Notes: Sorry it took me kind of long to update, but here is a long chapter to make up for it ;)


Chapter ten

The realization

As Sasuke and Itachi were stepping out of the study, they saw Naruto was stomping towards them. When Sasuke saw him, he noticed he looked kind of agitated, but he was too mad at him to care. "Oh there you are," he said sarcastically. "Finally decided to show up, huh?"

Itachi closed the door behind them at the same time Naruto came to an abrupt stop right in front of Sasuke. He was breathing rapidly and his blue eyes were wild. He kind of looked as if he had seen a monster crawling out of his closet: scared, yet too fascinated to panic. "Dude!" he exclaimed, ignoring what Sasuke had just said. "Why do you have the Yamanaka heiress as a maid?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "She's the heiress?"

"Yeah, the first born! But why does she work for you – as a maid? That's just... it's just... it's as if you were a footman for the Hyugas! What the hell! "

"According to our parents," Itachi said calmly, "she just wants to try it out, to know how it feels like and to get in the shoes of other kind of people."

"What!" Naruto looked as if they had just told him a giraffe was standing behind him. "That's bullshit, man! Ino Yamanaka is not that kind of person. She thinks she's the queen of the world, and she would rather be tortured for weeks than being a maid."

"Do you know her?" Sasuke asked confusedly.

"Of course! Well, we haven't talked in years, but we used to be playmates when we were like, five or six years old. I didn't like her, though, because of what I just said. She is nothing but a spoiled heiress, dude. She cannot be working for you!"

"Perhaps she has changed," Itachi suggested. "People change, you know? None of us is the same as years ago. And you knew her when she was just a kid, Naruto. She has to be have matured."

Naruto shook his head, unconvinced. "I don't know, man, but this is just unbelievable. There must be another reason she's doing this, a very strong reason... She can't be doing this only because she wants to know what it feels like... she doesn't care about that crap... and she doesn't need the money; the Yamanakas are kind of rich, you know? Besides,she's a vamp; if she wants to, she can get into stores and steal stuff without anyone noticing."

Sasuke opened his mouth to assure Naruto that people did change and to tell him that it wasn't as if they cared about Ino's life, but then an idea popped into his mind. That woman, Hikari, was a Yamanaka, Inoichi's young sister, so her half-breed daughter was Ino's cousin, right? What if Ino was there because of the half-breed? Maybe she was there to protect her or something, to keep people from finding out what she was, from hurting her, from killing her...

"Naruto is right," Sasuke blurted out, surprising both his brother and his best friend. It was weird to see him agreeing in something with Naruto. "It does look suspicious."

"It does," Itachi agreed, "but not that much. It makes sense to me that she wants to get away from her normal life and try other kind of things. You know, if she's going to lead a whole clan, she needs to have some humility, and yes, she may not be the kind of person who would care about having humility, but it's probable that her parents are forcing her to do this."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He despised Itachi for a lot of reasons, and this was one of them: he was always thinking differently, trying to argue, to prove everyone wrong. The worst thing about it was that he always made sense, and that he always made the person he was arguing with hesitate.

But Sasuke was used to arguing with his brother. He had gotten good at it, too.

"Okay... But Naruto said she was really spoiled, and the Yamanakas don't seem the kind of people that force their kids to do things they don't want to. Besides, a heiress has a natural strong personality, they are raised that way, and she wouldn't let herself be forced to be a maid. What makes sense to me is that Ino is here because of the half-breed, who apparently is a Yamanaka as well."

That last sentence made Itachi freeze. It was the second time in the week Sasuke saw his brother utterly shocked.

"Half what?" Naruto asked, a perplexed frown on his face, but the brothers ignored him.

"How could I forget that?" Itachi muttered, more to himself than to them. "If that girl really is a half-breed, if she's that woman's daughter, if that woman in the picture really is Hikari... then she's Ino's cousin!"

