Chapter 6: Recollection

Severus looks around the compound with interest, there is so much he had not explored. He had met with Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha but a few days again, and one of them gives him the absolute creeps, Fugaku mostly. He had met Itahci's younger brother and had apparently become the second otouto, a term he was coming to know that is meant to be endearing. He could hold the younger Uchiha and blow raspberries in the air and make funny faces, something he is not accustomed to but found rather easy with the black haired younger child.

"Oto, why do you look different?" Little Sasuke looks at Severus with fascination.

"What do you mean little one," Severus teases the child; knowing this pisses the little child off, he hates being called little one.

"Stop calling me that Oto! I'm five years old!" Sasuke's cheeks puff out with childish indignation, amusing Severus to no end. "Why do you look so pale?"

"Sasuke." Itachi reprimands his younger brother with a stern look, "that is not very nice."

Sasuke just puffs his cheeks out again but hugs Severus, who is holding him up by his hip with an arm around the child's waist. Sasuke buries his face into Severus's neck in an effort to avoid his big brother's gaze. He raises a brow at Itachi wondering what that was about,

"He's a curious child Itachi, I don't mind him asking questions. I won't answer if I don't want to."

Itachi nods his head and turns around, throwing more kunai at a tree marked with a paper target, every single one hitting the bullseye in some way. He had to admit even he was impressed with the marksmanship that Itachi is displaying, goosebumps begin to creep up his arms at the thought of ever getting on the boys' bad side. Sasuke grabs his attention as little puffs of fire dance about, said boy is happily clapping and giggling.

"I think Sasuke just produced the Phoenix flower jutsu unintentionally Itachi."

Severus watches Itachi turn his head subtly to see Sasuke once again produce tiny wisps of fire and giggling, Itachi turns completely toward his brother with a look that only Severus can identify. Itachi and himself have rarely parted since moving him to the Uchiha compound, he knew Itachi's parents were talking about how weird their friendship is. He can hear their whispers, see the looks, he hadn't become one of the most formidable spies of the generation without being able to identify certain things. He looks down at the little prodigy within his arms, he had honestly never thought he could tolerate children but Sasuke had ripped that notion to shreds the minute the boy had met him. Sasuke had ran up to him and poked him in the forehead, that was the first time he had ever seen Itachi's impeccable mask break as the boy broke down and laughed. Sasuke pokes his cheek as he is deep in thought, this of course snaps him back to reality.

"Stop that Sasuke, my cheeks are not for poking." He reprimands.

"But it's fun Oto." Sasuke says happily.

Severus can feel that Sasuke wants down so he lowers to the ground and allows the child to run to Itachi, he watches as both brothers interact. He watches as Sasuke runs for his mother as Mikoto calls for lunch for all three boys, despite the whispers and looks, he can still feel that the woman does care for him just like she does her own children. It's Fugaku that has him worried. He walks with a slow but steady pace behind Itachi, there are several of the Uchiha clansmen wondering around.

Severus has yet to talk to Itachi about his inner worries about the other members, there is something beneath the surface, he can feel it anytime he gets near any of them. His senses still absolute. There is a twisting urge that he has only felt once before, it was the night his best friend had been murdered in cold blood. Everyone had assumed that the madman had done it, only he knew the truth, it was no madman but a man who was cursed with insanity. The worst of it was that the man had intentionally done so to hurt him, not caring that it hurt his best mate. James had all but died on the inside and it hurt him to see the man as such, their rivalry had since long died back before forth year. No, they had bonded on one single entity; Lily. What had made the situation even worse was that he had found James' lifeless body, he had suspected suicide but the injuries did not match that conclusion. To this day, Severus still has no idea who had killed James. The entire situation had turned him away from the so called 'light' side.

"Tsuyoi," Severus looks up with a dazed look in his eyes, something that not privy to many. "Are you alight child?"

He bristles.

"I'll be alright..."

Severus trails off and begins walking away from the house, having suddenly lost his apatite. He had noticed the concerned looks of not only Itachi and Sasuke but Fugaku as well, that only did not settle well with him. He did not need to give that man another reason to distrust him, though to be honest, he only cared because of Itachi and Sasuke. If he could be how he was back in the...other world...he would have already cursed the man. This brings another wave of something; something repulsively dark, a heavy feeling of foreboding. He no longer has a choice, he must convey his concerns to Itachi tonight.

Severus's thoughts return to the past unwillingly, he had been trying to figure out what had happened to cause him to become a target. He was the dark lord's ally; that's what he wanted the other man to think anyways, he was in light sides good graces with the whole presumption that Lily and James's son was the bloody boy who lived. He still couldn't figure out how any of them had come to that conclusion. The boy had never even seen the man before the dark lord had been reduced to nothing more than an apparition, again another mystery that had not been solved seeing at the dark lord refused to talk about it when he had regained a body once more. He walks around the compound with no particular destination in mind, he ends up at the pond that Itachi had told him about.

The wind sweeps along the ground, brushing against the skin of Severus's hand as he sits on the pier that hangs over the water. his hair swaying gently with the breeze, his obsidian colored eyes looking up toward the brightly lit sky. His mind is racing, he is trying to recall everything that led up to the sudden darkness that is still clouding his memories, even after nearly a month and a half. He has never been so confused and the feeling of helplessness is something that he has rarely ever felt, especially when he had made it a point to never feel that way again since the age of seven.