The first thing Sasuke noticed through the mental fog was that he was actually comfortable. It was warm. Not uncomfortable, just warm. And soft. He could feel the feather-bed beneath him had a casing of silk and from its softness against his back was certainly stuffed with some form of down feathers. He was not able to feel the thicker mattress beneath it, which indicated that the feather-bed itself was of high quality, and also very thick.

Trying to lift himself he felt the pain echo throughout his body. It looked like without the cursed seal and the influence of Orochimaru's DNA he did not recover quite as quickly as he remembered. Considering the damage his muscles and soft tissues took during his fight with Karin he supposed he should be glad that it wasn't painful except for when he moved.

Focusing on circulating his chakra, he willed it to move throughout his body. He may never have had the knack for medical ninjutsu that Kabuto did, but he knew his own body well enough to be able to manage diagnostic techniques with chakra alone.

His energy was almost back up to a quarter of the way back to full, which considering that he was certain he must have been suffering from chakra depletion after that fight meant that he had been asleep for roughly fourteen hours.

Focusing on visualizing his stomach, he worked on gathering his energy into a bundle right above his navel. Eventually he felt it coalesce into the rough shape of a disk that spanned his abdomen. Making sure to keep his breathing level he moved the bundle up towards his heart. Giving himself a minute to count out his heartbeats while keeping track of the rate at which his lungs expanded and contracted indicated that he had practically no damage internally. The lack of pain from breathing told him that he luckily didn't break any of his ribs. Taking in a deep breath he felt no pain. His ribs must not have been bruised either.

He spent a while just lying there going over his internal anatomy with his life energy. After a short while he decided that there was not noticeable internal damage or dislocation anywhere in his torso.

Letting his chakra fade he finally opened his eyes. Checking his extremities would require use of his hands, which would mean sitting up.

Starting with his left arm he bent it at the elbow to put himself in a position to push himself upright.

After a painful jerk, he did so as well with his left.

His arm didn't move. The pain from moving his other arm cleared up his head from its morning grog significantly, it was because of this that he immediately realized why he both did not feel pain, and did not move his right arm as he'd intended. It was dead-numb. Concentrating on the feeling, he began to make smaller movements starting with his shoulder. Pins and needles assaulted him, and as they cleared he suffered from just a raw soreness and stinging.

"mmphlngl." a tangle of hair moved and settled next to his neck. Turning his head in the direction of the sound, he stopped turning his head when his cheek pressed into someone's skin. Through his peripheral vision he could easily make out the form of a sleeping Louise. A sleeping Louise that apparently had taken claim of his arm while he was asleep, and who was undoubtedly the cause of the numbness in that arm.

Deciding that getting upset at what was really a minor annoyance at worst was pointless, Sasuke tilted his head to re-examine what little of the room he actually could see from where he was. He knew that recovering was best done in comfort, with as little disturbance as possible (at least when there weren't medical ninjas who could make you right as rain in a matter of moments), which meant that waking Louise to get her to move was probably just not worth it.

Even if she did stop trying to act as if he were in a subservient position to her, it didn't make her any less irritable and easy to anger. The rantings of a little girl were surely not something he wished to subject himself to intentionally. The irony of the fact that he considered her a 'little girl' when she was actually a little more than a week younger than him, assuming months worked similarly between the elemental nations and here, did not escape him.

Looking around the room, he quickly noticed the canopy over the bed, as well the night stand with the Book of Brimir atop it. While elegant, the room he had been put in the first night was rather spartan, very little in the way of decoration and personalization. The more he glanced around, the more he became certain that this was no mere guest room, in retrospect a bed that was at least three or four times softer than the one he slept on the first night should have been an obvious clue that he was not in the same room. Though in his defense, it was hard to remember given that he only got to notice what the bed felt like for about a second or two before his head exploded in pain.

The girl who was for all intents and purposes cuddling to his side, in a manner that he regretfully reminded himself was not unlike how he had to the murderer that was once his older brother.

