's jugular.

"Let me go!" Mikoto did her best not to jerk at Naruto's shriek but the vague sting told her she hadn't been terribly successful. "Mom, help me," Naruto cried as he struggled in the arms of a man three times his size. His blue eyes found the coal black of Mikoto's and his body stilled. The utter shock on his face hardened into anger as he trashed all the harder, "Let her go!"

"Damn brat," the man grumbled as he restrained the child, thankful that his flak jacket kept a barrier between him and the violent blond. He cursed loudly as a shuriken sailed past his ear and clanked off the alley wall behind him.

"Sasuke!"

Mikoto's voice only strengthened whatever fueled her boy as he tore another shuriken from his captive, elder brother's weapons pouch. A larger hand caught his wrist before he could throw the weapon again. The woman snarled at the man who was holding a knife to Itachi's neck, watching as he twisted Sasuke's wrist sharply with his free hand and forced the kunai to fall from between limp fingers. Sasuke's mouth dropped open in a silent cry of pain before he received a quick blow to the head. Mikoto bristled in furry as the man repeated the action with Itachi, "Bastard!"

The man hardly even twitched in response as he nodded to the Jonin holding Naruto. As one they turned as if to leap to the roof of the nearby buildings; not a single glance in her direction was made. Realization dawned on her as she pieced together what had happened, what was happening. Danzo had somehow found out about Naruto and these shinobi were sent to steal her baby. Anger built under her pale skin in a manner she was not used to, but embraced greedily. Hands flew through hand signs that she had known since she was a child.

Holding her breath, Mikoto grabbed the arm holding the blade to her throat and pulled. It cut across her neck, spilling her blood, but she ignored it in favor of turning to face the man that dared to shatter her family. Mikoto's satisfaction came as screams tore from his lips; fire licked along his limb hungrily. Her minor victory was cut short as one of the man's teammates screamed in pain.

Mikoto spun on her heel, a pilfered kunai whizzing through the air and connecting with the leg of the man holding Naruto. She did not pause as she raced forward, hands outstretched for her baby. Steel was covered in red as Shisui appeared behind the last shinobi, his anger plain in his rotating Sharingan. Naruto kicked away from the falling jonin and landed in the arms of his mother, tears soaking her dress.

She wouldn't notice the burned nerves of her fingers until she was back at the compound, holding her husband's hand as their medics looked over their sons.

Mikoto sighed as if the simple motion could expel the past from her head for good. She glanced briefly at the bright sky above her before returning to earth. While her blond baby was never far from her mind he was persistently present today, the day of his 23rd birthday.

The path she followed slowly became less and less occupied much to her relief. It wouldn't be fair to say that the Uchiha was antisocial; she just preferred to be alone or with her boys. Fugaku's death had done more than leave a sense of loneliness in her stance.

Her fingers were just grasping the doorknob of her front door when footsteps reached her ears. Never being one to deny her own curiosity, she half turned to see who would be so near her home so early in the morning. Her spirits rose when she spotted Shisui strolling towards her.

He had looked up in time to see her watching him and offered her one of his cheesy grins. The effect was instantaneous as a smaller smile graced the female's lips. Shisui raised one hand lazily to jerk his thumb towards his companion in a silent suggestion. The recognition dawning on his aunt's face was all he needed to step to the side and out of her way.

"Minato?"

Mikoto was vaguely aware of her basket falling as hauntingly familiar blue eyes looked up. In her hurry to dash down the stairs she hardly paid attention to the fact that the man looked no older than he had on Kushina's last birthday. Mikoto threw her arms around Minato and pulled him into the strongest embrace she could muster.

"Hello Mikoto," Minato answered quietly.

Shisui shook his head as he eyed the things his aunt had bought and headed towards the door, calling over his shoulder. "I'll make some tea."

Minato was the first to break contact with the familiar yet alien woman. Her once long hair was cropped short much like a boy's and a fading burn scar reached out from her hairline to touch the corner of her mouth. Mikoto Uchiha, from her smile that was no more than a slight twist of the lips to her carefully blank eyes, was not the same woman he had once known.

"Is it really you?"

For the barest of moments the man was unsure of how to answer her question. Yet, even as he pondered this his posture relaxed further.

"A house full of shinobi was a bit of an exaggeration," he said. A choked chuckle brought the spotlight upon Shisui who was coughing furiously into his fist, careful not to meet the woman's glower. Mikoto looked at the blond again, her smile more strained than natural.

"You never were any good at comedy," she said from between clenched teeth.

"Ah, I beg your pardon then." The sound of Shisui struggling to open the door with his gasping chortles distracted Mikoto from replying. She huffed in a way Minato had never known any of her clansmen to do and walked up the three steps until she was at the door. Never removing her eyes from her nephew, she opened the door without problem and he scurried in.

"Come along," Minato ignored the urge to scratch at the back of his head as she turned to him, "You've got some explaining to do."

