"Team Five. Uchiha Seiko. Hanasaki Rin. Inuzuka Takashi."
He was declared the new Uchiha clan head.
There was something unspeakable in Sasuke's eyes when the Hokage had told them that, easily handing Rin the scrolls, the official hanko, and the keys to the compound. It was expected that Sasuke had grown wary of the teenager in front of him, barely meeting the figure of the young man, but the sight of the keys in the hands of Hanasaki Rin burned him like an eclipse.
As the oldest and the most decorated out of the three of them, the title of Uchiha clan head would be his until Sasuke became a Genin.
That meant that they were not allowed to hold the mass funeral without Rin, nor was Sasuke able to go back to his own house to collect his stuff until Rin was there with him.
Rin took Sasuke's family away from him in more ways than one.
He had come back from a week-long mission and that very same night was fraught with enough tension that it overshadowed all of the stars in the sky.
The very next day, Sasuke came home.
The Uchiha compound was confined within a layer of caution tape and warning signs, wrapped up as if it was presented to them like a gift.
It was the fumes of bleach and chemicals that hit them first. Hari reached a hand up to her nose, grimacing before she exhaled the harsh scent from her body. Caution tape and boundary lines crumpled in Rin's hands as they fell upon them. No words were traded between them when they all set to work with amazing swiftness. Some perishable foods were thrown, others were donated. Potted plants were thrown in the center, turning molehills into mountains. Trash was bagged and left in front of every house for the Genin to come by and pick up later.
Caution tape. Food. Plants. Trash.
Books.
Iwari-san from the dango shop liked cookbooks.
Mari-san from down the street liked romance.
Just like how one household had too much natto for Hari's comfort, and a boy from several houses down liked elephants.
All of the deceased had placed signs in their homes to tell her that they still wanted to keep on living.
She felt the weight of an abundance of ghosts leaning on her.
Sasuke had been lingering in his house for too long, so silent that the ringing in Hari's ear became the center of her senses. He needed this, she thought, conjuring images of a boy in front of a tall mirror. Erised was written across the glass. He needed the space, silence, and the memories that the Hanasaki siblings could never give him. She cast a Homenum revelio, seeking for the presence similar to her own and followed the path like a yellow brick road.
She was taken to a small, square house that had flowers living along the veranda and that faced the center of the compound. She slipped easily through the ajar door, not even letting the creaks along the hardwood speak. It was easy to see where he was. Rin was a beacon in this small house, head bowed, nearly hitting the door frames with his height, standing like a giant in a small room.
"Rin?" she tentatively asked out in the air.
He didn't respond, but she knew he had heard her. She crept closer, little cat steps carrying her along.
"Rin?" she said again.
Up ahead of her, his figure remained still, but a letter in his hand appeared like the sun peeking over the horizon.
Hey Rin!
We haven't talked in a while, but I know your fifteenth is coming up. Sorry I forgot some of your previous ones, but I've been busy.
I guess you were too.
I miss you and Takashi.
A drawer was full of them, all open letters, spread out.
Three years ago:
I activated my sharingan.
Two years ago —
Takashi managed to take over the Inuzuka veterinary clinic. You should visit him.
One year.
Happy birthday! I'm sorry I've forgotten…
Multiple letters addressed to him, small gifts and trinkets strewn throughout. Books, calligraphy. All the things she knew Rin would enjoy. The solemn air was heavier now, hanging upon their necks. Fluttering paper echoed throughout the room as loud as a gong, as melodious as the sound of a running stream. Her head lifted up and met with the side of his face. In his hands now was the framed photo of his Genin team. Seiko had kept it above her bedside.
Hari watched her brother silently.
"That idiot," he finally said, softly.
The photo is placed back on her nightstand with a soft click of wood against wood. Hari barely recognized it when Rin walked out of the room.
That night, Hari went to bed, eyes watching the new photo set upon Rin's shelf.
Shikaku-san. Her brother. Uchiha Seiko. Inuzuka Takashi.
When they walked back to their home from the Uchiha compound, Sasuke lingered behind them, silently in step as the two siblings in front of him walked shoulder-to-shoulder on the street. In the night, far away from the village's centre, there was no sound around for miles. In all of their arms were boxes of Sasuke's belongings, but he did not feel the act of charity settled well with Rin.
Hari gently talked about hot pot, something she said was Rin's favorite while he nodded along to her words. They recalled his favorite add-ins together, reciting it like a song Sasuke didn't know.
He couldn't wrap his head around their relationship. He watched them whispered together, so slow and low and it appeared as if they were hissing from one to the other. The look in their eyes was not of Sasuke and Itachi. Hari did not treat Rin like an older brother, no adoration or reliance in her actions. Rin treated her almost like she was an equal.
The Uchiha looked at the way they stared at each other and never caught a glimpse of the former love Itachi pretended he had for Sasuke, the shared warmth.
When these two looked at each other, they appeared to be partners, scheming together — two criminals planning a heist.
He concluded then, they did not love each other.
Sasuke's eyes fell forward and he watched as Rin held out a single finger, beckoning Hari closer. He leaned down to her height while she tip-toed up for her ear to barely brush by his lips. There was trust in their actions, but no fondness. His whisper was so quiet, Sasuke couldn't make out Rin's words.
"You...feel it too, don't you?"
They were no Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke. They were not who he once was.
Hari's eyes became wide open the moment she sensed Sasuke's chakra drop into a slow, rhythmic lull. She adjusted to the darkness, making her sight jump from corner to corner of her room. The futon across from hers was folded neatly and empty. The trunk in the middle of their room was left wide open. Light streamed from it in a gentle glow.
Sighing deeply from the lingering sleep, she gently pushed herself out of her futon.
Sasuke had long evacuated Hari and Rin's shared room — retreating from all the progress Hari gently guided him through. Hari admitted that she wasn't happy about the arrangement either, but Rin's offensive toward Sasuke soured her thoughts. She pulled a face but continued onward anyway.
She carefully placed one foot into the open trunk, followed by the other, and again until she sunk completely past the leather. One arm stretched out, shutting the lid of the trunk after her.
Here was a relic of their past.