With time for thoughts to himself Sasuke decided that 'drinking whatever the hell it is that Laurent was serving' officially made his mental list of 'shit I am never going to do again if I can help it'. Number four in fact, right above 'listening in on conversations between Orochimaru and Kabuto that in any way, shape, or form, involves the words 'sex', 'copulation', or ; 'coitus'.' (now relegated to number five), and below 'Watching my family be murdered', 'Not being strong enough to avenge the murders', and 'Gambling in any way against Naruto Uzumaki' (one, two, and three respectively).

Deciding more rest couldn't hurt, he closed his eyes and simply let his thoughts wander for some time. For Sasuke, wandering thoughts inevitably lead to remembering what one might call the defining moments in his life. For someone with photographic memory forcing itself on not just their vision, but directly on to one's muscle memory, and chakra system, it was probably more apt to call it re-living rather than re-membering.

"Have you awakened yet, eh? Obviously you haven't! Now I'll really break you apart, immobilize you, and take you with me! Sasuke!"

Naruto. He might just be Sasuke's first friend, he was definitely the closest he ever got to a 'best' friend. Even while fighting Itachi, Sasuke wondered on whether or not he would eventually have to kill Naruto just to obtain the Mangekyou.

Though he would never tell anyone, the reason he never did so was not as he stated before Itachi, that he didn't need such things. When being true to himself, with no lies in his heart of hearts, he was absolutely certain why it was.

With a conviction even stronger than that with which he would tell himself that Itachi would pay, Sasuke asked himself the question on more than one occasion "Unlocking the Mangekyou requires killing the person closest to you. Naruto obviously felt a strong enough connection to me that it would qualify if it were him with the Sharingan. But as close as they actually ended up on some levels; as much as Naruto had actually managed to strip away the walls of protection that Sasuke had built for himself, which were to protect whoever would try and get close to him as much as they were to protect himself from being hurt again, those walls were still there.

Sure there were holes where the blonde's insistence and force of personality had drilled their way through. There was certainly chipping along its entire surface. Probably some actual rot set in the foundation. A big gaping section of rubble where his fortifications against fun and enjoyment were erected.

But for all the havoc Naruto somehow managed on his emotional defenses, they were never truly breached. Never finally. Never conclusively. Never in such a way that he could be sure how he felt about his erstwhile teammate.

He'd never been able to ask himself "would killing Naruto grant me the Mangekyou?" with a definite yes. It was up for grabs. Had he stayed in Konoha, Sasuke was certain that eventually his walls would have crumbled before the ever-enduring onslaught that was Naruto. But as things were he didn't know.

It's not that I didn't cut those bonds. I didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing me obtain power by following in his footsteps. I just spared your life on a whim...nothing more.

For a dolt, Naruto was incredibly perceptive. At less than a glance the blonde had managed to tell the truth from the lie in Sasuke's proclamation. It would have saved them both time and effort in posturing had he just honestly replied with what he later realized was what he truly felt.

"I am actually not sure that our bond was strong enough to do what I would need by severing it. The idea of cutting off something so close to me, and possibly doing it for nothing… It isn't worth the risk. If I knew for certain it would give me the tools to beat Itachi I would sever this bond in an instant… But knowing that it might all be for naught… I don't think I could live with myself if that happened."

Though Naruto's uncanny ability to discern such a true feeling from his actual statement really was a testament to his strength, of the conviction to follow through with one's goal no matter what.

It was actually more painful than Sasuke cared to admit to realize what his being in this world will end up meaning for the blonde.

Though if anyone could figure out a way to bring him back to konoha from here… Naruto was probably it. Fox or no, the way he managed to do the impossible could only be logically attributed to some kind of powerful bloodline ability.

A bloodline ability like the Sharingan…

Like the Mangekyou…

Like Itachi…

Itachi…

It always comes back to Itachi.

It always has.

Even before the Massacre it always came back to Itachi.

While Father's praise and adoration was a kind of obvious thing to want, it was always secondary to Itachi. Back then, if he had to choose between never being able to get his father's approval, and never getting to play with Itachi again he would have picked the latter in a heartbeat. There wouldn't even need to be thought involved. It was automatic.

