DISCLAIMER:

Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto - Once I had a Sister, on the other hand, belongs to moi.

There are Japanese honorifics and vocabulary scattered around the fanfic (glossary of terms at the bottom for your convenience)

Please read and drop a review at the bottom, and I will love you forever.

Once I had a Sister

Chapter 9

Tutoring or not, it's still school

Sasuke lurched groggily out of Tsukiyomi-coloured nightmares to a series of loud rings from his doorbell. High-pitched chimes rang loud and long throughout the house, creating an alarm from Hell for any poor victim still in bed. Sasuke strained eyes still sandy with sleep around the walls for some indication of the time. Half past eight. He pulled his limbs from the twisted sheets and staggered to the door.

The doorbell was still ringing when a less-than-pleased, hungry and still sleepy seven year old yanked the door open, intent on blowing up whoever was on the other side. However, Konoha's Last Uchiha got the second wake-up call of the morning when he saw a bright eyed, grinning woman at his doorstep.

"Good to see you're up Sasuke-kun," she greeted. "May I come in?"

Sasuke shut the door. An instant later the doorbell was attacked again.

"Who are you?" The boy demanded, mustering all the hate Itachi had given him into a lethal glower.

Haruna, being said grinning woman, wasn't fazed in the slightest and replied with the tiniest tinge of haughtiness, "Your tutor. Now, many I come in?" Without waiting for a reply she brushed past the scowling boy in the doorway and strolled into the apartment like she owned it. "Have you had breakfast yet? Washed up? Prepped for a big day?" she inquired while she made a beeline for the pantry.

Naturally Sasuke was bewildered and by the time he had overcome his initial shock, his visitor had made herself quite at home. Uchihas did not panic, he told himself. Uchiha shinobi took control of the situation. Dark eyes followed the woman as she exclaimed over a unopened packet of doughnuts and chattered on as if he was actually listening. Sasuke squared his small shoulders bravely. He was supposed to handle this quick and calmly and he crossed the sitting room adjoining the kitchen till he stood in front of this unknown female.

"Excuse me… lady… But what are you doing?"

"I'm your tutor," she replied, as if that was completely obvious.

"I don't – I don't have a tutor."

Her hands were raised apologetically. "Well you do now! You've missed school for more than a month and Hokage-sama wanted someone to bring you back up to speed and so he called me – and here I am! Your personal teacher!"

Sasuke stood still, mouth agape like a fish flung out of water. It was true that the Hokage had told him he didn't have to go back to school until he was ready, but… what? Haruna ran her eyes over her charge. Mini-Itachi was barefoot, dark rings under his eyes and obviously dragged out of bed before he was ready.

"Why don't you go get yourself ready and we'll start for real after that, okay? I still need to find out just where you stand intellectually at the moment."

Dangerously close to losing his composure, Sasuke tried one last time. After Haruna's suggestion she had walked to to the sofa, taking off the backpack he hadn't noticed she was holding until now. Scrolls, textbooks and a panda pencil case peeked through the open zip.

"The Hokage sent me a tutor?"

"Yes. Lucky kid, aren't you? I never got a tutor when I was your age."

"Who are you?"

"Come on Sasuke, don't you remember me? I visited you in hospital a month ago – and dyed your clothes pink at the new playground before that? Remember?"

Sasuke paled visibly. Yes, he remembered both instances clearly. Except… his "tutor" had been in ANBU gear and had her hair in a high ponytail. This time, she was in jounin pants and a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up. But she was grinning and seemed to disregard the solemnity in anything so Sasuke immediately saw the resemblance between the two.

"I'm Wo… Haruna. The name's Haruna," she informed him, extending a hand politely. "Douzo yoroshiku."

Sasuke ignored the gesture. "Is there a last name?"

