Shee was only four when he started to help his mother in the kitchen.
It was a strange week, his usually cheerful and kind mother was walking like a ghost with red puffy eyes. Shee was made to stay with Darui and his mom, but after a few days he sneaked away, to see his own mom.
The home was quite and unusually dark, yet Shee could still make out his mother's form, laid down on the couch, sleeping with a pillow that was drenched of her tears.
Shee didn't know what to do, the idea of cooking only came to his mind, because her mom was always smiling while she was in the kitchen. He wanted to eat his mom's beef and rice, or the dumplings, yet he stood there, without an idea of how to start, and ending up with half cut, over seasoned vegetables, but his mom ate it anyway, while laughing away the remaining tears in her eyes, and healing the small scars he caused while cutting incorrectly.
So after that, she made it a habit to teach Shee how to cook, starting from simple recipes. He didn't much enjoy it, but seeing his mother's bright yellow eyes lightening up when he did something right was a good reason to put up with it. After that, his mom only cried a few times that badly, namely 13 years later, when he was a young chunin.
His mom's chin length blonde hair was un brushed and unwashed, loosing it's shininess, like her face lost it after that time, and no amounts of cooking could ever help gain back the spark for long term.
Shee never questioned who his father was, or where he is, or what's he like. Kumogakure was a society where children were raised semi communally, with many single parents, or in other words, the whole village were his moms and dads, everyone was like a family. His best friend, Darui also didn't know his father, and a few other kids around his class either, it was normal for him, normal to be invited over by the lady at the food stall, to give him snack for the day, normal for anyone to marge into his home in case of help, normal to never judge anyone by the skin or hair color, because the concept did not exist that these things shouldn't be normal, they were.
It was when Shee was a genin that he heard the first time about the Hyuga Hinata incident, of his village wanting to save the small innocent girl, that was unluckily born weak into one of the biggest clans in the world, where she was put up to fight, where she was tortured either emotionally or physically by the people who should've loved her, that Shee realized how different the world is around him. That girl would've had a loving life here, and now she was back in the prison that some called family.
Shee became a jounin at the age of 20, and was sent on missions continuously, in one of those missions he encountered Uchiha Itachi, and had fallen victim of his genjutsu, reliving the part of despair before dying over and over again.
When he awoke in the hospital, and heard the recounting of the events, his distaste of Konoha grew bigger, and when the Darui fought the copy nin from Konoha, he officially named them Konoha dogs, for their stupidity to never question anything, to always follow the orders, like well trained dogs. Or in contrary, it seemed that if some people questioned the orders, they became wicked and wild hounds, barking loudly for the whole world to hear. Shee despised them.
Two years later, he heard about the last Uchiha deserting from the village, to go to the legendary shanin, it was around the same time he became the bodyguard of the Raikage with Darui.
It was then, that he saw Haruno Sakura for the first time.
She was so young, being only 13, yet also staying next to the new Hokage at all time, being her apprentice. It was a meeting between the two kages, and at first, Shee couldn't wrap his mind around her, of why was she there when her weakness was apparent, or more importantly, why did she have the same haircut as his mom? He also didn't understand of why was she looking at him with an undetectable expression. At first, his mind went into the obvious direction, she probably found him attractive, it wouldn't be the first, although Shee didn't pay much attention to it, but that didn't seem to be the answer either.
When the Raikage, A asked to discuss something with the Hokage in private, they needed to walk out and wait in front of the door, all four of them, and he chose to question her behavior.
"Why are you starring?" he asked, trying to not sound that harsh, seeing how her small body shook while looking up at him.
"I'm just..." she murmured, looking at her feet "You remind me of someone..." she said, still not looking up at him
"Who?" he asked, while ignoring Darui's raised eyebrow
"My teammate" she said, while he saw the reassuring hand on her shoulder by the other bodyguard of the Hokage, to copy nin
"Please don't mind it, her teammate is really important to her" said the grey haired man to Shee, but he got intrigued a bit, and couldn't stop himself from asking
"What is your name?" She looked up at him in surprise, as if no one really asked her that, as if no one thought she would be important enough to ask it
"Haruno Sakura" she said, meeting his eyes, and Shee couldn't help but be reminded of his mother, Oteire, when she was at the hospitals. "Yours?"