Sasuke hated himself for that. For how he could have been so naive, so mistaken. So utterly blinded by affection and love. Even now, looking back with the power of hindsight he could not see it coming. His love for his older brother during his formative years was so complete that even knowing what would happen later, Sasuke could not piece together any clues from his earlier experiences with him.

Just a few weeks ago he would have denied it with more fervor than he could possibly imagine, but now, with Him dead…

The Itachi Uchiha from Sasuke's memories was in fact, and without question, the perfect older brother. Kind to a fault, but in an understated and not overbearing manner. Patient on a level that would put professional shogi- players to shame. Willing to put up with his constant begging and pleading, and actually apologizing for not being able to meet the demands of a child. Even honestly meaning those apologies wholeheartedly.

Looking back, it was still utterly incomprehensible how Itachi Uchiha, paragon of elder brothers everywhere could also be Itachi Uchiha, mass murderer of his own kin.

"If you want to kill me, despise me, hate me, and live in an unsightly way... Run, and cling to life, and then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me."

The fact that the man Sasuke remembered from his childhood could have ever uttered those words, and shown him the images that he saw…

It made it understandable that he had nothing left when the clan was finally avenged.

Single-minded goals are like that, you devote your everything to them. Everything, that way if you were to fail you could pass knowing you did everything in your power to get there, and that it just wasn't enough. It is utterly inconceivable that a person would give anything less than their entire being towards a goal like that.

In all honesty, as much as he wanted to kill Itachi, Sasuke was scared. Scared that he would succeed. Scared he would have to face the problem he now does. "what now?"

What does one do when they have finished their life's great work at sixteen years old? What does one do when the meaning behind his existence has been erased, by their own hand no less?

At the moment of suffering the Tsukuyomi for the first time all of his childish hopes and dreams were immediately destroyed. Falling in love, finding friends, impressing Father, playing with his favorite cousins, making friends, becoming a hero, saving princesses, getting to stay up late, becoming an adult in his own right and doing all those 'adult things'. At one point he even wanted to be Hokage, he had dreamed about it for months as a child 'Sasuke Uchiha, first Hokage from the great Uchiha clan. Stronger than all the others, the greatest ninja to ever lead the village'.

Though nobody ever knew it, the Fourth Hokage was actually his idol at one point. Charming, powerful, talented, capable of feats never before matched by another person. A man whose reputation alone was enough to avert wars, and who single-handedly killed the single most powerful existence in the world, even at the cost of his own life. A man with such conviction to be able to lay down his life for his village. Likely the only man Father both respected and admired. Sasuke wanted to become a man like that. A man that Father could never be anything but proud of.

In a way, Father's death signalled the death of his own childhood. There was no impressing a dead man. There was nothing a dead man could give you. Despite the horror of watching Mother, whom he loved more than anyone in the world, be brutally murdered it was actually the death of Father that brought him to the spiral that was his need for revenge.

Father was in a way his goal. If he could only get Father's approval then he would have no regrets left in life. Father's death meant in a very real way that Sasuke could never be fulfilled, and in what could be seen as a childish attempt to ignore that fact his psyche redirected his all from the goal of his father to that of his brother. It just changed what the desired relationship would be to one of executioner and criminal. It was really this sublimation of his deepest desire that turned him from a boy into a man, and from a 'person' to an Avenger.

It was starting then that avenging the clan's death meant everything to him. To replace his childish and unrealistic goals he constructed ones that he thought should only be 'expected' of the last of his clan.

'Repair and clean the clan buildings'. . . 'Create a monument in remembrance of the fallen'. . . 'Restore the prominence of the Uchiha in clan politics'. . . 'Re-establish the Uchiha police force'. . . 'Keep the district as the sole property of the Uchiha clan'. . . 'Ensure that the clan would have sufficient funds for future generations'. . . 'Revive the clan'. . . 'Ensure that even if he died that he left an heir'. . .