Early mornings were never much to talk about in the part of the town that the two Uchiha lived in. This made the blond man's appearance even more of an odd event than if they had lived in a place like Konohagakure where strange things were embraced. Or at least, this was the impression Minato got as he entered the house, quite aware of the stares on his back.

So much for the area being empty.

"Don't mind the mess," Mikoto muttered as she strode past him into the relatively open living room. Sun light streaked in through the many windows to rest upon the scuffed hardwood flooring. Minato nodded absently at the mention of tea, too wrapped up in letting his eyes wander the room that was at such odds with what he knew the Uchiha's home had once been.

Minato stood behind a nearby couch that was of lesser quality than what he had expected. If he really thought about it, the Uchiha had probably lost everything when their village was destroyed. Money and any luxuries they had would have been included in that. With this in mind, he had to admit that the chipping paint around the doorways somehow suited the woman better.

Minato stared down into the depths of his tea cup, perched stiffly upon the worn couch. The light clinks of dishes being washed drifted from the closed kitchen door; dinner's scent swept through out the small home. He did his best to ignore the dark eyes staring at him as if he were nothing more than a basic genjutsu, and sipped at the cooling tea if only to stall. Mikoto had brought out some tea, and now they sat across from each other, wondering if they should treat the other as the enemy instead of a lost friend.

He tried not to snort at the idea. Only a week or two ago, he had spotted Mikoto as she went about buying groceries with a tiny Itachi at her side. The pair's hands were linked, oblivious to the world around them as they discussed one topic or another. He had meant to ask about her infant, gather any tips he could from the experienced mother. Then a shinobi had appeared at his side in order to inform him that the council had wished to see him. It had been a matter involving taxes on imports and he had not seen the woman again.

Now, as he watched Shisui stroll back into the room carrying a tray of three plates, he had to wonder. Had something happened to Fugaku? Despite his first and second scan of the living room, Minato had been unable to find anything that would hint that the man lived there. Did the world without him leave her with nothing more than her adoring nephew? Itachi, her newborn, Fugaku: were they all dead? Shisui had said that she had raised Naruto as her own, but there were no traces of the blond child either. There was nothing that hinted anyone lived here other than the two sitting across from him.

Minato carefully set the cup on his knee as the liquid in it began to tremble.

"What happened?"

Minato continued to stare into the depths of his tea cup, uncertain if he wanted to give his answer. The urge to hunch his shoulders in an unconscious bid to shelter him was powerful, but he pushed it aside. Mikoto had Naruto, his son, and he needed to give her honest answers if he had any hope of her returning the favor.

"I was with Kushina outside the village and Naruto had just been born. Biwako and her assistant were cleaning him up when a masked man struck them down. He had thrown him into the air, intending to gut him in front of us." Mikoto gasped, the hand on her cup turning white with the pressure she was applying to it.

Minato shifted to examine the faded yellow wallpaper on the wall to his right before continuing, "I used Hiraishin to grab Naruto only to find explosive tags in his blanket. I removed it while transporting us to one of a handful of safe houses we had. It blew the house apart easily and I managed to escape out the door with Naruto. After leaving him in a different house, I went back for Kushina only to see the Kyuubi trying to crush her with its paw."

He winced at the chilled tea in his cup, swallowing it awkwardly as he organized his thoughts. There were many things a friend of a loved one could be asked to believe before it was taken too far. Minato was worried what would happen if Mikoto found him to be a nutcase.

"I got her out of danger in time, and brought her to be with Naruto. I went to stop the Kyuubi afterwards but, I was distracted by the man who started the whole affair. We battled, and I managed to free the beast from his control. In the end, however, he used a strange jutsu on me. When I woke up, it was pouring and I raced to Konohagakure. The only problem was, it appeared...appears as if it was destroyed many years ago."

"What happened," Minato asked into his empty tea cup. Silence reigned in the small room as the two Uchiha continued to examine the blonde, but he kept his eyes low. He had to consciously loosen his every muscle as he waited to see if they would call him a liar and kill him, or if they would question him relentlessly before finally accepting what he had to say. It wasn't as if he was lying to them.

"We lost him," the words were near a whisper and the man snapped out of his thoughts. Minato raised his head, meeting Mikoto's gaze head on for the first time, and the corners of her lips tilted. "Well, it's best if I clarify. There are many who can fit into that sentence: Fugaku, the Third Hokage, Naruto," she cleared her throat as her voice cracked.

His chest had tightened at the sound of his son's name. It wasn't too late; he didn't have to hear it. He could gather his sandals near the door to leave and never come back. Minato could force himself to believe that his son was out there somewhere, waiting for the day that he would find him and bring him home, back to the place where he truly belonged. Yet, even as these thoughts whirled about his head to lead him astray, Minato knew he couldn't. He would stay and listen, because there was no other choice.

"Get out of here."