"Shee" he said, with a small smile that made her blush and turn away. Probably her teammate was a soft spot for her, he thought
Later, when they got back to Kumogakure, Shee, using his position as high ranking bodyguard, found out who her teammates are, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, although there were no photos, so he couldn't tell which one she was thinking when he looked at him.
Three years later, when the big kage summit took place, Shee had the opportunity to meet both, and could deduce that she was talking about Uchiha Sasuke. The same Uchiha Sasuke who dared to attack Raikage-sama and cast him under a genjutsu, where he relieved what Uchiha Itachi did to him. At that point, Shee did not only despised Konoha, he despised the Uchihas as well, and the new alliance didn't change that.
When he got back, and Raikage-sama arranged the preparations for the war, Shee felt the need to visit his mother.
He arrived at his childhood home, and already at the front, he could smell something delicious from inside.
"Ahh, Shee, right on time" came Oteire, wearing an apron from the kitchen, with a smile "Sit down, sit down" she signaled to him towards the table, while she was bringing the plate with dumplings.
Shee helped a bit, and when they were both sitting at the table, he let out a sigh.
"I'm glad you are okay. I heard what happened" said Oteire, while squeezing his arm gently
"Uchiha Sasuke attacked" he said, before biting into his food, not missing the hitch from his mom.
"Uchiha?" she asked, shakily, and Shee raised and eyebrow at her reaction
"Yeah? What of it?" he asked, studying his mom. Her face had some slight wrinkles, but she still looked young for her age, having blonde chin length hair, and yellow colored bright eyes. For a moment, that little girl's face came to his mind, Haruno Sakura's, and Shee had to shake his head. What? Why did he remember her now?
Oteire sighted, and put down her chopstick
"I think I'll need to tell you about your father." she said with a serious expression, Shee's eyes widened
"What?" he whispered "Why do you want to tell me now?" he asked, trying to sound more normal
"I think this is the right time." she said, and Shee also put down his chopsticks.
"No. I don't need to know." he said, looking sternly at his mother, who pressed her lips together.
"Please" she said, holding out her hand for him, which he took a few moments later.
Shee had to think. Knowing who his father is, especially before a war was not good. What if he gets distracted? What if he confronts him? What if he is put there to heal him? But it seemed his mother chose this moment, so there was a reason for it.
Shee looked back at her, and nodded slightly, while taking a deep breath
"Shee...you father is...we met in the last war" she said, and Shee held onto the chair, this was the first time he ever heard anything about his father "He was fighting on the Konoha side"
Shee almost forgot to breath. Konoha? His father is from Konohagakure? The same place where so many problems are coming from?
"His name was...Uchiha Fugaku" she said, and Shee stood up with a force that knocked the chair to the ground
"Uchiha?" he asked, looking with wide eyes at Oteire.
"He died 9 years ago" she said, and Shee let out a breath, he completely forgot about that. Right now there were only two Uchihas left, Sasuke and Madara, Shee had a hate for them both. He picked up his chair to sit back, and payed attention to his mom again
"I was the medic in the field, but my group got attacked, and I barely escaped" she said, pressing her lips together, and Shee took her hand under the table "I wondered...a lot, alone, somewhere in Fire country, and one day run into a man. He was half dead, and I couldn't do anything else but save him" she said, while a single tear traveled down on her face "I was there to help him heal up completely...during that time we...I've fallen in love" she said, looking away with a whimper, and he squeezed her hand "He...he promised me the same love, but then..." now the tears were unstoppable, and Shee got up to look for tissues, feeling the need for a few moments himself.
After Oteire dried down the tears, she continued
"If you remember, 22 years ago...?" she looked at him, with a hint of a smile
"Of course!" he said, with a bit bigger force "What happened?"
"After our meet, we managed to meet a couple of more times in secret, and he even saw you one time" she said, and Shee hitched. His father? He met him? Actually!
"But before you turned 2, he disappeared, and I wasn't even sure if he was alive or dead." she said, and he could hear the sadness coming back to her tone "22 years ago I found out he was alive...with a wife and son" she said, starring at the table.
"Son?" he almost whispered the word, as if it wasn't a word at all. Oteire just nodded
"His son, Uchiha Itachi"
Shee got up again and started walking franticly back and forth in the living room.