"Cousin?" Naruto repeated. "Hey, hold on right there. Ino does not have cousins. She has a little brother but no cousins. That's why we were playmates: in that time, when her brother was not born yet, she was an only child like me, and our parents set us up. But really, no cousins. Or at least I haven't heard about them."

"You don't know..." Sasuke whispered, frowning at Naruto, and then he rolled his eyes. "Well, of course you don't know. We didn't know before, either. No one talks about it. They would never mention that... incident."

"What incident!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly desperate. "You're freaking me out, dude!"

"Let's tell him," Itachi told Sasuke. "Then let's go have a word with Miss Yamanaka... and let's show her the picture, too, so that she knows we really know it all."

"Guys!" Naruto yelled. "What are you talking about? What picture?"

Sasuke took a deep breath and opened the door of the study once again. "It's a long story. And if you're going to hear it, you'll need to sit down."


Sakura took deep breaths in hope she would calm herself down as she took the tray with the drinks (tea, juice, water, even wine; anything one would wish for) on it. She was starting to feel nervous again, as nervous as she had felt the first time she ever served tea to someone else. She'd been doing it for three days already, yet she'd barely started to feel used to it. Besides, she'd only served to the Uchihas and to Mr. Hatake, not to other important business men who would be very very angry if she spilled hot liquid on their extremely expensive suits and could convince her boss of firing her for being so stupid and clumsy, and if she was fired, Shizune would have to pay for all the bills by herself, but that wouldn't be enough, so they'd probably have to sell their stuff or move or...

"Calm down," she murmured to herself as she forced her sweaty hands to stop shaking. "Be optimist and things will turn out okay..."

"Hey, newbie," she heard someone calling from behind, and she turned around very slowly, struggling to keep balance of the heavy tray. One of the other parlor maids was walking towards her. "Let me help you out," she said.

"Oh, thank you." Gratefully, Sakura offered her the tray, but the maid passed by her without even glancing at it.

"I'll open the door for you," she said. "Come on."

Surprised, Sakura hurried to follow her. Well, she thought, at least she's helping with something.

The meeting was taking place in Mr. Uchiha's office. Earlier that day, some footmen had carried the desk out to leave more space for the round table they'd carried in later. Sakura wondered why the Uchiha mansion, being so goddamned big, had everything but a special room for meetings, which seemed to be pretty necessary, sincce, according to Mrs. Uchiha, a lot of business meetings took place in her home.

Sakura followed the maid to the second floor and, as promised, she took care of the door for her. She knocked a couple times but didn't wait for an answer; she just opened the door and motioned Sakura in. Awkwardly, with her heart hammering in her chest, Sakura walked inside.

"Good afternoon," the other parlor maid said as she closed the door behind them. Sakura thought she was supposed to say the same thing, but she was too nervous and afraid of doing something wrong to dare to speak.

The round table was right on the middle of the spacious room. It was not very big, though, just enough for five men to sit at it comfortably. Sakura recognized only two of the men sitting at the table: Mr. Uchiha and a man who looked like an older version of TenTen's adoptive brother, and she guessed he was Mr. Namizake, the adoptive father. The other three men were strangers. One of them, sitting at Mr. Uchiha's left, had long, brown hair falling behind his back; the one sitting at his right had long, brown hair too, but it was shorter than the other man's and tied into a high, spiky ponytail. The fifth man looked slightly more normal; he had short hair and a friendly face. The five of them were wearing black, expensive-looking suits, as Sakura had expected them to.

Remember, don't spill anything on them, she told herself as she took a couple steps forwards. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked, glad she didn't stutter.

"Tea would be fine for me," the man with the longest hair said. When he looked at her, she noticed his eyes were a very pale and beautiful shade of gray. She had never seen eyes like those.

"For me too," Mr. Uchiha said as he leafed through a big, thick book.

"I would like water," Mr. Namizake said.

The other men shook their heads no.

Sakura nodded and hesitated for a moment before proceeding to serve the drinks. Her hands shook slightly, but she didn't spill or break anything; it all went smoothly. When she finished, she stepped back with a small smile on her face, satisfied. I can do this, she thought proudly. I really can!