With creeping pace, sometimes years between their abandonment all ambitions, all goals, all desires, they all were subsumed by revenge. All merely things that he 'must avenge the clan' in order to ever hope to pursue. His own personal ambitions were swallowed up into the hole that was "Revenge", and then the ones that he had imposed on himself as a 'duty' met the same fate. In less than two years from the massacre, in just two years living in the ghost town that was the Uchiha District he had discarded more goals, more desires, more ambition than he had ever thought he could have.

Despite his self control he couldn't help but whisper his thoughts aloud, if only slightly "Sasuke Uchiha, the Avenger. He gave up more goals by sixteen than other men had gathered by thirty."

"So it should be no surprise that in his first week in the world he also discarded more common sense than the whole world was thought to contain. Truly a man to be revered" Louise added with sarcasm and fake reverence.

Sasuke laughed. Just a chuckle at first, it soon became a hard full chest laugh. His entire body was at the mercy of his reaction. He laughed until he cried. He cried until he again laughed. The whole time he had less control over his body than he could ever remember, his mind what an addled mess simply existing from sensation to sensation, unthinking.

Eventually his brain's cocktail of pleasure-chemicals faded away, and what was an almost blissful experience of unthinking light-headedness left him feeling the full strain of his bruised self convulsed with all the force that a trained shinobi's muscles could apply by themselves. Groaning at the persistent stinging of his still-injured body he tried to gather himself, his mind still foggy from the blinding white that encompassed his thoughts just a moment before.

The feel of gravity pulled his hair down towards his face rather than his back. At some point during his laughing fit he must have rolled over. Gritting through the pain he knew he would feel Sasuke pushed his arm forward to get the leverage to lift himself up. As his palm touched down, but before he could put his weight on it he noticed that what he felt was nothing like the featherbed that he had identified before drifting off in his thoughts.

"W-what do you think you're d-DOING!?" Louise's scream was unusually loud. He could actually smell her breath as it happened. Opening his eyes he saw a pale forehead and light red-brown eyes that he knew quite well from the last week.

Looking at his arm he realized that it was placed atop Louise's wrist, and that he was essentially half-sprawled on top of her.

Given that his own clothing was very open and loose it was little surprise that his robe had actually slid right off of one shoulder displaying his chest on that side. Louise, having been dressed in her own nightwear had little covering her to begin with, and apparently his movement had disrupted her attire as well.

Sasuke groaned through the pan and contorted himself into a roll onto the floor. Due to the distance to the bed's edge he could only land on one foot.

After putting his weight down he collapsed in pain, his center of gravity rapidly shifting and ultimately rolling over himself. His roll was fortunately stopped while he was in a position that had his back approximately against the wall. It unfortunately caused him to collide hard with a bookshelf. Hearing the hardwood vibrate he grabbed out with his hand to try and steady it.

He was successful, if only just.

While before the top of his robe before was somewhat sliding off, during his escapade to the ground it was mostly abandoned. The belt that fastened his whole outfit together had loosened and the white top lay behind him, leaving his upper body entirely unadorned.

"Y-You!" Louise pointed at Sasuke accusingly, but noticing his state of dress simply muttered incoherently for a second or two until she finally noticed him blink, she was pretty sure that was the closest he came to wincing, and move his hand to brush over some of the bruises on his flesh. Calming down at his subtle show of pain she straightened up her own clothing. His reaction at what happened was either some form of paranoia, or was actual surprise. While absolutely crazy, she didn't take him as the type to be paranoid for no good reason.

Whatever impropriety just took place was not intentional, and she was his master (even if he would not allow her to use that title). Forgiveness was obviously the proper course of action… Even if she didn't like it.