She made it to the bottom of the stairs and was greeted by the image of Rin standing in the middle of the room, appearing leisurely as he leaned on one leg, arms crossed. Hari had conjured up an extra room here, a potion set complete with a cauldron and a shelf of jarred ingredients that Rin had collected for her throughout the years as he went on his missions. His figure was illuminated by a pale blue, cast like moonlight in water. Large piles of scrolls and books surrounded him here, placed on top of sparse wooden tables and the spare bed they had in the corner.
It resembled the dungeons in here, dark and cold with vials and notes strewn around like a mad scientist's laboratory. He had taken to sleeping in here, she assumed, and she was sure he wouldn't have a single issue. It was too similar to the potions classrooms, overflowing with the nostalgia of the Slytherin common rooms.
In front of him was the dangling body of a masked man. Arms outstretched, body petrified, he laid on his back in midair, eyes unseeing and head lolling back to meet with Rin's.
A spell to petrify. One to temporarily rob sight, hearing, and touch. One to display his body to them like an animal on a dissection table.
"You did a good job with the charms." His head did not turn to greet her, instead he kept his gaze forward. There was no hint of a compliment in his tone, he spoke it as a fact.
Her hand slowly slid off the stair's railing; one foot remained forward, frozen. "...You're the one who captured him first." She sighed deeply and walked over to his side, looking up at him to see his face. She was nearly half his size, barely past his bicep and he was still growing. She turned to look at the man. A small hand reached out, fingers grazing the mask before snatching it off him.
It was a man they didn't recognize.
Nondescript brown hair, dark eyes, overly pale skin as if he hadn't seen the sun in years. His veins were a dark blue against his transparent skin.
"ANBU?" she exhaled. Had the Hokage sent someone to constantly track them?
"No." He tilted his head, a hand coming up to his chin in thought. "If it were ANBU, I would know. For my exam I memorized every member's chakra signature and found matches for all of them throughout the month." His eyes narrowed. "I do not recognize this man."
She felt a headache coming up, but knew better than to voice that weakness of hers right now. Hari didn't put a hand up to her temple or the bridge of her nose, but sighed deeply and closed her eyes to keep the creeping pain at bay.
This was more trouble than she bargained for. She tried so hard up until now to live an average life, and the Hokage threw her plans under and crushed them mercilessly. Being tracked by foreign nin was not part of her plans.
"The mask is different as well." He nodded toward the mask in her hands, and both of their eyes fell upon the sleek surface and the animal pattern. "ANBU masks are made out of dry lacquer and clay. This is wood and paper."
"Understood," she whispered, eyes down, turning the mask over and over in her hands. "Is it the masked man from that night then?"
"What do you think?" He turned fully to her then, and she felt the weight of his gaze on her.
Encouraging critical thinking. He wanted to test her skills.
"My intuition says no." She threw the mask to the side, listening with half an ear as it skid across the room to a stop at the foot of the bed. "If it were the masked man from that night, he would've been harder to catch. We barely had to sweat for him." She gave a nod toward the captured shinobi. Rin had disabled him first, shunshin-ing behind him and delivering a sharp chop to his neck as Hari swooped in and petrified him with charms. "The masked man was also able to disable the genjutsu we have around the house, but not the charms and the runes. This man's skills are not comparable to his."
After a heavy silence, she continued on. "Do you seriously think that it was really Uchiha Itachi that killed his entire clan?" She had never personally met him, but the story seemed to be strung up on thin string. As Rin opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off again. "You've met him during missions before. What was he like?"
Rin shrugged carelessly. "What you would expect from a genius. Quiet. Polite."
She quirked an eyebrow at her brother. "No murderous tendencies?"
He responded with a wiry smile. "No murderous tendencies."
So just like how he was, echoed in both of their minds.
"Uchiha was strong." He glanced down to pluck a piece of lint off his clothes. Rin still had the post-mission appearance: ruffled clothes, eyebags, windswept hair. It was so subtle on him that normally no one would be able to tell the difference, but Hari had committed this image to heart. She knew him. "But the Uchiha clan held several dozen families and was the fourth biggest clan in all of Konoha. More than a handful were retired shinobi and kunoichi, active Jounins and ANBU." The shadows on his face were amplified by the pale blue light. "The Uchihas were like cockroaches. They would not have gone down quietly." The power in his voice fell. "No matter how strong Uchiha Itachi is."
"You think the Masked Man helped him and Itachi just took the credit."
He didn't answer, but she knew his silent agreement. If the Hokage's words were true, then Sasuke and the Hanasakis really were the last drops of Uchiha blood left. There were several handfuls of half-Uchihas and other quarter-Uchihas similar to they were, and they were all hunted down that night. The Masked Man's linger only gave them the answers they wanted.
"So where is he from?" she nodded toward the prisoner.
"He could be from anywhere. Those after the last members of the Uchiha clan range from cults, mercenaries, human traffickers. The Masked Man as well."
Wide green eyes blazed bright. "Sasuke. They're after his bloodline."
Something flashed in Rin's eyes, but she didn't comment.
"I'm going to protect him." And I'm not going to listen if you try to stop me, went unsaid, but rang loud and clear. Not like last time. Rin didn't protest. Eventually, after a frigid silence between them, she exhaled deeply. He didn't excuse her. Their relationship was past that of forced manners and pleasantries, but she knew it when he wanted something from her. "So what do you want me to do next?"
He gestured to the man with a grand flick of his hand. "If you please," he said, his voice almost mocking.
Green eyes flashed with recognition.
Her eyebrows furrowed, but she complied anyway. She placed a hand on the man's forehead and Rin slowly placed his larger, colder one on top of hers. His grip tightened, for a second she wondered if he was trying to hold it. Her head snapped up, but Rin wasn't paying attention to her any longer. Instead, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and held her focus.
"Legilimens."
"Sasuke!" She called out, voice muffled from the papers she held between her teeth and feet thundering down the stairs. The boy perked up slowly, turning toward the gaping door in front of his new place of residence with a hand tightly wound around the strap of his bag. He looked at her warily, on guard after Rin's words several days ago. She caught up to him, slamming her feet into two sandals laid out in front of the genkan and raced out of her house and down the front steps. An arm thrust out and he easily completed the movement, catching the wrapped bento that was in one of her hands, freeing her hand long enough for her to snatch her homework from between her teeth. She tilted her head as her chest heaved up and down. His shoes were on and his school bag was already slung over his shoulder. "Were you about to go to the Academy without me?"