Uchiha Itachi
His half brother!
So that means...
"Uchiha Sasuke too...is my half brother!" he said, looking at his mom, and she nodded, but it wasn't a question "Why now?" he asked, anger in his tone
"There is a war...I want you to know, if you are fighting an Uchiha..." she said, looking into his eyes intently
"So to be merciful?" he almost screamed
"No. To make an informed decision" said Oteire coldly, and Shee resumed his back and forth steps
"What about the time Uchiha Itachi attached me?" he said while stopping, watching his mom getting up as well
"I should've then...but..." she looked away "I'm not proud, and it's really not his fault...but...I held a grudge against him..."
"Grudge? You don't hold any against Uchiha Sasuke or Madara?" he asked, still angry
"It's not the same...Uchiha Itachi wasn't just a child to me when he was born...he was the physical representation of..." she tailed off, and Shee saw new tears forming in her eyes, which made him come to his senses a bit, and he went to hug her.
While her mom was whimpering in his embrace, Shee's mind run wild, remembering that 9 years ago his mom gathered a sadness she could never leave behind, it was also 9 years ago when the Uchiha massacre happened. Suddenly so many things made sense...
"Why don't I have the sharingan?" he asked
"I don't know...when Fugaku saw you, he mentioned something about your blonde hair..." she said, and Shee tailed off again in thoughts
He remembered something and let out a half chuckle at that
"What?" Oteire looked up at him with slight surprise
"Just..." he tailed off "A girl I once met said I reminded her of her teammate, probably talking about Uchiha Sasuke" he said, and her eyes grew more wide
"You look like Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked, in a bigger surprise in her tone
"I'm not sure about it, that's what that girl said" he said, suddenly feeling weird
"Ohh...when?" she said, while making them sit down again
"A couple of years ago" he said, looking away
"Where did you meet a girl a couple of years ago?" she asked, and he could hear a slight amusement in her voice
"In one of the kage meetings" he said, while pupping a semi cold dumpling in his mouth. It felt a bit better to talk about something meaningless, than to think about everything else...
"What was a girl doing at a kage meeting?"
"Ahh, she was with Lady Tsunade, she was her apprentice" he said, missing the strange spark in the yellow colored eyes
"A student of Lady Tsuande?" she said, and he almost could hear the rolls moving in her head "So she'll be at this war too?"
"Probably" tailed off Shee, while having another bite "She would be of age and rank" he said, off handedly
"I bet..." she said, and smiled slyly at him, which he didn't appreciate, especially after remembering how that girl's haircut was matching hers "How old is she?"
"Going off of Uchiha Sasuke's age, probably around 17" he said, and saw the smile grew on her lips. "Don't even think about it" he said, putting up a hand in the air.
Oteire started to complain about grandkids for the last couple of years, and anytime he had a female coworker, she was making a fuss about it, and now that she heard there is a girl who is studying under Tsuande, and he talked with her once, she had a new victim in mind.
"The girl mentioned that you remind him of Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked, not paying attention to his protest
"Yeah" he murmured, fixating his gaze on the plates
"The girl just walked up to you and said that?"
"No. I noticed her staring, so I asked." he said, before noticing the trap
"Ohh...she was starring, and you walked up to her" she said, grinning
"May I remind you that I was 22, and she looked like 13-14?" he said, feeling annoyed
"And then what happened?" she asked and Shee just let out a sigh
"Then her partner there mentioned how important he is to her" he said, before realizing yet again of what he just admitted. Shit
"Ohh, so she had feelings for him, and you look like him" she hummed, and Shee just wanted suddenly to go home "I wonder what this girl thought of you. You know, this girl is probably really talented, and this girl is also probably strong, and this girl-"
"Sakura. Her name is Sakura. You can stop with the 'this girl' " he said with agitated voice, but then realization hit him. Oh what the hell did he just admit?
"So you know her name, hm? How so?" she asked, with a sly smile. Shee just looked away, eating up his last piece of dumpling
"That doesn't matter" he murmured "Don't start hoping for anything, okay?" he asked, and she reluctantly nodded.
His mother had a wild imagination, thinking and already matchmaking them together.