"Ahem" Clearing her throat to draw his attention. When he was clearly looking at her she spoke, hand on her hips in what she thought was a suitably stern demeanor "What do you think you were DOING!?" Ok, so maybe her forced calm and forgiveness was mostly forced and not much calm… Was it wrong that she couldn't simply let what happened just now go so quickly? He practically assaulted her just now! If she didn't know better she might think he had lecherous intentions…

But she did know better. Given that in the week they had been sleeping in the same room together, and despite the fact that she always went to bed long before he did he never attempted anything it was fairly safe to say that if he was the type of man to try something along those lines it would have happened by now. It hadn't. Thus this obviously was not some attempt at lechery.

He simply stared at her for some. It appeared that he was simply going to stare at her blankly and ignore her. Not exactly something he hadn't done bef-

"I think..." His brow moved just the slightest bit, as if he was trying to think harder than usual and his brow tried to frown in contemplation. "I think that I may have found your addendum to my thoughts may have been more clever than I had anticipated." He thought for a second more before adding "It was… Funny." Adjusting his sitting posture more and bringing a hand to rest knuckles under his chin, something Louise had discovered some time ago meant he was thinking. "I" he paused "I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time… I don't…" He chuckled derisively at himself "I don't think I have honestly laughed, not chuckle or smirk or preen, but actually laugh…" His gaze went far off as if he were seeing another place and time "Since Itachi killed the clan…"


Finally deciding that after two minutes of silence he had nothing else to say Louise finally asked him the question she had at the tip of her lips that whole time. "Who is Itachi?"

Sasuke just stared at Louise like she'd grown a second head before mumbling something to himself.

It was a stupid mistake on his part. He was trying to keep things under control, not let anyone get a bead on exactly what happened in his past, keep things vague enough to use as a weapon. He should have had better control, he should have been able to keep his thoughts inside his head, he would never be able to beat Itachi if he couldn't…

Sasuke practically bolted upright. That was it. That was the reason. He relaxed because he could, it had finally sunk in. He had killed Itachi, Itachi was dead. The shackles he had kept around himself internally were reinforced with the knowledge that Itachi was still out there, that justice hadn't been done. Now that was no longer the case, without the threat of allowing Itachi to go free hanging over him it was as if something within him had shifted, as if everything wasn't just a ploy to getting to Itachi, as if he didn't need all those walls around his heart.

He didn't, and just like that his acknowledgement of it in his thoughts was enough to crumble them to dust. His life was ruled by Itachi, and now it wasn't. He was no longer the Avenger, he no longer needed to be. He was just Sasuke now, and even if he hadn't realized it consciously he did somewhere deep inside. It was time to move on. That wasn't a slip in his control, in his built up defenses. That was his inner self, his subconscious giving him a sign that he needed to move on.

Like any good shinobi he was educated in human psychology, and he knew that moving on from crises and trauma almost always meant opening up.

Sasuke was never the religious type, few shinobi were, as it was just asking for bad karma, but this was what those who were probably referred to as a sign. An indicator as to what needed to happen.

Sasuke didn't believe in faith, that it was futile and silly and a weakness. Yet now, right now, he felt compelled to take it as a sign of faith, that everything would somehow work out.

A man stood at the precipice of a cliff standing over a great canyon, with the fall completely obscured by mist too deep to see through. There was no way to see where the bottom was, or even if a bottom existed.

He jumped. In doing so a battle-hardened man was turned back into a boy.

"Louise, let me tell you a story. A story of glory, of pain, of betrayal. Of the greatest and most vile men to ever live. Of heroes and kinslayer. Let me tell you the story of the once-great Uchiha Clan."

It was a long story, at some point near the beginning Cattleya joined Louise on her bed. Eventually Eleanor was also enthralled in the tale. Of the warring clans, of the shinobi who would do battle for the daimyo. Of the great feud between the two greatest families Senju and Uchiha. Of Hashirama and Tobirama, or Madara and Izuna. Of the great techniques Mokuton and Sharingan.

Of the formation of the first hidden village. Of the fight over the position of first fire shadow. Of the wars, and the story of the Uchiha's rise to prominence in the village.

Of the power and might of the Sharingan.

Of Itachi.

For that was what it had always been whether Sasuke had known it. His life was but a tale of causes and effect.