Pale cheeks immediately burst with a bright pink color. His head snapped to the left, averting her eyes.
"N-No...I…"
"I'm sorry," she said, cutting off any excuse he could have planned.
"H-Huh?" With the look he was giving her, one would've thought that she said something fantastical, extraordinary.
"I'm sorry about Rin." She never called him nii-san or aniki. "A lot of people say that he's polite and charming, but he's a bit of an ass in real life. But still...what he said to you was unforgivable." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. A part of her was happy he was focused on her brother rather than his own. "I should've warned you about him."
The boy in front of her seemed to grow smaller if possible. He hunched his shoulders and pointed his shoes inward, eyes downcast as his bangs hid his expression.
"I'm not going to lie to you though." She said, bringing him out of the heavy pit of his thoughts. "Rin's not someone you get along with easily." Her frown was deep, with eyes as firm as steel. Sasuke knew that she wasn't telling him this just to challenge him. Give up, don't try, she seemed to tell him.
"So what…" Patterns were drawn in the dirt with the tip of his sandal. "So what do you want me to do?"
"You can do whatever you want," she said easily, tucking her papers into her messenger bag by her side. "I just thought I'd tell you because honestly, you're better than his words. I don't want him to weigh you down unnecessarily." She fixed her sandal and zipped up the sides. "Don't take it personally, okay? I'm not sure he even likes anything."
The two of them were able to fall into a slow stride to the Academy together. Sasuke kept his eyes down on the bento between his hands. Hari liked different colored wraps for her bentos, different from his mom's tame greens, tans, and yellows. Hari liked deep reds, dark greens, soothing blacks with floral patterns, but there had been a recent rise in cutesy animal patterns in the cabinet where she kept them.
"He likes you," he mumbled softly.
The girl beside him let out a loud, bark-like laugh, almost startling him. "Does he?" she asked, amusement in his voice. Instead of answering, Sasuke had only turned pinker and chose to hide behind his high collar. Several steps ahead, he had gotten so close to her that his shoulder nearly brushed with hers if it weren't for their difference in height.
The Academy was coming overhead again and she turned to him once more.
"Hey, Sasuke."
"Yes...Nee-san?" he said quietly.
"I know what I said about Rin." They stopped in front of his classroom once more. "But I was serious when I said I wasn't going anywhere. You believe me, don't you?"
The door stood between them, containing the sounds that were held behind it.
"I…" He turned his eyes to the ground. "I do."
A small smile appeared on her lips.
"Do you want to eat lunch together?" she suddenly asked.
"Yes!" He caught himself after his burst, but Hari appeared to not notice it when the bell rang over his words. Her head inclined up at the sound, and she soon turned, waving at him then dashing off to make it to her own class. His head dropped down until all he could see was the weathered wood floor again. "...Nee-san."
"Sasuke-kun, do you want to eat lunch with me? I prepared cookies for the both of us!"
"No, Sasuke-kun is going to be eating with me, right?"
"Move over, Ino-pig!"
"Your billboard brow is taking up all the space though!"
Sasuke's shoulders tensed as this commotion rose around him again, squaring against his small frame. Despite their initial hesitation at the beginning of the day — looking at him as if he was going to break any second, watching him with wide eyes like he was going to have another breakdown — they were back to hoarding him like bees, fluttering around him like hummingbirds. He felt eyes on him among this chaos, and when he turned his head for the briefest second, he saw the laziest person in class stare down at him from his seat. The Akimichi beside him was glancing at the two of them worriedly while the Dead Last in class stared at him with worry.
He felt pressure build in his chest again at this attention, his breaths coming out shallow and quick, but then the door slid open and she was there. The feeling caged in his ribs suddenly felt light enough for him to take flight. She remained rooted at the door frame, hands to her side.
She scanned the room, but brightened when she saw him. "Sasuke! Are you hungry?" The smile she sent him elevated the rising heat in his body.
He nodded quickly and grabbed his bento before rushing to her side, sliding his hand into her outstretched one.
"Hm!" one of the girls called out, furiously placing her hands on her hips as she glared at Hari. "Who do you think you are, talking to our Sasuke-kun so casually?!" Sasuke tried his best to hide his flinch at the sound, shuffling so that he stood in front of Hari instead of sliding closer to her side, blocking her view from the younger girl. Hari sent a small smile down at him, he was trying to protect her then? The Gryffindor sympathized with him, her head caught up in flashes of blond boys with cameras and girls with fiery hair, and she guessed that fans were the same no matter where she was.
She hadn't even realized that the interrogation on her increased until the boy in front of her snapped out a, "Leave us alone!"
A poke in his cheek silenced him, and the boy almost sputtered in response. "It's okay, Sasuke. Be nice to your classmates." He looked ready to protest, but her smile easily disarmed him. Her head inclined toward the door and he quickly nodded, ready to get out of there.
They barely made it out of the door when the unnamed girl tried again.
"Hm! I was talking to you, you know!"
"I'm sorry." Hari's words cut through the air, creating a hush around the classroom. "Do I know who you are?" she asked, looking down at Sasuke again. "Sasuke, do you know who she is?"
He paused for a second, ripping his gaze away from the crestfallen girl and looking up at Hari. "No."
Hari barely concealed the smirk on her lips. "Then I guess you shouldn't be bothering us with this, hm?"
Even before the Massacre, he ate alone and the loneliness was never something he minded until now. Hari's presence was unexpected, but not one that he turned away. The presences that did bother him were the ones that trailed behind him now, pretending as if they were casually going in the same direction he was. The boys in his class went in a line, with the Nara up in front, Akimichi behind him with a chip bag in his hand, Dead Last hurriedly catching up, Aburame slowly trailing, and Inuzuka behind them with his hands behind his head. In the background, he can see flashes of long hair as the girls tried to hide. Undoubtedly they were attracting attention, but Hari went on as if she didn't notice any of them.
