Prologue - Welcome To The World: Feels A Bit Like Home

Summary: OC is reborn as the little sister of Uchiha Shisui. Her plans to save her precious Aniki are derailed when the Kyuubi attack leaves her with struggling with both brain damage and blindness.

She tries to find a way to avert the massacre and change the future as a disabled civilian child; all while struggling to live with her disabilities, and find a new purpose now that her options are limited.

Our OC is very happy to be born female here. Also, she eventually comes to the conclusion that no matter what, she will always fall in love with some version of Uchiha Itachi.

Finding myself back in Konoha should have made me happy. For a while, it did. My memories hadn't completely returned yet, but I knew I was back with people I loved. Not to mention, I had the best Nii-san in the world. Why wouldn't I be happy?

I had the hazy knowledge that someday Aniki would need me to save him, but that was alright. I knew that eventually I'd remember everything I needed to know; and after all - I was a prodigy. I'd protect him.

Then the Kyuubi attacked, and I remembered. To make matters worse, I was badly injured; with permanent consequences. I would never be a shinobi.

How would I save Shisui-nii now?

As if that wasn't enough, there was a massacre coming. Not only was Shisui-nii in grave danger, but if I couldn't find a way to fix things, the entire Uchiha Clan would be slaughtered by the boy (man) I had loved, saved, and married in another life.

But this time I was a Uchiha as well.

I was ashamed to realise I'd probably still love him even if he went through with it. That I'd still care for the one who would kill my family.

I'd love him even if (when) he killed me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any characters who are not OC's.

I was a little bit more prepared for my rebirth the third time.

I had surmised during my last life that Otou-Sama had somehow managed to permanently affect my soul; though I was still a little bit in denial about the repercussions this would have for me. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I simply hadn't grasped the full ramifications just yet. Which was probably for the best; considering how much of my life as Harry Potter I had spent pickling my liver to deal with the ones I had grasped.

Of course, knowing it was coming didn't really make it any easier to bear. Experiencing torture twice and being somewhat prepared for it a third time doesn't impart some kind of miraculous immunity to its effects.

I couldn't help screaming and freaking out from the trauma, but the words that were spoken just before I did so managed to penetrate my brain in time for me to recognise them – both the achingly familiar Konohan dialect, and the message it delivered – "It's a girl!"

I didn't have time for the relief to kick in before my memories were swept away.

Growing up this time my prodigy status was recognized even earlier than it had been the first time in Konoha. That was because this time, I actually was only relearning things the way Otou-Sama had expected from me before. I had already started over again in Konoha once – most of the information I was learning was already stored in my subconscious.

I later learned that it was only my apparent genius which saved me from my new Otou-san's outrage over my gender. He wanted a second son to continue bringing glory to the Uchiha and prestige to him within the clan; he only accepted me when he realised I was a prodigy.

He wasn't truly interested in me, however, until I began to appear to be possibly even more of a prodigy than the clan heir. The idea of "winning" against Fugaku in any way thrilled him to an unhealthy degree. While Fugaku knew who he was – they were distant cousins and my former father-in-law was an excellent Clan Head – he undoubtedly had no idea that Uchiha Keisuke regarding their lives as a series of direct competitions with one another.

This was the result of Keisuke being raised by a single mother who was smitten with Fugaku's father, who was as unaware of her obsession as his son would be of her son's later on. She compared Keisuke constantly to Fugaku growing up, and he always fell short. It became something of a psychosis for him eventually; it would have been hilarious if the effects hadn't been so personally devastating.

My new ka-san suffered from what I now know to be post-partum depression. She had struggled through it with her firstborn, and only regained some of her equilibrium when he proved to be a genius who would not prevent her from returning to duty for long. I was a nasty surprise for her, and she essentially gave up. Even my genius did little to cheer her against the fear that her husband would continue to press her for a second son.

It was not her fault; but the fact that she was too proud to admit she needed help was. She was an Uchiha; they did not get depressed, and they certainly didn't need anyone's help. Talking about feelings was just not something most Uchiha were comfortable with; causing the more prideful members of the clan to believe that even acknowledging any feelings was a sign of weakness.

It still boggles my mind that two such people could have produced a person like Shisui-nii.

If it hadn't been for my Nii-san, I actually might not have survived past infancy. Despite my once-again less-than-stellar parents, I was still extremely fortunate.

This was because I had the very best older brother any little sibling could ever want. My Aniki was amazing, in every possible way. I had never thought I would prefer Shisui over Itachi in anything; however this was one area in which he would win every contest.

