CH7

Sauske made it home in record time, slamming the door of the apartment that Sakura and he shared so hard he thought it might come off the hinges. He stalked into his room and slammed that door too, walking around his room seething with anger. Another secret, another secret that Itachi took to his grave. Why? Why was she so special? Oh he was angry at his father, but even more so at Itachi. He grew in the dark about the truth of his clan, and he grew up hell bent on revenge, hating Itachi, But this girl knew the truth the whole time. Why did she get to grow up with Itachi in her life while he stumbled around in the dark? All things considered he knew it was something small to angry about, but he couldn't help it.

Sauske hear the bedroom door open and saw Sakura standing timidly in the door way.

"Sauske-"

"Don't" he cut her off "Don't tell me calm down right now."

She shook her head. "I'm not. I just came to check on you."

Sauske sat down on the bed and Sakura joined him.

"I just don't understand why. Why would my father do this? Why would Itachi keep something like this a secret?"

"I don't know" she said taking his only hand in hers. "I'm sure you're father was just ashamed, you come from a very proud, very strict clan. I have no doubt a child born from an affair would have been shunned and your family would have been an outcast. Perhaps he was doing what he thought was best, regardless if it was wrong or right. As for Itachi, well he's always had his reasons and they've always been to protect you."

"Protect me from what this time?" he snapped "From a girl who's my half sister?"

"Maybe it was to preserve your fathers memory, I'm sure Itachi was angry and ashamed when he found out, maybe he wanted to spare you those feelings."

Sauske let out a long sigh, Sakura made some good points, but still he couldn't shake the anger he felt.

"I want to hate her." He said Sakura raised an eyebrow at him

"Sauske you can't hate her for something your father did."

He shook his head "No not because of that, I want to hate her because she got Itachi, because he chose her. I made a mess out of my life, mostly because of my own mistakes, but partly because he kept me in the dark. She had it easier, and I'm jealous."

"Sauske Uchiha!" Sakura snapped,

Sauske looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"You can't seriously sit her and think that she had it easy. Yes she had Itachi, but other then that Marianna has been dragged through some of the same hells as you. Weren't you listening? Your father refused to claim her. Her mom was killed when she was five, her grandmother died soon after and then she lost Itachi all by the time she thirteen, and now one of her sisters is dead and the other one is missing. She was a kept a secret from everyone around her, hiding her relationship to your clan probably because she was scared people would come after her like they did you."

Sauske narrowed his eyes at her, only because she was right and he hated it when she was right.

"She's your sister Sauske, she's family. You need to try, Itachi would at least want you to try"

He knew what Itachi would have wanted but he wasn't sure how to be a brother to an eighteen year old girl. He didn't know how to accept her into his life, perhaps she didn't even want him in her life.

"I don't know how" he said.

Sakura rested her head on his shoulder "Just start by saying hello. Take things slow."

"Ah" he nodded in agreement as he kissed her head. She smiled at him and stood up and walked towards their bathroom, slowly removing her shirt in the process.

"Shower." She said, it was a demand rather than a question, and it was the best suggestion Sauske had heard all day, as he walked in to join her.

Marianna couldn't sleep, or rather she couldn't fall back asleep. She looked over at the clock and it read 11:00 pm, it wasn't that late but she had fallen asleep early. Her and Maya were taken to the hotel by Kiba, it was a nice place and they had separate rooms and showers. Someone else had stopped by with groceries and clothes that were a perfect fit for them both, something that surprised her. She had woken up from another nightmare, her body covered in a thin layer of sweat, it was dark but she knew her eyes were red. She finally decided to go on a walk, she pulled out a pair of tight fitting black capris that ended just below her knee, she didn't bother to change out of the dark grey t-shirt she had worn to bed. After slipping on her sandals she quietly walked out the front door, it was a chilly night and she was kicking herself for not bringing a light jacket. Marianna hated the cold, absolutely hated it, she found it annoying. She crossed her arms and continued to walk around the village until she found herself walking past the burial grounds. She turned into the entrances and walked along the headstones until she found the two she was looking for placed right next to each other,

"Hi mom." She whispered "HI Nana, I'm home."

She sat down between the two headstones, playing with the grass around her.

"Kara's gone, but I'm guessing you already knew that, if she's with you tell her I'm sorry…..I'm sorry I didn't save her mom."

A single tear slipped down her face "I couldn't find Yani or Kuro, but I think they're alive, they have to be."

She laid down between the headstones and gazed up at the night sky watching the stars, not wanting to back to her room.

She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she felt someone shaking her awake.

"Hey." The voice called out, she opened her eyes and was greeted by the man who had watched over her earlier, Shikamaru.

"Are you trying to catch a cold?" he asked.

She frowned at him "No, I didn't mean to fall asleep. What are you even doing out here?" she asked in an accusing tone.

He shrugged at her "Visiting some family, same as you."

She rolled her eyes "You could just cut the bullshit and tell me you're her because your Hokage told you yo keep and eye on me."

He smirked at her "Ok fine, I was watching you, but I was also visiting family, I didn't realize you planned on sleeping out here."