Sasuke's anger bubbled inside him again, creeping up on him slowly as he became aware of every sound that surrounded him. Before he could bark out another sentence at the growing caterpillar of people behind him, Hari placed a hand on his shoulder. The door to the roof was already wide open, cascading bright light and soft wind into the hallway. When he glanced at her, he could barely see the features of her face.
"Hello, Shikamaru-kun," she said instead, immediately silencing the Uchiha. Sasuke gaped, his head turning from the lazy boy to Hari. Nara easily reclined on one leg and for a second he moved so slowly that Sasuke wondered if he had heard what she said.
"Hi, Hari," he finally exhaled.
She just smiled and turned to the other boy. "Hello, Choji-kun."
"Hiya, Hari-chan," the boy nervously said as he munched on his snacks. His eyes were nearly closed, but even Sasuke could catch his gaze go from Hari to him and back again.
She gave a short bow to the growing crowd. "Thank you, everyone, for checking up on Sasuke — " He wanted to shout that he didn't need anyone to worry over him. " — but we would like to eat lunch alone — " Her grip clamped down on Sasuke's shoulder, and he even accepted it, ready to turn away from this crew.
"Hari," Shikamaru interrupted, cutting her off. In the background, the growing crowd of people dispersed. "My family heard about what happened. My mom wants to check up on you and Rin." He scratched the back of his hand before dropping it. "Troublesome," he sighed. "She wants to have you guys for dinner sometime."
"Really?" Her eyes flashed. "When?"
"She said as soon as possible so...if you say okay she can get ready tonight."
"With Rin too?"
"Yeah…" His tone suddenly became crystal clear, rising out of that slow drawl he permanently had in his voice. "Though if Rin is busy, my mom wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss — " His body had straightened up, thinking of the man she lived with.
"No," she said. "That sounds perfect. Rin will be there. Sasuke and I will be there around five. Will that be okay?" It was hard to hide the devious smirk on Hari's face, the sudden flash of mischief in his eyes. Sasuke wondered for a second if he was looking at the same person, trying to see if she was suddenly replaced with a kleptomaniac in a room full of gold.
His eyes were searching her up and down before he eventually nodded and Sasuke narrowed his eyes, trying to catch what Shikamaru was looking for, what he was up to. He left with a soft, "C'mon, Choji," and the two boys turned without looking back.
Another soft, "Later, Hari-chan," escaped Akimichi's mouth and she returned it with a wave.
Soon it was just the two of them, and Hari quickly ushered them out to the roof to quickly finish their meals before their break was over. As Sasuke walked out the door, it was hard to deny the flash of orange he saw.
After class let out, they came back home, dropped off their stuff, and quickly finished their homework at the dining table. At 1600, Sasuke put his pencil down with a sigh, cracking some of the bones around his shoulder and back through some languid stretches as if he was a cat out in the sun and was immediately herded out the door by Hari.
With one sandal barely on and the other in his hand, he hopped around in his spot to see the older girl hurriedly writing a note as she ushered the two of them outside. Rin's clock hand still pointed toward HOKAGE TOWER and hadn't shown any signs of moving in the couple hours they were home. By the amount of underlines in Hari's note and the forceful way she slammed the piece of paper on the door, it was clear that she wasn't giving the man any space to argue with her.
"Nee-san…" he finally spoke up after he realized they were going to the village center instead of the Nara compound. Comfortable silence had filled the space between them and he almost felt bad for ruining it. "How do you know Shikamaru?"
"Hm?" slipped out of her lips as she turned to him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I keep on assuming that people just know." She shrugged. "Shikamaru's dad was Rin's Jounin sensei."
"Huh?" Sasuke was sure that his look of incredulousness was almost comical, something he fixed as quickly as it came. It was hard to imagine that someone as unmotivated as the Nara clan had a hand in tending Rin to the powerhouse of a shinobi that he was now.
"So I practically knew Shikamaru ever since we were in diapers," she continued on, pausing to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I lost my mom in the Kyuubi Attack, so Rin had to take me basically everywhere with him. When he went on missions Shikamaru's mom took care of me."
He went silent at that. The Kyuubi Attack was something that still soured everyone despite its seventh anniversary about to come around the corner. Hari believed that it was the heaviness of the situation that caused her newly appointed cousin to go quiet, but he was weighed down by something else.
His mom had told him that Itachi was the one who saved him during the Attack. Itachi was the one who carried him to the shelters and was the one who shielded him from external dangers on that day.
"Though…" Hari didn't know what compelled her to speak. "That makes it sound like Shikamaru and I are really close. We were both really young when it happened, so it's not like we have a lot of bonding experiences. And after what Rin did we kind of just lost touch with the Nara family."
"What did Rin do?" Sasuke pushed the memories of his brother to the back of his mind eagerly accepting this news.
"In here," Hari cut off, pointing her thumb to a wagashi shop. She turned into the small store with the boy quickly catching up to her strides. "Do you have a favorite, Sasuke?"
"I don't like sweets," he immediately said, face automatically puffing up into a pout. Hari managed to hide her relieved expression after she was successfully able to change the course of the conversation. "Why are we getting desserts when we're going to eat at the Nara's later?"
"It's polite to get a gift for someone if you're going to their house, Sasuke." For a second he almost thought that she was chastising him, but he caught the edge of her smile like the flash of a knife and smoothed his face from his childish expression. "Do you have a dessert that you hate the least then?"
He kept his small arms crossed. "...Anything but dango."
A soft hum escaped her lips and she caught the attention of the worker, sending them an easy smile. She scanned the wide variety of the desserts from the window they were kept behind and straightened herself up after a short minute.
"The imagawayaki, please." She tapped her finger on the glass, hovering over the fried dough.
"Coming right up!" the worker nodded to her.
"I know someone else in your class," Hari started off as she fished for her wallet and the village's hanko. Despite the Hokage's underhanded methods, he truly did mean that they would never have to think about finances again. Ever since that day, Hari and Rin never had to pay for their own groceries. The stamp in her hand was proof of that.
Sasuke almost recoiled when she said that. "...Who."