Her venom went unnoticed as the two men continued to glare at each other. Fugaku's hands balled into fists at his sides as he listened to the man before him continue speaking, the words not quite processing within his mind. Two small hands clenched tightly at the fading yellow apron Mikoto wore and she shifted to make sure that the child was not within the shinobi's line of sight.

"So as you see, he really belongs to the Godaime as a ward of Konohagakure," the man had raised a hand only to sweep it in the air as if inviting the two to see his point of view. Not once since he had stepped foot into their home had he dared to remove the plain, white mask upon his face.

"Fuck off," Mikoto hissed; for once allowing the calm facade she hid behind to drop. The man's head snapped in her direction and she wished with her whole being that she possessed the Sharingan. One of her slender hands clutched at the back of the child's head, keeping his teary face buried against her side. She wanted to push Naruto out the door and have Shisui take him, Itachi, and Sasuke away because home was not safe any longer.

Danzo had taken his time setting up the board until there was little choice on their part. If they refused to let him lay one of his gnarled, disgusting fingers on their son, then he would raze the Uchiha compound. If they did as he wished, he would have their son.

No, Mikoto would rather lose all her worldly possessions, her mother, even her own husband, but she would not give up her children. Something in her stance or her chakra must have shifted, because in the next moment the masked man was dashing towards her. Fugaku intercepted the attack, kunai striking each other shaking the sudden silence. She did not have to see his face to know that her love's irises had changed into a deep crimson.

"Come," he grasped her arm, taking them away even as the man collapsed to the dark grey tile, his mask cracking with the force. Halls and rooms blurred past her as her mind reeled. It had finally happened; Madara's prediction had come true. Though, if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy or not was beyond her grasp. All she could understand was the harsh feeling of Fugaku's fingers around her wrist and Naruto struggling to keep up.

"Mommy," a young voice cried out.

The woman's heels dug into the polished flooring as her baby's hand slipped from its place within her hand. Her sweet, sweet four year old's lower lip began to tremble as he looked up at her. Mikoto tugged free of Fugaku in order to scoop the child into her arms, tucking his head into the crook of her neck.

"Mikoto," her husband began when screams pierced the thick walls of the Uchiha compound. The hand that had been extended towards her retreated as the man spun on his heel, deflecting several shuriken in the process. A trio of plain masked shinobi stood at the opposite end of the hall, their hands already racing through multiple hand seals. Fugaku's back stiffened as he shouted at his wife, "Run!"

"Fugaku," her desperate plea was drowned out by the sound of two jutsu clashing, the fire ball and water dragon enshrouding the hall in steam. The dark figure of her husband engaging in hand to hand combat was the last she saw before she backtracked the way she had come. Naruto locked his ankles against the small of her back as she raced around the corner they had neglected.

Mikoto did not notice the blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her tongue, too focused on the pin points of chakra surrounding the compound. Naruto only held onto her tighter as her fingers began to bruise his trembling frame. Her feet slammed harder on the floor, propelling her further faster as those pin points began to disappear. Cold, yet familiar chakra was dispatched by those that she had known her whole life; the burning signatures of the Uchiha were being snuffed out with an almost effortless efficiency.

Cool evening wind brushed against her bare arms as she paused in the shadow of a doorway. Pale lips parted with a silent gasp as she stared at the wreckage of what had once been her kitchen. The opposite wall had been demolished, and part of the roof had collapsed, covering the ground with chunks of wood and glass. A gurgled cough captured the woman's attention instantly, and a sizeable piece of twisted metal was in her left hand in less than three seconds.

Carefully, she approached the corner to her right and peeked over the edge of her remaining counters. A sharp stab of pain engulfed her chest as an all too familiar head of black tilted upwards to meet her gaze. Red coated teeth were revealed as the man offered her his best smirk, purposely not showing that he acknowledged the gaping hole in his stomach despite the gloved hands holding him together.

"M'to."

She sped around the counters to kneel by his side, pressing Naruto's head back into her neck when he tried to look. The soft clatter of her weapon being set upon the ground was ignored as she pressed her free palm to the man's cheek. Her voice was soft as she said the only thing she could think of, "Kagami."

"Shi 'as 'em. Safe," he managed through the thickening liquid in his mouth. Warm breath brushed the inside of her wrist as he leaned into her touch, his eyes at half-mast and his chest not quite rising high enough. Mikoto's mind took a moment to decipher what he was trying to tell her with his last words, before it clicked. Only the safety of four people would make their way to the forefront of her every thought in this situation, and one of them was with her.

"Thank you," she pressed her lips to the chilled forehead of the one person who had been almost like a brother to her. Mikoto shoved the emotions rearing up to the back of her mind as she fled from what had once been her home to find her missing sons.

Author's Note: I had so many ways I wanted to do this chapter that I actually gave up on it. I apologize for how terribly late this is, but I hope you liked it. I just ended up putting the best parts of all the different versions together to get this. I can't believe it only took me two days to edit this all together...wait. Did I just seriously leave this as a cliff-hanger? I'm the worst author ever.