"Excuse us," the other maid, who had stood quietly by the door the whole time, said, bowing slightly. Sakura bowed too and then hurried out of the room.

When the maid closed the door, she turned to her and said, "You did good, newbie."

"Thanks," Sakura said, smiling. "I was nervous."

"That's normal; I was nervous the first time I served tea in one of these meetings, too," she replied as they walked down the stairs. "You did great, though. Seems like you'll be good at this."

Sakura smiled gratefully, thanked her and then they parted ways: she went back to the ktichen, to have a glass of water, and the other maid headed to the backyard. As she walked, Sakura thought her job was already done for now. She had some time to kill.

At the kitchen, where kitchen maids were very busy helping the cook prepare a fancier-than-usual dinner, Sakura glanced at the apple-shaped clock hanging from the wall. It was only four in the afternoon; she still had two more hours before she could go home. She thought about looking for Ino... but then she rejected the idea. She was still kind of mad at her for always getting Naruto's attention. She knew it was something stupid to get angry about, but she just didn't want to hang out with her yet. She would go to TenTen instead, to the basement. Besides, she hadn't gone down there yet, and she wanted to know if it was as bad as TenTen described it.

"Hey, you're not busy?" a kitchen maid asked her, and Sakura shook her head no. "Good. Come and help us."

"What? With what?"

"I don't know, with anything! Dinner is in two hours and we have a lot to do. We need as much help as we can get."

Sakura opened her mouth to give a lame excuse because she really didn't want to help, but then she realized she had no choice. Helping in the kitchen was part of her job, too. She had to work... or else, maybe someone was going to tell Mrs. Uchiha she was being lazy and she'd get in trouble, and she didn't want that, did she?

"Okay," she sighed, and then reluctantly followed the maid to some corner of the kitchen where she was given short instructions, some carrots and a knife to chop them.

As she started to chop a carrot into tiny pieces, Sakura sighed. She had always hated to cook. Tsunade and Shizune had taught her a lot of times, and she didn't actually sucked at it, because she could make some delicious breakfasts when she woke up in a good mood, but she really despised to prepare food if it wasn't extremely necessary. She would do it to save her life, of course, but if she had any choice, she would stay away from the kitchen. Luckily, Tsunade had always been the one to cook for her. The woman liked to do it, and she was good at it. She owned a grocery shop, but Sakura had always told her she'd make even more money if she were a cook. However, ever since the accident, Shizune had been the one to cook. She wasn't bad at it, but not as good as Tsunade. Sakura really missed her aunt's food...

She wondered if she'd ever get to taste it once again.

A sudden feeling of depresion dazed her, and everything around her seemed to disappear as images of her aunt, awake and alive, floded her mind. A lump blocked her throat, and she pressed her lips together until they paled to keep herself from crying, but it was useless: tears were already starting to cloud her sight.

A tear fell on the table, almost hitting a piece of carrot, and when she stopped to stare at it, the realization of being crying hit her. She hadn't cried in a very long time... She'd only cried twice ever since the accident. The first time had been when she woke up in the hospital and was told her aunt was in comma; the other had been the first time she went to visit Tsunade after she was discharged from the hospital. Ever since then, she'd forced herself to not shed a single tear, because she hated to cry, and she was so so so tired of it...

Furious at herself, for being so weak and pathetic and for being crying in a kitchen full of people who could see her, she hurried to continue choping the carrot. She did it with such strenght it seemed she was taking it out on the poor vegetable. On the fouth chop she tried to do, she accidently hit some of her finger's skin with the knife. Hissing, she jerked her hand away and held the finger up. She stared at the blood with wide, stunned eyes...

And then she fainted.


Ino was in the basement, waiting for the laundry maids to get clean towels for her. She needed to put them in the guest rooms' bathrooms because, according to the Housekeeper, they were indeed going to have three guest rooms occupied tonight. She sat on a chair, nervously stomping her heel against the floor and chewing on her lower lip. She was not anxious... she was desperate, and it was not because of the towels. It was because of Naruto Namizake.