"Uzumaki Naruto," she said easily as she was handed the plastic bag of her sweets and placed a sturdy stamp on the paper handed to her.
It was when she said his name that she got the first animated reaction out of him, almost as if he jumped to life. His collar seized, rising up above his nostrils as his shoulders raised like a cat about to attack.
"Dead Last?" he nearly shouted as they exited the store.
"That's not very nice," she said, giving him a weary smile. They both turned towards the path to the Nara compound.
"Tch — ! It's just — ! He's so… How does someone like you know someone like him?" This was the least composed she had ever seen Sasuke, and she was sure that she was going to drag this on for as long as possible. Perhaps this was the spark that ignited in Fred and George every time they saw Ron, the instinct to see their younger sibling squirm. She wondered why Naruto would get such a reaction.
The spikes of hair on the back of his head rose like the fur of an indignant kitten.
"Rin doesn't like going to the orphanage, so I would go." No matter where they were, it seemed as if Wool's Orphanage appeared in several different reincarnations all around them. "Whenever I picked up our monthly allowance, he was there." She took a sharp turn to the left. "I like Naruto," she spoke it as nothing else but raw fact and she ignored the look on Sasuke's face that made it appear as if she had sprouted another head or told him that she was kicking him out of the house. "He's usually alone...isn't he?"
Sasuke clicked his tongue again and crossed his arms. "He keeps on saying that he's going to be Hokage, but he has the worst grades in class and he's always pulling pranks," as if this had answered her question.
"Can I ask why that bothers you so much?"
The dots didn't connect. Hari equated Sasuke to a weird mix of Hermione and Draco in school. Hermione had a habit of looking down on people who didn't take schooling seriously and Draco just looked down on any lowly activity that she and her band of misfits took to. Then again, they were the two smartest people in her year.
"It just — How can it not?! He talks big for an idiot and attempts to challenge me every chance he gets, but we all know he's going to lose. Every word he says is dumb." Nose in the air, he fixed his voice until it sounded comically nasally and high pitched, "'I'll never lose!'" He scoffed. "Like that," Sasuke stated, giving her a flat look. Enough about him, he huffed. "Why do you like him?"
"I like the underdog," she said simply. Sun started to shine in bright rays down, lowering in the sky and appearing golden through the leaves that hung high above them. "I think he has a good heart."
And that was the only thing Harry Potter ever cared about in his first life.
"Tch. Whatever." Lame, she was sure he was thinking in his head, yet he inched closer to her as if he was waiting for the orange menace to jump from any corner and snatch her as soon as he blinks.
"...You never answered my question though."
"Huh?" He hated how much he was saying that now. How Hari and Rin kept on catching him off guard.
"You're observant. I even noticed your high grades in Observation and Reconnaissance. Do you know anything else about him?"
He didn't know why they were still on this topic, but he guessed that the praise at the end of the sentence was manipulation. They taught that in class, but even he found himself eating it up. "I guess," he bit out. "The civilians are mean to him. They call him 'demon' every time they see him and throw him out of stores and stuff." His face lowered further in his collar and he slouched. "...My mom never minded him," he said almost as an afterthought. Sasuke himself didn't know why he was sharing this, the soft looks his mom always gave the lonesome boy by the swing.
"...His birthday is October tenth," Hari eventually said. "The anniversary of my mom's death."
Silence.
It clicked.
He gasped softly and turned his head to the girl beside him, looking up at her almost proud expression. Something like this —
"...What?" his voice came out no louder than a whisper.
"It's an S-rank secret." She shrugged. "I only know it because Rin told me when I asked. But I didn't tell you — you figured it out yourself." Her smile curled at this, as if she was patting herself on the back for finding the loophole.
"Does he — does the dope know this?" The idiot smiles as if there was no end to his days, Sasuke believed, there was no way he could've known. The village was hiding this from him but not the adults.
"No, I don't think so," she replied.
"You — Why did you tell me this though?" his voice came out raspy. If it really was S-rank, expulsion and prison time would be the least of Hari's worries if anyone found out.
"I guess I just wanted to know how you would react. Does this change anything about him?" The way she looked at him — green eyes calculating, smile flattened into a thin line. She was trying to test him somehow.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked the other way. Away from the cold, hard look she might've sent him. He scoffed again, swinging his leg so hard that it kicked up a dust cloud. "Tch. No. He's still the same usuratonkachi."
Tension melted from Hari's shoulders, giving him a pat on the head and smiled even when he tensed up. "You're a good kid, Sasuke."
"I know Sasuke," that voice rang in his head. "He will always be a pure person."
He rolled his eyes but didn't push Hari away. Hari could see the faint pink that streaked across his cheeks. "Whatever."
"Hari-chan!" Yoshino gasped. "Look at you! You're so tall! You know you used to be small enough for me to carry you and Shikmaru in my arms at the same time." Cold hands clasped her cheeks and squished them together, making her appear like a fish in a tank.
"H-Hello, Yoshino-san. R-Rin's at the Hokage Tower, but he's coming after." Her voice came out muffled and Sasuke intelligently hung back where the door was. She liked to think that he was entertaining the thought of bolting right there, seeing how she was completely at the mercy of this woman.
"Yoshino-obasan!" the woman snapped with a bit more force than necessary. When she released Hari's face, her cheeks came out red. "Seriously, kids these days, don't you remember how I practically raised you?" Her hardness melted when she got a good look at her face again. "Oh, but you're still so cute. You and your brother both — "
A loud yawn cut her off. "Geez, woman, are you trying to smother her?" Hari turned to see Shikamaru pad into the house from the engawa.
"Say that again, young man. I dare you."
Shikamaru immediately pulled a look that just screamed fight or flight.
"Hello, Shikaku-san." Hari bowed politely when the man came into view, coming down from the stairs. She held out her box to him. "I brought wagashi as thanks for inviting me over."
In the background, she could feel the two schoolboys nod to each other in recognition.
He gently took the box out of her hands. "Thank you, Hari." After a pause, he finally said, "It's good to see you again."
They both politely ignored the fact that the last time they had seen each other was when the Hokage forced them to take Sasuke in.