There was an indignant scoff, coupled with a near-sarcastic response. "What are you, my mom? The name's just plain Haruna. You can call me Haru-chan, Haruna-sama, Haruko, Runa, Runa-senpai…"

Sasuke bolted, racing down the hallway and out the window with impressive speed before she could finish. By the time she'd run out of different nicknames and gotten to the window –which was still pretty fast, considering who she was – Sasuke was a brown shirt disappearing into the hedges next door.

So much for first impressions…

"Oi! Come back here!"

.

.

.

"So how was your first day, Haruna-sensei?" The Hokage asked Haruna as he handed her a glass of water.

"You never told me he was an unsociable brat, so I had a great day thank you. Running around the village trying to find him is always a good way to get to know your student."

"We'll you're going to have to keep trying, child. Sasuke-kun needs your help more than anyone else."

Haruna lifted her head from the counter-top. Of course she knew that, but how on earth was she supposed to befriend a kid who didn't want her help in the first place?

But, she had to admit, the kid was good. Like, Uchiha good. Maybe not Itachi-good – like it was actually possible- but from the knowledge she'd been able to garner from her short introduction in his apartment and the circle of catching up to him, trying to get to an agreement then running off again she had come to one conclusion. Sasuke was clearly a kid who thought his battles out, definitely a smart ninja in the making. Added to that, he had been doing a good job keeping his apartment orderly. Itachi's little brother really did have a plethora of good attributes to his name and the only thing that stopped Haruna from ditching the whole tutoring idea was that she didn't want those talents to be wasted. Monsters were born from vengeance and Konoha did not need any more.

"I understand, Hokage-sama. All I need is time. I'll figure something out soon, I promise."

"You will, I'm sure. And do not lose hope yet. Sasuke-kun loves everything young Uzumaki wouldn't."

"Oi. Brat. Sit up and listen," Haruna commanded. Her voice was clipped and stern, with a tone not too harsh yet commanding obedience. "Did you hear me? Sit up and listen, this isn't kindergarten."

Good work Haruna-sensei, she thought as she said it. One doesn't win wars with niceness. The kunoichi repeated her command, liking the ease with which the words flowed out of her mouth to her now penitent student. The stuffed bunny looked properly cowed - no way was he going to ignore her lessons anymore.

Haruna smiled and gave the Sasuke-bunny and the Sasuke-panda next to him an approving pat on the head. "Now, let's get down to work," she said in her "tutor-voice" again to the inanimate objects, all the while keeping an eye on the clock. She'd be leaving in ten minutes; that gave her plenty of time for another run-through.

Nothing like last minute practice, after all.

A raven eye glared defiantly at hers from the other side of the table where he'd been for the last half hour.

"So what was the last thing you were learning at school?"

"…How to run without sound."

"Really? That must have been fun, right? Have you learnt any kanji?"

"Some."

"Can you throw shuriken stars?"

"Yes."

"Right. What's your favourite subject at school?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe none."

On and on. She'd try answering nicely and he'd answer with short, monotonous sentences or not at all.

Uchiha Sasuke, she wrote on the clipboard she had brought – all teachers had them and she was doing it to look the part. It had nothing to do with the fact that she'd always wanted one - and once again surveyed her automatic pupil. Seems to have forgotten how to answer with emotion. Possibly hungry now since have been here all morning trying to strike a conversation. Haven't even gotten down to any bookwork yet. At least he hasn't decided to bolt.

"Uh huh," she nodded, before placing the notes away. "You don't talk much, do you? Tch. You're quiet enough for the both of us." Sasuke was still on the other side of the table, the width of its wooden surface seemingly impassable. The tensed shoulders and guarded expression still remained, as if he'd vowed never to let anyone get through. If she hadn't been in his shoes before she would have gotten angry at her unaccepted niceness - it wasn't as if she particularly enjoyed it either – but the Hokage's voice in her head reminded her of how important this arrangement was.

"You don't need to teach me anything." Sasuke spoke up suddenly at his tutor's thoughtful silence. "Just give me the list of assignments and I'll get them done. I don't need any help."