Of the causes for Itachi, and the effects of Itachi.

Effects like Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke.


AN: Hey look an author's note, that place where the author apologizes for things that he thinks he did wrong and talks about his story...

This chapter was not at all what I was expecting it to be. I just started writing it and then the words just kind of took on a life of their own, which was actually really cool. If only this was the first version of what this chapter was supposed to be, and not the eleventy billionth (kudos to anyone who gets that reference).

I actually have few complaints about this chapter for once. I feel that Sasuke came across in pretty much exactly the way I wanted, and I got to touch base on all the things I wanted to explore here and even resolve some of the things I had been thinking of putting off for much much longer in the story.

Some terminology notes for those who aren't familiar with it (I wasn't and had to do a fair amount of research for parts of this chapter). A feather-bed or featherbed (also known as a feather tick) is basically a gigantic mini-mattress that goes on top of a mattress. In the time period this takes place in most mattresses were stuffed with straw or something similar and covered in linen, these were quite stiff. A featherbed was usually placed on top of the mattress proper and was stuffed with down feathers (some super-soft bird feathers). Louise, being the high-class lady that she is likes a softer than normal bed, so she has an extra-thick featherbed, and instead of being encased in linen everything of hers is made of silk (which would be much more expensive, and MUCH harder to wash and clean). At the period in which Halkegenia presumably exists, woven flax (linen) is almost certainly the predominant type of cloth, and things such as cotton are pretty much unheard of if they exist at all.

I think I will call this chapter the end of 'act 1', with act 1 essentially being just one story arc, the introduction arc, introducing the the characters to the world and each other, and the audience (kind of) to what exactly is going on in this story. [Hopefully] from here I can start on the next act which I have tentatively called [warning spoilers] 'The War' [/spoilers] which should be the meat of the story, and will likely be in the realm of 20-40k words if my estimates hold up (it could either go long or short, I think the actual meat and potatoes of it should take around 20k words, but it could easily take much longer to get things in place and also do some character development and whatnot), for those interested I am thinking this story should essentially end up as 3ish acts long (with the 3rd being tentatively titled [spoilers] 'The Aftermath' [spoilers]).

My current estimate puts the story so far at about 18k words (which by the standard of 250 words is 1 page that I learned in my creative writing classes forever ago and a day puts it at about 60-some pages, which if you assume we are talking about a normal-sized paperback is probably about right for 12 point font), I estimate the whole thing hopefully finishing up at around 70-80k words.

Some of the things I do in this chapter in terms of formatting are a bit on the strange side from my experience, the reason is for pacing. I find that the hard line breaks and short sentences with elipses evoke the pace that I was trying to set. Though I could be wrong and it is actually horrible to look at and read. If it is the latter let me know, and if you can think of it tell me how you think I should be doing it instead.

Stuff for those who like to know random thoughts about the story from the author (and mostly a way for me to put some things down in a kind of official format so that I have to hold myself accountable to these ideas later on when writing other material), Sasuke's emotional 'breakdown' (probably not the best word to describe it) here is completely intentional from an in-universe perspective. It is actually due in part to the familiar runes, which link him with Louise on a spiritual/psychic level (that is how I personally interpret the bond anyway) and also because of a kind of mishap with some water magic while he was asleep. Because [classified], the water magic that was used to try and heal him after his brawl with Karin caused some weird side effects, one of which is that his body was coaxed into a state of 'healing'. Because magic totally works based on ontology (at least I say it does) this means it includes healing of a spiritual and emotional nature, which induced him to be more susceptible to thinking about and dealing with things that normally would have been pretty locked up deep down there in that cave of suppressed emotions that is Sasuke's inner psyche. Also the runes are doing things and stuff in general (yes that is vague) which also has an impact as well.

The next chapter will probably not take too long, but will also lack substance. The one after that will probably take awhile because I keep waffling on a very very important decision (it rhymes with burr-stinger), but I think I have a good idea how to get us to a scene I have had in my head since pretty much the start, and another scene that actually preceded the story.