19 • Legends Never Die

Laying on my side, I stare at the darkness that is my sleeping area. If you ignore how the barracks are just one large room with numbered bunk-beds, it isn't too bad of a space. People are constantly in and out, which can be a bitch to the more paranoid ones, but you quickly learn how to fall asleep fast if you want to be well-rested enough.

Unfortunately, I don't feel like sleeping right now so I'm wide awake. It's hard to describe but there's been a change around Camp and HQ, around ROOT in general. To start with, I've seen Dino around my training more often. I never directly look at him, but it's hard not to notice his presence.

He's only spoken to me once during training, idly commenting on my progress before he left. It made me uneasy but I bowed in thanks anyway. There was a contemplative glint in his eyes when he spoke of my improvement.

That's the only noticeable change, everything else being much more subtle. It took a while for me to realize, but the other trainees are a lot more exhausted whenever I see them coming back from their various scheduled training sessions.

When you yourself are ready to pitch over and sleep in a random hallway, you don't tend to notice someone else's exhaustion.

But well, that's what stealing coffee is for. I'm still technically not allowed any and will most likely get in trouble if found out, but I'd like to think I'm rather exempt from the rule. I joined this godforsaken place when I was three! Coffee is the least of things I deserve!

Either way, Danzō is planning something. It's hard to say whether or not that something will be put into effect anytime soon, or if it's one his long-term plans. It'd be preferable if he decided to scrap it altogether but chances are, he'll just postpone or revise whatever it is.

It makes me uneasy, to know that something is potentially going on but not having a single clue as to what exactly. I can theorize all I'd like, but theories are of little help without definitive proof. Theories without any sort of proof or backing is just hearsay, and I shot people that spoke hearsay Back Then.

That's just one of the changes. The other most notable change can't technically be called to be "around ROOT" but seeing how the organization is involved, I'd say it counts. That is, and depressingly enough, the fact that Itachi has joined Shisui (and I technically) in ROOT.

He wasn't before. Shisui just kept him in the loop of things. And being in ANBU isn't really that different, so secrecy was a bit of a moot point.

How do I know this? Simple. Shisui kept throwing riddles at me until I figured it out and glared at them both disapprovingly.

It's bad enough Itachi was scouted for and joined ANBU at just the age of eleven. But ROOT when he's just thirteen, really? Shisui isn't any better - joining when he was fifteen. There should really be an age-limit to these sorts of things, genii and prodigies included.

Besides that, the two of them have been making plans together, letting me know they're making plans, and then proceeding not to tell me what those plans are. It's all very irritating and if I cared any less, I'd stab them. As it is, I can understand the secrecy between them and I. I don't like it but I understand it.

Besides the two of them, there's been a change with the Brats. As in, two more have joined them. It's not a bad change, a little annoying but not bad. I'm actually kind of glad it happened, it means less effort on my side. With such an established friend group, it would be difficult to find a suitable reason to reach out to the Yamanaka and Inuzuka heirs without seeming suspicious.

Thankfully, Naruto and Hinata are less suspicious than me. Especially when you take their personality into account of how they met the other two.

From what Choji told me, Naruto accidentally ran into Kiba (the Inuzuka Heir) and then they started fighting because the brunette was offended or something. How one becomes friends with a first meeting like that is beyond my understanding. At least Shikamaru agrees with me there.

Then Shino told me that Hinata apparently met Ino (the Yamanaka Heiress) while looking for flowers for another project of hers. Not that that's surprising, but I do wonder why we haven't met her before. The Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans are very close knit so it'd make sense for the heirs to know each other.

Shikamaru and Choji have definitely known her for years based on the way they interact with each other. They've never mentioned her before though. Perhaps something to do with differing interests? Ino is definitely more exuberant than the two of them, so it makes sense if they aren't so close as to be friends rather than acquaintances.

Either way, our first meeting with each other definitely could have gone better. Kiba didn't really like the nickname I gave him and then got annoyed when none of the other Brats would back him up in giving me my own nickname. According to Naruto, it'd be weird because, "she's Sakura. Sakura is Sakura. She can't be anything else."

It didn't stop the boy from deciding that he'll call me "Bubblegum" from now on. It's more amusing than annoying; I've never had a nickname before.

A title and epithet? Without a doubt. A nickname, though? I was never close enough to anyone to warrant one. It's..nice.

My first meeting with Ino…well. It's hard to describe, but to sum it all up, we just stared at each other. Then she nodded her head as if reaching a conclusion and boldly claimed that we were now friends.

Children are really fascinating.

However, I did have to pull her aside and very bluntly tell her that her...advances… towards Sasuke made him uncomfortable and to stop.

It took an hour of debate, Hinata dragged in at some point as a mediator, before Ino understood I was just a person that had her best friend's interest at heart.

Watching how quickly she changed her attitude with the knowledge she made him uncomfortable was also really fascinating. Children are so fleeting with what they do and how they feel.

In the end, everyone became good friends.

Hooray.

The sarcasm is meant to be there. It just feels like things are going too well- erm, as well as anything can in my situation. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, I muse with a silent sigh and turn to lie on my back. But my instincts have never led me astray before.

Something isn't right. Somewhere, something is going to go wrong. Hopefully, it won't affect anything too much. Hopefully, it isn't anything too bad. Hopefully…everyone will be alright.