God, she hated that idiot so much. She'd always hated him. Well, not exactly hated him, because he was a nice person, though a little annoying sometimes, but she completely despised him right now. Why, of all times and places, did he have to come now and here?

He obviously recognized her, and he obviously was going to ask someone what the hell she was doing there, and when they told him that stupid excuse about how she wants to "experience other things" and "get into other people's shoes" he was instantly going to know it was a lie because, even though they hadn't talked in years, he got to know her well enough when they were kids, and Ino hadn't changed that much: she was still the kind of person who would not clean someone else's house to save her life. Then, when he told people about it, they would start to suspect, and it was possible that they would find out that she was there because of Sakura and that Sakura was not a human... at least not a normal one.

She half groaned, half sighed, and leaned back on the chair, looking up at the basement's ceiling. Why? Why was this happening to her? They hadn't even lasted a week! What did she do to deserve this? Everything was going so well... Why did he have to come and screw it all up?

Ino knew from the beginning that working for people of their kind was a bad idea. She knew that, sooner or later, they would realize something was off about them. She had told her father so... but he had said that with the Uchihas they would be safe, because Fugaku and Mikoto had agreed to look after Hikari's daughter, even if she was a half-breed and that put them in danger. Knowing they had the bosses by their side had calmed Ino down, and for the past few days she'd thought they would come out of this one unharmed. They really seemed to be safe here. The Uchihas, one of the most powerful clans, protected them (well, not the whole clan, only its leader and his wife, actually, but still). Nothing should've gone wrong...

However, she never saw Naruto coming. She hadn't known he was Sasuke's best friend and used to visit him frequently. She never even imagined someday he, someone from her past, would suddenly come back into her life. Her not having been able to foresee all of that made her feel like it was all her fault.

But the worst thing about the whole situation was that she wouldn't be the one affected the most if they got caught. Sure, her family would be in great trouble for covering a half-breed, but Sakura would be even in bigger trouble, because her punishment would be death.

Ino was scared. Not only for her and her family, but for Sakura. For Sakura, more than anyone else. The poor girl would get the worst of it all, and she didn't even know it right now.

"You look upset."

Ino looked up to see TenTen standing before her, looking half amused, half concerned, and carrying a tower of folded white towels that covered half of her chin.

"Do I?" Ino asked, smiling bitterly.

"Yeah." TenTen put the towels on the washing machine besides Ino and leaned against it, folding her arms across her chest. "What's up?"

Ino shrugged. "Nothing. I'm just... tired, I guess. I want to go home." That was true. She was exhausted, maybe because of the stress, and really wanted to go home, but not to rest, but to talk to her parents. She needed them right now, to both comfort her and to plan what to do next.

But TenTen was not naive. "Come on, I've known you for more than three years now, and I know you well enough to know you're lying to me. If you don't want to tell me, fine, just tell me so. But I could give you an advice; you know I'm good at it."

Ino looked up at her friend and saw sincerity in her chocolate brown eyes. TenTen was a good friend. She was good giving advices, indeed, and she knew how to keep secrets. Ino liked to talk to her about her problems, and she had always done so, but she only told her about trivial stuff, like who she was dating now, who she had kissed in which party or what she thought about someone else, but she never talked to anyone about Sakura's real identity, only to her parents. Damn, she didn't even write it on her diary; it was just too dangerous.

But she wanted to talk to someone so much right now... She needed it.

"Okay," she sighed. "But this is a secret, okay, TenTen? No one can know, not even Sakura." Especially Sakura, she added mentally.

"Alright," the brunette replied, turning serious. She crouched down in front of her. "I promise to keep it."

"Good." Ino looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to them, and was glad to confirm the maids there were too busy to notice them. Still, she leaned closer and talked lowly. "I have this secret... and it's probably about to be discovered. No one knows about it, only my family and I. It's a very delicate subject, so don't be mad if I don't tell you exactly what it's about."