Because as much as I loved Itachi - and would never deny that he was possibly the most devoted older brother in history - he often struggled with the ability to actually be a good older brother. His prodigious skill as a ninja did not quite manage to translate to understanding other people; he was just enough of a genius, and well-trained and educated enough to make up for it most of the time.

He did his best with the difficulties he had at times with understanding the way that neurotypical people worked, and usually managed extraordinarily well in spite of them. However, sometimes things were lost or misconstrued in translation.

Very little would ever be as important to him as Sasuke's welfare; but his canon behaviour was a perfect example of how that had the potential to go wrong. His predictions of Sasuke's feelings and reactions to things occasionally veered off-course from what he anticipated, and he tended to simply try to find ways to continue with his original plans rather than reconsider them.

It took a very long, difficult conversation between the three of us during my first reincarnation for him to acknowledge that as much as he loved Sasuke - and in some ways knew and understood him better than anyone else - he still wasn't the best at recognising and following the way his otouto thought.

Sasuke had also needed to learn just how important he was to his Nii-san, and receive the reassurance that their occasional miscommunication did not change the fact that his devotion to his Aniki was completely returned.

Itachi was still an extraordinarily good Nii-san in spite of his complications; it was actually quite impressive. Those issues did hinder him, though; and outside intervention was necessary for him to see that.

Uchiha Shisui did not have those problems to work around. He was also as much a prodigy at being an older sibling as he was at the ninja arts.

So between that and my very real attraction to Itachi, I was definitely pleased to have Shisui as my nii-san.

Shisui-nii was incredibly attentive. He was six years older than I was, and he looked after me during my first few months in ways my ka-san could not. He didn't understand normal childhood development, so at first he didn't recognise anything unusual about how quickly I advanced.

Even after he did, he took advantage of it.

Unlike Itachi, whose exposure to war and over-protective tendencies made him reluctant to train Sasuke; in an attempt to prolong his childhood and preserve his innocence.

No - Shisui's manifested as wanting me to be as prepared as possible, as soon as possible. He needed to know I wasn't helpless; that I could defend myself.

He began training me before I was six months old; I was barely physically capable of starting anything, but no less willing for all that. Especially for the sake of my beloved Shisui-nii, whom I had identified early on as both my primary caregiver and chief source of affection.

He had just come back from his first mission outside the village where he was exposed to the realities of war. He was doubly traumatised by awakening his Mangekyou Sharingan, losing a teammate, and the horror of war itself.

He was terrified of what would happen to me if I was as weak as his grief and guilt made him perceive himself to be.

So by the time I was a year old, my status as a prodigy was obvious – enough so that I began attracting attention. The elders began watching me with interest, pleased to realise that I seemed as advanced as Itachi was.

I continued training and advancing, now encouraged by everyone around me, rather than only Shisui. As my genius became more and more apparent, they began pushing for an arranged marriage between me and the Uchiha heir.

My father was probably the only one who was as happy as they were at the prospect.

Fugaku and Mikoto had been fortunate to fall in love with each other, and had hoped to give their sons the chance to choose their matches the same way. Having a second clan prodigy of the opposite gender their son's age destroyed that hope.

My mother was apathetic; but Shisui-nii was outraged. Both at the arbitrary deciding of my future without my consent, and by the prospect of some spoiled brat heir having a claim on his precious imouto.

While I had felt some subconscious pleasure on hearing the news, it wasn't very real to me. I had only just turned two when it was announced; my main concern over the affair was that Nii-san wasn't pleased. I was really only old enough to care that he was upset. I didn't really understand why he was; I just wanted whatever was bothering my Aniki to stop.

Itachi himself was ambivalent – he had an understanding of the situation, but couldn't understand why it made his parents unhappy. He had never had the luxury of choice when it came to any other important decisions that affected his life, so why should his eventual marriage be any different?

He even thought it might be a good thing – he wouldn't have to worry about something inconsequential like finding an acceptable wife when he was older. He didn't really consider the possibility of future unhappiness with the match to be relevant. At this age, the idea of marriage was nothing more to him than a far-off duty which would someday become necessary.

Considering his most recent focus was on the realities of war and how he might achieve a world without it, it was perhaps understandable that he felt that way.

His attitude, however, offered his parents a much-needed wake-up call.

It was one which they had never received in any other version of this world I had experienced or heard about. I would not learn of this, though; or of the repercussions for many years yet.

A/N: This is a slightly rough version of the prologue - I've been hospitalized for a while and only recently got out. This will be a bit longer after I repost it - which I'll do when I post the next chapter.

I'm not sure what my update schedule will be like for a while. I do know that I want to focus mainly on the first story in the series before updating much of the others.