"In my opinion, you don't come by enough," Yoshino spoke up from behind her. Brown eyes went to the silent boy at her door. "And welcome into our humble home, Uchiha-kun. Thank you for accepting our invitation." As slow as a snail, Sasuke nodded and finally took off his shoes completely. She took the box from her husband and carefully placed it on the kitchen counter.
"Do you need any help?" Hari asked, taking one step closer until the woman practically pushed her away.
"Not at all! I invited you over, so you can play with Shikamaru until I call you for dinner." Sasuke followed her as the woman shoved her into the backyard where her son and Choji were waiting for her on a soft patch of grass in the forest.
Sasuke tried his best to hide his flinch when Yoshino slammed the sliding door closed behind them.
Hari sighed and closed her eyes but opened them looking like a new, refreshed person. A gentle hand was placed on top of Sasuke's shoulder and she gently led him to where Shikamaru and Choji were waiting.
"Shikamaru, can I borrow some money?" the Akimichi easily asked, prodding the boy who was laying flat on his back and soaking up the sun like a plant.
"Snacks again, Choji?" he drawled out, not bothering to open his eyes. Hari came up to them and plopped right by Shikamaru's side, laying down and sprawling out her hair. Sasuke stood awkwardly off to the side, looking around and searching for something to do until Hari gestured for him to lay down too.
Sasuke was like a robot winding down, doing every movement in awkward, slow gestures, bit-by-bit until he finally laid down next to Hari.
"Do you need money, Choji?" she asked, pulling out her wallet and looking up at him. The boy blushed before he quickly tried to deny it. She laughed lightly. "I don't mind," she said as she pulled out several bills.
"Troublesome girl," Shikmaru said, gently elbowing her side from his spot. "Don't you need to save money?"
"It's alright. I don't care," she said, blinking her large eyes at him, her tone as clear as day. "It's Rin's money."
"God…" He reached a hand up to ruffle his hair. "It's like you're looking to antagonize him."
"Hm. He won't do anything to me," she said with soft confidence, turning her eyes up to the sky.
The four of them lay like that in silence.
She sounded so sure of it, but Shikamaru couldn't help but suspect something wrong in her words.
"Rin-kun…!" Yoshino gently gasped when the tall teen appeared at her door. He smiled pleasantly at her, making his eyes sparkle into an apple-red when he looked at her.
"Hello, Yoshino-san, Nara-san," he said pointedly at the two adults. He bowed deeply. "Thank you so much for inviting Hari and I for dinner, and for taking care of my younger sister." He rose slowly. "I brought wagashi."
Yoshino reached out and chatted easily about how it was no problem at all, and she wanted them to all be together again, as if they were a big family to start with. She told him that the kids were playing together outside, but since he was the big kid among them, he probably wouldn't want to join them. Among her words and Rin's nods, her voice trailed off as she opened the box.
"Hm? Is there something wrong?" To Rin's credit, he managed to look genuinely concerned about the state of the desserts.
"It's nothing at all." Yoshino smiled up at him. "It's just that you and Hari managed to get me the same thing!" She laughed and gestured to the kitchen where she carefully laid out the imagawayaki on a plate.
"You two are siblings after all."
He only smiled in response.
"Cloud watching?" Sasuke repeated, trying to keep the tone of incredulousness from slipping out of his voice. He had to play it over in his head to confirm with himself. This is what his classmates did while he trained the day away.
"Don't knock it until you try it!" Choji rang from the other side of Shikamaru. After Hari managed to talk to him about his favorite subject he inched away from that shell he was in. "It's no food-testing, but it's pretty relaxing!"
Hari sighed deeply. "I missed this," she stated softly. She nudged Shikamaru and grunted. He opened up one eye to glare at her but she only sent him a smile and pointed to the largest cloud in the sky. "What do you think that one looks like?"
"A bunny...!" Choji guessed.
"A cumulus cloud," Shikamaru said.
"Haha," Hari said without humor as she sent a playful glare toward the Nara. He tried his hardest, but even he couldn't hide his smirk in the face of the girl.
He didn't know where she got the desire for this game from. When they were still young kids, he used cloud-watching as an excuse to nap, but Hari always pulled him out of his slumber to get him to guess the shapes of the clouds above. Her brain would conjure up the wildest creations. An animal that was half-eagle, half-horse. A crab that shot fire from its end. A nargle. Whatever that was, she never told him. Despite them not speaking for about five years, she still felt the need to continue the tradition, and he would be lying if he said he minded it.
"What do you think, Sasuke?"
The solemn Uchiha shrugged from beside her.
"I don't know."
Hari rolled over until she faced him and knew from the look in his face that he could've replaced that statement with an I don't care.
"Well, humor me?" she asked so earnestly that Shikmaru would be surprised if she didn't give him puppy-dog eyes then and there.
"...The top of a piece of broccoli," he said carelessly.
Hari and Choji playfully groaned and rolled their eyes at his response.
"That's lame!" the Akimichi said, and even though they couldn't see his smile everyone could practically feel the large grin in his voice.
"You need to have more creativity, Sasuke!" Hari urged. "Every good ninja needs creativity."
"...A dinosaur from the side."
"Really!" Hari chimed in. "I think it looks like…"
The rest of their hour went like that. The four of them bounced around ideas like a tennis match and Sasuke put in his two-cents whenever he was coaxed by Hari or whenever their ideas were so off that he had to share his thoughts.
It didn't take long for his eyelids to drop gradually, heavily. It weighed more and more as time went along, a dragged out pattern of up and down, until he finally fell into restful sleep.
"Sasuke…?" Hari asked softly, turning to him only to find him slumbering.
"Finally," Shikamaru said, closing his eyes and settling into a better position to nap.
No one said goodnight, but they all dropped into sleep like princesses under a spell.
It was the first time Sasuke had a dreamless sleep. He woke up later recalling that this was the most well-rested he had been in a while.
He walked himself out to the engawa, overlooking the large forest that the Nara owned and the soft setting sun. The entire backyard was plunged in a deep orange and gold. He breathed in and out, taking in the scents of the different plants they had planted around them.