"Don't worry. I respect your privacy."

"Okay. Thanks. Anyways... I never thought someone would start to suspect about me. This was definitely unexpected, you know? And people hasn't find out yet, but I'm eighty percent sure this person will say something that might give me away."

"Ouch," TenTen said, grimacing. "So that's what worries you, huh?"

"Yeah," Ino replied. "But it's not the secret being discovered what worries me the most. It's that... You'll see, I'm not the only one involved in this. There's someone else, and that person might – no, will get in even greater trouble than me if we get found out. And that person's safety is the thing I care the most about, you know? I'm scared for... that person."

"Oh, man..." TenTen sighed deeply and then looked at Ino right in the eye. "Okay, listen to me, Ino. You got involved in this from the beginning, and even if you wanted to or not, there's no turning back. And if you really care about that person..."

"I do," Ino whispered, and then she swallowed the lump in her throat down. She would not allow herself to cry.

"... then you have to be strong. For that person, and for you, as well. You have to do everything and anything to make that secret stay secret. Bribe, seduce or whatever that person who started to suspect about you and might give you away; do verything to keep his mouth shut...," she smiled, "but don't kill anyone, okay? And if the word has already spread, then lie. Lie your heart out, sweetheart. And deny. Oh, and even more important, get an alibi, a good alibi. That way no one will be able to prove anything."

"I don't think an alibi will be necessary since I didn't murder anyone," Ino said, smiling back, "but thanks for the advices. I'm sure they will be useful."

"I don't care if they were useful or not. What matters is if I made you feel better. Did I?" she asked hopefully.

Ino's smile widened. "You did. Thank you, TenTen. You're a good friend. And I wish I could tell you all the truth... but really, I can't."

"No worries, that doesn't matter." She stood up and took the towels, then gave them to Ino, who had stood up too. "Now go do your job, missy. They're not paying us for talking about our problems or giving advices."

Still smiling, Ino said goodbye and headed upstairs.


When Itachi and Sasuke finished telling Naruto everything, the blond sat there for several moments, completely immobile, staring at his lap. His expression was blank, his eyes were unfocused, but he was burrowing his brow slightly. Sasuke guessed he was in shock.

Finally, he opened his mouth and uttered calm, carefully thought-out words. "So that pink haired girl, whose hair is not natural and she's actually blonde, by the way... she's a half-breed?" He looked up at them, his eyes now wild. "Are you completely sure?"

"Not completely," Itachi said, "but let's just say we're ninety five percent sure."

"Then you're sure."

"Yes we are."

Naruto sighed deeply. "Okay. And you think Ino is here because of her, because she's her cousin and maybe it's her duty to protect her from being discovered."

"That's right," Sasuke said.

"It makes sense... But there is something off... Let me see... Oh, yeah! The fact that Hikari Yamanaka DOES NOT EXIST!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That's what they want us to think, what they want the new generations, those who are too young to remember, to think, because they don't want the birth of a half-breed whose parents were killed because of creating her to become a historical fact!"

"But she existed, Naruto," Itachi added calmly. "We have the picture and mother's dream as proofs. They just don't want the young vampires to even know about her, because she is kind of a disgrace, and her last punishment is to be forgotten for the eternity."

"How do you know she and the human were killed?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sasuke asked. "That's what they would do to any vampire and human that have a kid together. It's something illegal."

"And how did the girl survived, then? She's the one who was supposed to be eliminated."

"I've been wondering that," Itachi said, "and I think that, somehow, the parents managed to hide her before they were killed and then she was sent to the Yamanakas, who have been protecting her ever since then. That would explain why Ino is here, apparently just following her. Maybe she's her guardian or something of the sort."

Naruto leaned back on the couch and glared at the coffee table between him and the Uchiha brothers. "Then we should go ask her," he grumbled. Then, he leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and started massaging his temples. "Man, this is some serious shit... I just came to visit for a few days. How the hell did I get involved in this?"