ʕ •̀ o •́ ʔ

Sasuke is the first to hear the news; delivered to him at dinner by his father. He doesn't believe it at first, though he also doesn't think his father would joke about something like this (can he even tell a joke?, a small part of him questions before he pushes it aside). But one look at his brother is all it takes and suddenly he understands.

Shiusi is dead.

It's unexpected and he doesn't know what to do or feel. He feels sort of numb about it, staring at his cooling food blankly. And then, suddenly and with no warning, he starts crying.

A part of him knows that it's illogical. His cousin was a shinobi and death is always a risk in that line of work. But the older Uchiha was just..so bright and happy, to think that he's gone now is..

His mother is quick to tuck him into her arms and very abruptly he is reminded of his friends. Who's going to tell them? How will they react? What-

"I'll tell their parents," his father answers quietly and Sasuke realizes that he was speaking aloud. He relaxes, just slightly, at the knowledge that he won't be responsible for that. He doesn't think he'd be able to.

"And I'll tell Sakura," his brother speaks for the first time that night and oh. Sakura.

Everyone knows how well the two of them got along. It wasn't a secret that Shiusi adored his pink-haired friend as a sister (though, Sakura has proven to be rather dense at this fact and Sasuke will forever be baffled at this) and that she in turn looked up to him (as much as an independent person like her could).

It reminds him, again very suddenly, that Sakura just lost her father several months ago. He remembers the way she looked during the funeral. Blank faced and dead eyed, a furrow in her brows that made her look lost. He didn't like that look on her face; it scared him how empty she could be when he's so used to her expressive nature.

Maybe it makes him a bit of a coward to be so relieved at the fact that Itachi will be the one to tell Sakura. Maybe he's a bad brother for wanting his brother to deliver the message that his own best friend is dead.

But Sasuke isn't stupid and he knows that the two of them get along just as well. It hurts, just a little, to know that he won't be able to help his brother with his own grief. Sasuke isn't stupid and he knows that, so long as he is family, his brother will uphold the image of being Clan Heir.

With that in mind, he stops thinking and lets himself cry for the loss of a clan member, cousin, friend, and brother.

ʕ •̀ o •́ ʔ

When Itachi said that he'd be the one to tell Sakura, he meant it. But also because there's information to be passed, context to be given. Knowing what he does about the younger girl, he doesn't doubt that she'd hunt him down herself for answers. Because if someone told her he was dead and nothing else..she wouldn't believe it.

Despite witnessing it, Itachi doesn't quite believe it either. There's been no time to examine or think about the grief and anger he feels about losing his best friend and second brother. He's been too busy planning and arguing with his father about what it means.

He remembers the day that Shisui came to him with a last resort idea, given to him by Sakura herself. He doesn't like it; it implies that they failed and he hates that, but it was also the best option the two of them had. They had kept it to themselves while making preparations, but with Shiusi dead… he had to confront his father. One last effort to keep everyone safe.

As Sakura would say: well wasn't that just a fucking success.

Sighing, he looks at the ordinary yellow house before him. If he hadn't heard the details from a trusted source, he'd never believe it'd hold such dark secrets.

He doesn't bother walking up to the front door and knocking, she won't be inside. Sakura is never at the house if she can help it, returning only once a week for about three hours to maintain the inside.

"I hate the place but it's also where all my mom's stuff is," she had explained once with a shrug.

As it is, she should be arriving for the weekly clean up.

"Princess?"

He turns around to find her standing not too far away, looking at him in confused surprise. He lets her observe him, and feels almost sad at how quickly she picks up the fact that something is wrong. But he's made his peace about her unfortunate circumstances already and Sakura hates being pitied.

She walks closer to him, staring intently as if she could figure out what the problem is. He wonders what she sees when she looks at his blank expression. He doesn't think he lets anything show or pass, but she must obviously see something because her own expression shutters for a second.

"Come inside," she murmurs, walking past him to open the door.

He hesitates for a second, not wanting to associate another bad event with the house for Sakura, but follows after quietly. The curtains are closed, like they always are. The inside is neat and clean, a result of the weekly cleanings no doubt.

After taking off his shoes and putting on some slippers, he quietly pads to the kitchen when Sakura is. He finds her setting up some tea, so he waits by the entry just watching. It doesn't take long for her to finish, and when she does, she gestures for him to follow her into the living room. They sit down next to each other by the coffee table, tea in hand.

"Itachi." He doesn't startle at the use of his name or the soft voice it's said in. "What happened?"

And so he tells her, in an equally quiet voice, leaving nothing out. It's the least she deserves. Especially when she doesn't interrupt or look at him. If she did, he might have paused and if he paused, he doesn't think he'd be able to say everything without feeling like it's a mission report. Shiusi's death shouldn't be something to report or told in a cold, unfeeling manner.

By the time he's finished, all the tea is gone and two hours have already passed.

Sakura reaches into her pocket then, pulling out three leather bracelets of different designs but similarly colored black. "It was Ino's idea for everyone in our group to have matching jewlery of sorts," she explains. "I knew Shiusi would complain so I got the two of you one too."

He doesn't look away from the bracelet she points at, doesn't look to see what sort of expression she's wearing with such a calm voice. He can only watch as she pushes two in his direction.

"Yours and his. Take them."

Shisui's bracelet is a simple braided band, his is a cross-braided band, and Sakura's bracelet is larger than both of them, a blank cuff. He can't help but compare it to a shackle.

He takes them.

They don't say another word for the rest of the day.