Haruna ran an eye over his defensive pose, his little chin poking out defiantly. "You don't like me much, do you?"

Sasuke didn't answer but he poked out his chin jutted further. Like, duh? Haruna sank lower in the chair. She was never going to get anywhere at this rate… "Man," she said, past caring whether her student would mind or not, "I wish Itachi was here. Maybe he could give me some tips on how to work with you." Sasuke's head whipped up at the mention of the object of all his unbridled hatred.

Who was this girl to mention hateful aniki's name? The very thought of it made his fists clench in anger at his sides. As far as he was concerned Itachi was gone until the day he would seek him out. If this girl was going to bring him up as if he were just a friend, not a traitorous cold-blooded murderer, then…

"Don't mention that murderer's name again." he said coldly. "Ever."

"Or what?" Haruna challenged coolly. "You won't listen to me? You won't study? So what are you going to do then? Maybe you don't get it - you think the Hokage gave you this apartment just because you needed a place? You don't think there are people after you for your bloodline? You're the last Uchiha… well, who's able to be captured." Despite the disturbing darkness of his scowl, even the little Uchiha looked like he was beginning to understand. Or perhaps the information confirmed a few suspicions he might already have been harbouring. Sasuke wasn't stupid, she knew. "Your education has to continue – no questions asked. If you want I can walk out right now and you'll be off to school, and I'm sure that you'll enjoy the pity and whispers and people talking about it when you're around, won't you? Or," here the kunoichi's gaze looked much less like that of a bright tutor and far more like that of the mature, responsible soldier she was, "you can choose to stay under my protection and learn things from me in a way that would suit a smart kid like you."

She stood up, and headed for the door. "Your call, Sasuke. I don't tutor brats."

Sasuke was torn between himself, as both options didn't look agreeable. His tutor was almost to the door. He did not want to face the questions at school. The Uchiha clenched his fists, turning the options over and over… and chose the lesser of the two evils. "Fine," he concurred, slightly miffed that he hadn't thought of another option. "I'll do the work."

"Good!" The serious front melted away and she grinned once more. "We start straight after lunch, and don't forget… you have to call me Runa-senpai. Are we clear?"

"Are you not going to mention Itachi again?"

"We'll work around it. Just as long as you remember your respect, young one."

"Fin- Yes… Runa-senpai."

Have got him to call me Runa-senpai and agree to tutoring, Haruna jotted down on her clipboard while Sasuke stalked off to the kitchen for the lunch the lady had left that morning. Still hasn't laughed or anything...

Oh well. It's progress.

Iruka fidgeted nervously in front of the Hokage. All he'd meant to do was to politely ask for the official status on Uchiha Sasuke whereabouts – his student had been missing for six weeks, unless he was mistaken. Six. Weeks. If there was an explanation for an absence of that length, the Hokage would have it. Now he was here in the Hokage's office itself, it also seemed that he was in trouble.

If it was about the marking he'd handed in at lunch instead of that morning, he was so sure he'd apologised enough!

"Ahh, Iruka-kun!" The Sandaime greeted. The grandfatherly figure was old enough to call every middle aged jounin ~kun so no one complained. "What brings you here today? Is this about Naruto?"

"Uh, er no, Hokage-sama," the chuunin replied, bowing respectfully. "I wanted to ask about Sasuke – Uchiha Sasuke. Hes been absent for an unusually long time and I haven't had any word as to where he's been."

"Ahh yes. Well my boy," the Hokage seemed to be in a good mood, or at least not stressed. "I've pulled him out of school for the time being and he's being tutored now until he's able to return to class."

"T-tutored, Hokage-sama?"

The Sandaime nodded and a smoke ring blew. "Perhaps you'd like to pay them a visit?"

.

.

.

Sasuke popped a cherry tomato into his mouth as he went on to the last problem on the worksheet.