Marianna stood up and brushed the grass of her, she was even colder than before. "I already told you I didn't plan on falling asleep, it just happened, I couldn't sleep back in my room, so I came on a walk and ended up here."

"I know." He said "I was keeping an eye on you, remember?"

Smartass she thought. "What time is it?"

He glanced at the non-existent watch on his hand, "About two-thirty."

She gaped at him "You let me sleep that long?" he shrugged.

"I figured you were having trouble sleeping, and like I said I have family here so it wasn't that big of a deal."

"Well I want to go back to my room, but I'm not entirely sure on how to get back."

He stuffed his hands into his pocket and nodded, they walked silently through the village.

"Are you cold?" he asked "You've been shivering."

She crossed her arms and nodded. "Well we're almost to the hotel."

They reached her door five minutes later, she opened it and motioned for him to come in. "You're supposed to be keeping an eye on me remember." Shikamaru walked inside, glancing around awkwardly.

He felt a little awkward standing in the hotel living room, but it was better than sitting on the roof. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed two waters from the fridge, she passed one to him and sat down on the loveseat, he sat down on the bigger couch across from her.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in this." She said

"Its really not that big of a deal." He said

"You just discovered that I am the half-sister of Sauske and Itachi Uchiha, I'd say that it's a pretty big deal." He smirked, "Yea I guess it kind of is then. Aren't you going to try and get some sleep?"

She curled up on the corner of the couch, tucking her feet underneath her. "I don't sleep well, haven't for years."

He took a sip of water and was quietly observing her, despite being an Uchiha she didn't look like them. She looked nothing like Sauske, well they had the same frown, but besides that they were polar opposites. He had seen a picture of Sauske's family once and Sauske, even Itachi took mostly after their mother; pale skin and dark hair. He though Itachi looked a little like their father, but Sauske was a spitting image of his mother. He knew Fugaku had brown hair, and while he didn't know what her mother looked like he was betting she got it from him. Her olive skin tone certainly separated her from the clan's standards, not to mention her eyes.

They weren't the typical pitch black, that Sauske had, they were warm, almost golden. Yes she certainly was different, but something about her told him that she still possessed the same darkness her family did. He didn't think that she had acted on that darkness unlike Sauske and Itachi, but he had a feeling it was there, that it was something that she was fighting. You don't go through that much loss without fighting it, he knew because after losing Asuma and his father, he had to fight his own demons.

"You can stop trying to figure me out, and just ask me what you want to know." Her statement pulled him from his thoughts and Shikamaru realized he must have been staring at her to long.

"After all," she said "I'm going to be here for a while." Marianna definitely was different from Sauske, she was a bit more open, and he doubted he would ever have a meaningful conversation with Sauske in his life.

"Your family was fueled by power and secrets, they are one of the oldest and strongest clans left, yet you seem to want no part in their name, you don't even seem to accept Sauske as your brother and he may be the only family you have left." She sighed deeply

"Yes well I am the only family he has and he doesn't seem too eager to get to know me, and as for the Uchiha name, you're right I don't want it. Fugaku didn't want me, I understand the position he was in and I have made my peace with it. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life walking around with daddy issues, when he clearly wasn't bothered by the fact he had a child out there. If I hadn't developed the sharingan, who my father was wouldn't have mattered much, the only reason I do matter is because of the power in my eyes and it isn't something I want to be known for."

She had been staring at the floor the whole time she spoke but then she looked up at him, her bright hazel eyes meeting his.

"The Uchiha name is stained with blood, and I didn't want that blood on my hands. Even now being back in their home village I still don't want the name. I wasn't raised to be an Uchiha, I was raised to be myself, and lame as that sounds."

"It doesn't sound lame," he said "It sounds like you did the best you could."

She smiled at him "Itachi was a big part in that, he didn't want me to end up like Sauske. He wanted to tell him the truth, but there were to many obstacles. When Sauske left the village it really hurt him, but he felt like it was Sauske's path."

"I don't think anyone could have saved Sauske, he was hell bent on power and revenge even before Orochimaru came into the picture. I think everything that happened to him, happened for a reason."

She shrugged her shoulders, seeming indifferent about the topic of Sauske. They talked more for a few hours, and he learned more about her. She talked a bit about her sisters Yani and Kara, Yani was married and was seven months pregnant. Her brother-in-law Kuro was missing along with his younger brother Zuko who was a very close friend of hers; Amaya's older brother Raiden was missing as well. She spoke very briefly about Kara, but from what she said he assumed that she was closer to her than Yani. She made Jonin by age 14, clearly taking after her older brothers in that aspect, she went on missions outside of the village, but was pulled off of them during the war.

After a while she nodded off, he looked at the clock and it read five-thirty, he had gotten no sleep. He had to report to Kakashi in three hours, so he decided to lay out on the couch. Before he did though, he grabbed two blankets from closet and draped one of them over her sleeping form. He couldn't help but notice how peaceful she looked when she slept; she even looked younger.

Shikamaru laid down on the couch and took one last look at her sleeping form, before he let sleep take him.