Okami
We got the afternoon off after lunch, though I suspected we wouldn't have if we hadn't gotten the bells. I knew I needed to go back to the compound immediately, so I hurried off, aware of the minders that appeared the instant I was out of Kakashi-sensei's influence.
Instead of going home though, I did something I normally didn't dare to do, since I had the time. I walked farther into the Uchiha compound towards the place where the most influential members of the clan lived. I was very careful to show each and every one of them the respect they deserved as I advanced forward. None of them could get after me if I was a perfect child.
Finally, my pace slowed by being a proper Uchiha, I arrived at the entrance to the main family's household.
One of the guards asked, "Who are you here to see, Okami-san?"
"Mikoto-sama," I told him with a bow.
A runner went in, and I waited patiently at attention for them to return.
"Okami-san," the other guard remarked, "You should not bow to us."
I replied, "I am but a mere genin of the Uchiha clan. It is important that I show my betters respect, as I never know who is watching." I glanced towards my minders.
The runner came back, and I was allowed to enter the home my father had grown up in. It was easy to switch to the slippers and formal clothes that were required within the home, and I moved through to the sitting room I usually met Mikoto-sama in, careful to maintain my posture as I could sense a bug summon following me.
It could not, however, get through the jutsu Mikoto-sama had around the sitting room, and I was happy to relax a little as I sat down in a chair across from her.
"It is good to see you, Okami-kun," Mikoto-sama greeted with a soft smile, "What brings you to my door today?"
"I'm sorry, Mikoto-sama, but I came for selfish reasons. I knew I could not be watched by anyone if I came to you for a little while," I admitted.
Mikoto-sama inquired, "Watched?"
"There are minders from our clan making sure that I am respectful to all around me," I explained, "They fear sensei, father, and Uncle Sasuke, but little else will make them disappear. I knew you would though. No one in their right mind would disrespect you, Mikoto-sama."
"Perhaps they all need a reminder of just who you will one day be," Mikoto-sama remarked, her voice taking on a sharp edge that I was glad wasn't directed at me.
I told her, "I would be grateful, Mikoto-sama, but I fear it would do little to help. The minders have been a constant since it was revealed to everyone how strange my chakra is. I fear not bowing before I entered here will be my undoing today, although that remains to be seen."
"Do they harm you?" Mikoto-sama inquired.
"They follow clan code to the letter," I informed her, "Otherwise, father would have put a stop to it by now." That meant that there were physical punishments, but there was little anyone could do to stop them. This was clan code, and it was important that it be upheld.
Mikoto-sama's hands curled into fists, and she asked, "What is the worst?"
"They noticed I did not show difference to another clan's heir and my sensei the other day. I was careless, and too used to their company. It was my own fault for becoming forgetful," I informed her, ashamed.
"Then…" Mikoto-sama trailed off, "Show me the lashes."
I stood up and carefully removed my shirt. Father put lotion in them each morning to keep them from cracking but getting them healed was against clan code.
Mikoto-sama gently touched the scabs, and her soothing fingers felt nice. I would miss my grandmother most when I was no longer allowed in the Uchiha compound. My father would find a way to visit, but she would not be capable of such things.
Mikoto-sama asked, "What did your they think when he saw these?"
"I tried not to let him see," I replied, "My sensei almost took me to a medic-nin, but I told him I would get double this amount if I got them healed. They wanted to know why it had happened, and Shikadai seemed exceptionally angry. There was nothing he could do though. It is clan law."
"The Elders do not realize they seal their fate with all they do to you," Mikoto-sama remarked.
I pulled away and put my shirt back on, not daring to correct her.
She asked, "Would you like some tea?"
"Yes please," I agreed, "Although I must warn you, I am allergic to green tea."
"I remember," she promised with a soft smile.
Sasuke
Mother was furious, and that alone was terrifying. She demanded, "Why did none of you tell me he'd received twenty-five lashes?"
"There's nothing we could do," Itachi told her, sounding broken, "They watch him constantly just for those few times he slips up."
"I had to keep Kakashi from killing the men sent to watch him. It's not their fault that they're under orders from the Elders," I added with a sigh.
Mother said, "I will not allow my grandson to be given lashes for forgetting to bow to his best friend and his teacher."
"What can we do?" Itachi asked quietly, "Father has tried everything to get the Elders to leave him alone, but they refuse to relent. Okami is already convinced the clan hates him, and he's trying to make jonin before he gets his sharingan so he can be exiled without any shame to me."
Mother began to deflate, seeing as we did the few options that were left. Finally, she told us, "Then he'll have to learn how to escape from the Minders on his own."