"Not bad Sasuke, you've only gotten one of these strokes wrong." The kanji worksheet Haruna had finished marking was passed back. There were half a dozen smiley faces on the paper. "Finish that worksheet quickly and we'll do a review."

A week and a half after their truce, life had eased into a something like a routine now. Haruna came at eight in the morning (Sasuke woke up early and hadn't protested) every day, and after a quick exercise to wake him up, they went into two hours of solid study before lunch. Sasuke did not take kindly to the jump-jam radio calisthenics routine she'd bought a while ago for him, so they stuck to morning parkour.

Sasuke's loss had taken away a part of him that nothing could bring back; Haruna had accepted that unguarded smiles and cheerful demeanours were going to be rare to induce from him. Nonetheless the boy studied hard and with determination, which showed in the results she could report back to the Hokage.

There was a knock at the door.

"I'lll get that," Haruna assured him when he stood up. "-you, finish the worksheet."

"Hn."

Iruka's tanned skin immediately flushed when the door opened and Haruna's hazel eyes stared into his questioningly. "Uh… Umm…"

"Iruka? Hey – Sasuke's just inside, come on in."

Haruna went off, leaviing the door open and showing him where he could leave his shoes, and led the way to where his student sat busily working at the table. Iruka followed numbly. The Sandaime had filled him in quickly on the situation and given the directions to Sasuke's apartment without much trouble but he had obviously left the identity of Sauke's tutor a surprise. The very fact that it was Haruna – Haruna, no less- left him with his mouth gaping like a fish.

What was he going to say, again?

"Ano… Haruna-san –"

Haruna pressed a finger to his lips and motioned for him to join her in the kitchen. "We'll talk here", she said tilting her head in the direction of her busy pupil. Once inside, she leaned against the counter and turned to Iruka who stood politely beside her. "You were saying?"

"This is a new kind of mission for you huh? You're coping well then?"

"Well, the boy was quite a handful at first, he still is now. But we have settled into a routine… Sort of. I mean we have parkour in the morning, and during the day we go over Kanji, maths and all the other boring stuff we went through as kids. The only difference is the level - he is an Uchiha right? – so I'm trying to give him a bit of a challenge too."

"Pretty impressive Haruna. You can add "World-class Teacher" to your repertoire after this I'm sure" He chuckled.

"Pshhtt, I was forced to do it. Besides," her voice dropped to a low whisper, "the kid's been traumatised more than people give credit for and you know that when word gets around that he's the only Uchiha left, he'll be everyone's target. But still," her tone lightened as she ran a hand over the marble countertop, "the kid's got a nice place to stay in, I'll give him that."

The pineapple-haired chuunin murmured his agreement, although he was really focused on the kunoichi who stood comfortably in the middle of the kitchen. The last time he'd seen Haruna, she was clad in ANBU gear and had her hands full with missions. Now she looked even better than before, despite being busy with her new workload. Perhaps it was the new change of clothes. It was a welcome sight, since they accentuated her figure. And her hair… "Ne, Haruna, your hair –"

"Runa-senpai, I'm finished" .

Iruka bit his lip at the interruption and both heads turned as Sasuke's dark head peered around the doorway, a completed paper in hand.

"Runa-senpai?" Iruka cocked an eyebrow questioningly while Haruna whisked the sheet from Sasuke.

"My new nickname" she winked. Hands in pockets, she tilted her head towards Iruka, whom Sasuke directed a respectful nod to. Iruka was still his homeroom teacher. "Okay Sasuke, take five while I mark your progress and then, we'll go over your times tables with shuriken, alright?"

As the boy disappeared, Iruka began heading for the door."I'm glad he's in capable hands. I'm afraid I should get going, my lunchbreak is almost over."

"Come again sometime if you want to check on him okay!" Haruna called out to him "And yo Iruka! What was that about my hair again?"

"Oh," Iruka paused before the doorway, and called out over his shoulder before leaving.