Several minutes later, his former sensei came out, closing the sliding door again with a near quiet click. Rin didn't bother to turn and greet his old teacher, and instead kept his eyes planted on the large expense in front of him. The sound of a lighter opening up played by his side, and he looked down to realize that Shikaku had offered it to him, a cigarette in his mouth.
He laughed politely, artificially nervous and pushed the match back to the man and shook his head. "No thanks, I still don't smoke."
He never did anything that could potentially harm his body in the long run.
The man nodded and put it back in his pocket, and they stood like that, drenched in silence. Shikaku let out several quiet puffs of smoke every now and then, but they never said a word to each other. Rin noticed that he was the same height as the man now. The last time they really spoke, he was up to the man's neck and he was still growing.
"How are the funeral preparations coming along?" Shikaku suddenly asked.
Rin blinked at the man in surprise.
"Thank you for your concern. They're going really well. The temple is handling a majority of the major processions, so I don't need to sweat too hard over them." He chuckled softly at this. "I was at the Hokage Tower today and I finished planning out most of the actual ceremony. I'm sure once the Hokage settles on a date, he will send out a notice to everyone so that the village can pay their respects."
Give a lot of minor details, withhold major specifics.
"You're working hard," the Nara remarked. "Make sure you take it easy."
Rin laughed. "Always checking up on me. I'm thankful that I had a sensei like you — "
"I think…" he sighed and a large cloud of smoke came out. "We both knew that you never really saw me as your sensei."
"I'm forever grateful to the knowledge you gave me."
His smile was razor sharp now, but he didn't do anything to deny or confirm the man's words.
"...I'm glad that you decided that that was the most valuable thing that came from your three-man-unit."
Something flickered in Rin's eyes, bleached a pale peach in the light of the sunset.
"Ah…" Rin knew this man's game. He was waiting for this conversation to come up some time in his life. "Shikaku-sensei, are you insinuating that I didn't even care about you?"
His smile was something dangerous, eyes narrowed and so sharp he could cut with them.
Shikaku wouldn't say it aloud. Not now.
Then it was gone, and he was replaced with another smiling handsome teen again. "Of course I'm just kidding. I care about — "
"You...you can just drop the act. She's already dead." His voice came out raspy, weathered by stone and sandpaper. He believed that his former student could at least give her some solstice in her rest. There was no need to have her chase him around in his game anymore.
"...Excuse me?" For some reason, there was a spark in his words. "Hah...I don't quite understand what you're saying…"
"What about Seiko?" Shikaku asked, quietly coughing into his fist, cutting him off. Do you miss her. Did you care when you got the news. Do you even remember who she was. If Rin spoke, lies would come from his forked tongue. Shikaku didn't do it for the sake of himself. The topic moved quicker than the man's shadow. "Did you finish the burial paperwork for her?"
"...I'm not burying her."
"...Huh?"
Of all things, Shikaku didn't expect that. His mouth gaped open so much that his cigarette nearly dropped.
"She said she wanted to be cremated. That's what I'm going to do."
That was a fact from so long ago, so buried in their minds that even Shikaku nearly forgot. Let alone it be something that he thought Rin would remember. He took pleasure in the Jounin Commander's undignified face, an emotion he didn't even fabricate.
Rin was mockingly coy, looking at Shikaku from behind his long, dark lashes. "Well, aren't you a bad sensei for not remembering that. She said, 'Cremate me and throw my remains on the day of the year's strongest wind.' So I'm going to do whatever she wanted." To his surprise, Shikaku couldn't catch any hint of a lie in the tail end of his words.
All for her.
Their first C-rank ended in disaster.
It had been only half a year since they had graduated, toiling between painting fences, repairing buildings destroyed in the war, doing installations for richer patrons. A bead of sweat dripped down Rin's forehead after he had finished his side of the roof, wiping it off with a flick of his wrist before adjusting the baby sling he had across the back. The sun beat down on them and Hari had long since fallen asleep due to the heat, lolling her tiny head on the skin of his spine in her nap. If he was not Rin, maybe he would've fallen to the temptation too. He knew that Inuzuka had taken a nap a little while ago, curling on the roof with his puppy, Aomaru. Shikaku-sensei had caught them in their act and sighed before commanding them to do some of Seiko and Rin's side of the roof as well, and Rin forced himself to smile in gratitude toward his new teammate while Seiko giggled to herself at Takashi's pained expression, hands knotted through his brown hair.
The mission was finally done, and the moment they left the Administration Building Rin had pulled out his ration book again, pen already in hand.
It was always the ration book.
The book came out like clockwork, always being ticked off seconds after they had received their pay for their meager D-rank.
Seiko and Takashi shared looks at one another, not nearly as subtle as their sensei when they caught sight of that brown, bound paper.
Later on, it wasn't Rin who came to Shikaku to pester him for higher-ranked missions, but rather Seiko and Takashi were always up in his face, knowing that they came with a higher pay grade. It was not proud Rin, who silently worked away with his baby sister tagging along, but it was Uchiha Seiko who lived a comfortable life with her infamous craftsman grandparents. Nor was it Inuzuka Takashi, whose mother was the sister of the clan head and who received a large allowance every month for helping her at the veterinary clinic.
The two put up airs, faking tantrums about catching cats and hating the fumes of paint and sawdust, but Shikaku silently knew what they were up to.
They didn't want higher-ranked missions for themselves, to keep them entertained, or to stuff their wallets a bit more.
When Shikaku asked them for clarification, they only looked at him. Their mysterious third member.
. . .
It was a simple delivery mission.
Rin held onto Hari for a few seconds too long before relinquishing his hold to Yoshino's waiting arms. His gaze remained on Hari, then moved over to the woman who offered to look over his baby sister for the duration of the mission. He looked as if he was searching her soul, but then he turned without looking back.
They were to deliver the scroll to a town on the outskirts of Hot Water village. The person they were to meet up with was a low-key subject. Hot Water had recently become a tourist destination with a declaration of peace, letting Shikaku breathe a bit easier. The mission was so slow that Shikaku was able to make multiple stops along the way, showing them sights and destinations that he found in his own childhood with Inoichi and Chōza. They were all kids who had never left the village before, all hidden from the front lines of the war in their earlier years, so he saw no harm in treating his team.
He hadn't picked up a Genin team in a while. His old team had already been all grown, greeting him whenever they passed him on the street, living their own lives away from him, giving him gifts when they heard the news that Yoshino was pregnant. They all perished in the Third Shinobi War.
But his current team was still here — in front of him.
Then Yugakure exploded into chaos.
Rin, Seiko, and Takashi stood like statues as civilians screamed around them, scattering the busy marketplace like ants. Their bodies moved closer together on instinct, loosely creating the formation Shikaku taught them during their training sessions, but this wasn't an improv show in Konoha's training fields. Their chances of dying had just increased.
Rin felt the blood in his body run cold, his sweat like ice.
Shikaku immediately forced them to retreat, attempting to pull his genin team back from this situation that they were not responsible for. But as Takashi pulled on Rin's arm and pulled him aside from the running crowds, his head whipped around, curtaining his face, and his eyes landed on a symbol drawn in blood in the ground.
A triangle within a circle.
A necklace on the chest of one of his prisoners. A symbol within a cursed ring. The image in his limbo. Even with the Elder Wand missing, there was no mistaking, forgetting what it was.
The sound of fabric rubbing against fabric rang in Takashi's ears and a shout slipped from the boy's lips. Rin slipped out of Takashi and Seiko's hold as quick as lighting, maneuvering past their outstretched fingers.
"Rin!" Shikaku shouted, voice going raw. He showed no sign of listening to him, dashing forward with such speed that he almost tripped on his own two feet as he got away.
He skid to a stop in front of the enemy shinobi, hair as white as paper and broad chest larger than two of him. His feet cut across the symbol drawn over the ground and the sound of metal meeting metal resounded in the air.
For the first time in Rin's two lives, he had never felt so small. So tiny that the enemy easily towered over him, the man's Killer Intent creeping up on his body like water while his mind remained clear.
He feels something bubbling within his chest, weighing him down heavier that the Kyuubi's chakra, gripping at his muscles like ropes around his limbs.
He feels fear as vividly as the day he died.
The three prongs of the scythe were aligned with three vital organs. His brain, his heart, his liver. Skinny arms trembled as they struggled to hold them up and away from his skin. In a puff of air and a strike of desperation, a gale slammed into his back and made him slip from underneath the weapon. Strong enough to send him tumbling, but weak enough not to crack his spine. An ally's attack. The scythe came crashing down and sunk into the ground like clay. His face smashed against the unpaved ground, cheek smearing against the blood drawn on the ground and gravel cutting into every inch of his skin. The enemy's foot came down on his face and dug into his other cheek.
The scythe was stolen by Aomaru and Seiko brandished it like a deer walking for the very first time.
It's something strange when his teammates shouted something like reassurance instead of war cries. Protecting him within every inch of their lives when he was the one who endangered it, fighting for his safety instead of overpowering the enemy.
It was something even stranger when a blind desire rushed through him despite his clear mind and unclouded thoughts. He didn't know what he was doing, but the scythe was yanked back by the white-haired man, Seiko was vulnerable, out in the open, Shikaku-sensei was seemingly worlds away.
Rin rushed into the scene and the scythe tore into him from his shoulder to his hip.
His cheek grew warm with the spray of his own blood and his eyes became as unseeing as fogged glass.
A tongue lapped up the blood from the metal.
He collided with the floor.
Nothing happens.
. . .
His body was dragged across the grass, half-propped, half-carried as Takashi and Seiko finally dropped him in a patch where the cliff overlooked the city. Shikaku-sensei's shout still rang in their heads, echoing like a gong as he all commanded them to go away, get distance between them and the enemy.
Takashi couldn't even get out a hoarse, "But what about you?!" before he fled with his tail between his legs. They broke past the path hidden by a fortress of trees, hanging above them as if the leaves wanted to card through their hair, and gently laid down their bleeding teammate.
This location meant several things. It was close to Ground Zero. Shikaku had taught them where it was not an hour before chaos broke out. It was well hidden. And… a cliff meant that they could all commit suicide if the enemy found them.
It was almost sundown. The sky above them was amber and painted all of them with an orange hue.
In and out of consciousness he noticed several things: the whining of Aomaru, Takashi's trembling body, and Seiko's sobs. She stared at the glowing sun, eyes becoming raw and red from the bright lights, but she couldn't force herself to look away. Dots appeared in her vision from looking for too long.
This is the last one, this is the last one, she hurriedly repeated.
"I don't even want to be buried…!" she finally said, gulping air. Her shoulders slumped visibly. "I don't want to be buried in the family plot… I didn't even tell anyone to cremate me." Her voice cracked hopelessly. Takashi and Rin both stared at her from bloody and bruised eyes. "I want my clan members to throw my damn remains off the Hokage Monument on the day of the strongest wind. I want to be gone as soon as possible."
. . .
Shikaku ended up stumbling out of the trees thirty minutes later. His vest was soaked through with blood and he was favoring his right leg. He earned two new scars on his face that day, but they escaped the enemy.
They were going to live.
. . .
Afterwards their hands shook whenever they clutched a kunai, and Takashi threw up at the smell of blood, and Seiko wanted to hang up her forehead protector for good.
Then, when one of the nurses handed them a plastic bag of Rin's belongings, that ration book they grew to hate sat on top.
After that day, Takashi and Seiko always hesitated, but those forehead protectors they grew to hate still remained bright and shiny on their persons.
. . .
Then the Chuunin exams came overhead like the arc of a rainbow.
. . .
"What is wrong with you, Rin?!"
The words echoed endlessly in his ears, drowning out the adrenaline from the crowd.
. . .
"You told Nara-san," no longer Shikaku-sensei anymore, "to get off my back and leave me alone… Why?" The heart monitor pulsed listlessly in the background. There was more between them that Rin didn't voice.
"We're teammates, Ricchan." Hands threaded through hospital sheets. "We're supposed to help each other. It's natural — what I did."
"But I didn't do that same for you."
A pause.
"I know."
"I…" When Rin released his fist, his fingernails came out red. "Wouldn't do the same for you."
"I know, Rin."