"Your hair is down for once… it's pretty..."

"…and so I told Iruka-sensei that he should be teaching the kanji for Ichiraku but he didn't listen to me."

"Did he? That's too bad." Haruna voice was consoling. Twilight had fallen and the two of them sat in Naruto's brightly lit apartment with their backs to the bedroom wall and instant ramen cups in their hands for a makeshift dinner. "Did you do anything else other than calligraphy practice?"

Naruto shook his head and slurped another mouthful of noodles. The greasy, salty smell of ramen scented the room cozily. "We did work like we always do –an' it was boring so I j'st looked outside the window – an' then OH YEAH ME AND HINATA READ A BOOK AT LUNCH – oh, and then Iruka-sensei let us play outside so I didn't feel that bad about him ignoring me."

"You read a book? Hinata must be really special to get you to read a book" his elder sister teased him playfully. "It's good that you're still doing your lunchtime study with Hinata, right? Or are you still upset that you're not allowed outside?"

"Nope. Hinata's nice, Haru-ne. Not like other people."

"Ahh. Then she really must be special."

A silence settled between them, broken only with sound of contented eating. Naruto had made dinner for the both of them, anxious to prove that the new brand of ramen he'd bought this week was as good, if not better, than the other one Haruna was loyal too. Cute kid, he'd even cleaned up the place after 'messing around' in the kitchen – although, since he'd spent so much energy cleaning the place up, Naruto had opted not to eat on the table so as to save him from clearing it up again afterwards. Ah well, it still made logical sense and Haruna couldn't help but feel just a little proud that Naruto had put in the effort. Taking the tutoring position had also proved a good choice; she'd been able to visit Naruto without fail every day.

"Mmmm. Nnnn-chhnnn."

"Hmm? And - chew and swallow first though."

Naruto rolled his eyes but counted twenty-four chews before swallowing. "Remember when you said that you would be here every day now?"

Haruna remembered. Naruto had squeezed her so hard she'd been wheezing the next day, much to Sasuke's confusion. "Yup."

"Does that mean you can visit me at school too? Like, at lunch time?"

"Erm… I'm sure I could, but I'll have to come back to you on that one, okay? I don't want to lose my new job, you know."

"What's your job?" He asked, although since his mouth was full it sounded like: "Wahsszz yirr jiirrbb?"

"Did Iruka tell you that Sasuke won't be coming back to school for a while?" Naruto cocked his head but she went on quickly, "He's been in hospital for a while and needs extra help because he might have fallen behind in the lessons. I visit him while you're at school, so that's why I can also come to see you afterwards. Awesome, right?"

"YOU CAN TEACH?!"

"I told you I could do many things, young one."

"B-but Sasuke?" Her little brother almost whined. "Going to school… not at school? LUCKY!" As far as learning was concerned the only place it happened in was at Academy. How did someone actually get to have classes like that? "Why can't I get tutored by you, huh?"

"You know," Haruna explained after noticing the shift in her little brother's mood, "the Hokage only asked me to take this job because he doesn't think Sasuke is going to be good or understand that much in class at the moment. Do you get what I mean? You're going to need a really, really good reason to get pulled out of school like that."

"But I don't understand anything my sensei's tell me and there's never anything cool at school –except maybe lunchtime – and it'll be loads more funner going to school not at school, dattebayo. Can that be a 'really, really good reason'? It'll make my sensei's happy if I went, I know."

"We'll see about it." Haruna said comfortingly although Naruto's words had hit home base. The idea had crossed her mind too, many times when she'd miss the kid's vibrancy because Sasuke was still an onion with really stubborn layers. Could she – would the Sandaime agree to let Naruto come with her as well? It wasn't as if the prejudiced, close-minded shinobi at the Academy or the parents of Naruto's classmates were going to complain. Sasuke also needed someone his age to talk to, he was far too silent and closed-in and the open-hearted spark that was Uzumaki Naruto could only be good for him. For the both of them, that was.

It was a tricky gamble, but putting Konoha's Jinchuuriki and last Uchiha together might actually be a good idea…

For once Nezumi wasn't in gear, he wore a hakama instead. Soft cotton, the shade of a robin's egg, draped down till it just brushed the tops of his sandals under his matching haori. He looked good, she had to admit. Nevertheless he looked misplaced, standing outside the back door of a restaurant in the outfit – as if he'd worn a tux to a clown-themed party. The NUT trio had been at a tea ceremony before Tora left to cleanse a house somewhere outside a village with Usagi accompanying her like the gentleman that he was. Nezumi had been waiting to speak to a waitress who could help them when Haruna had passed by with the ink and new pens she'd bought.

The day had been eventful enough to feel short. Haruna hadn't had a break since she rang Sasuke's doorbell that morning. It also hadn't been in her plans to meet up with any of the trio –not for a few weeks at the least – but until the current unrest around the five nations eased it was going to be hard to get in to Kirigakure. The village was in need of their services anyway. The mystic Tora-sama's involvement in the ANBU wasn't known by the general public, and the two boys were busy solving mysteries while she was out – Nezumi finding evidence and Usagi analysing. Everyone was still busy either way.

Nezumi quickly filled her in on the word in the streets. Itachi was in the bingo books, there were hideouts all over Kirigakure and the biggest fish – which she wasn't supposed to mention to anyone else – Orochimaru had left the Akatsuki and on the loose somewhere else. The Sandaime's student gone renegade, a member of another trio that was more famous – the Sannin. The old man hadn't seemed happy at the news, according to what Usagi had reported. Orochimaru had left Konoha of his own accord; there was no telling whether he might decide to come back and wreak havoc again.

She also mentioned her new job with "Uchiha's little brother." Being an unexpected mission choice coming from Wolf, it had resulted in a barrage of questions – after Nezumi had gotten over snickering at her of course. Yes, Uchiha's little brother's name was Sasuke. No, he didn't have the tear-troughs. No, the kid didn't seem to like dango. Or sweet things. (Weird…) And no, he got angry the first time she mentioned Itachi. Quite frankly, Sasuke was nothing like his big brother.

"That's probably what the higher-ups want, don't you think?" Nezumi remarked, lounging casually against the brick wall.

"That he doesn't like dango?"

"No. That he doesn't end up in the bingo book someday."

Her pupil had done well that day, addressing her respectfully (the amount of 'Hns' were diminishing slowly) and diligently completing the work she set out for him. She could only hope that things went smoothly, and that it stayed calm just a little longer. "I guess so. Dunno what the higher-ups are thinking anymore."

"Neither. But something tells me that we aren't even at the big part yet."

Haruna agreed, although she didn't the sound of it.

When she got home that night, there was a crow at the window.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So Sasuke's got a tutor now, hip hip hooray. At the moment, and in chronological order to the canon-verse, Orochimaru would have left the Akatsuki by now (because of Itachi joining it) and gone to his obsession with experimenting on others – according to the Narutopedia – somewhere in Kirigakure. The missing kids in the fanfic are the ones who are now test subjects for Kabuto etc. etc.

And uhm, that crow at the window at the end... if you didn't get the hint already I'l give you another one: Itachi's characteristic summon is the crow.

Tora is addressed as Tora-sama by the villagers because, following on to how Kikyo and Kagome are addressed this way by Inuyasha because of their supernatural powers, maidens possessing this ability would be regarded with high respect.

xXx

Nezumi's outfit:

Hakama: A type of traditional Japanese clothing most often worn by men. Kinda like a big skirt but… manlier. ;)

Haori: A lightweight coat worn over kimono like a jacket.

Runa-senpai: Senpai is an honorific reserved for seniors or those older to you .

xXx

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Please Read and Review!

Alatariele C.

-in collab with NoeticSky