Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 6
Itachi checked on the compound from a distance, not wanting to have to avoid the Anbu or Sasuke's traps. He could feel his brother…Naruto-kun, and Harry-kun. Good. The boy was as safe as possible at the moment with both of them there. His plan had worked but he'd have to keep an eye on things to ensure Danzō didn't get any ideas.
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Sasuke woke suddenly, but remained still, feigning sleep. Something had woken him but what? He felt Naruto roll over to lie against his back, but then his hand subtly tapped Sasuke's side, out of sight if they were being watched. So it hadn't just woken him. He strained his senses…noise…Harry! He was up, reaching for weapons, Naruto leaping out the window to go around that way. Best they come at any enemy from two sides. He crept down the hall, forcing himself to move cautiously…until Harry screamed in terror.
Sasuke slammed through the door, weapons in hand, rolling across the floor to make himself less of a target. At the same time, Naruto flew through the window, coming up in a crouch. To their confusion the room was empty…no, there! He could hear panting breath and he moved to see Harry pushing himself into the wall in the corner, one arm raised defensively in front of his face and Sasuke felt his stomach lurch. Was he hurt?
"Harry?" he called, dropping into a crouch, Naruto watching their backs. "Harry can you hear me?" Had an attacker gotten past them? Genjutsu maybe?
"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, worried.
"Come on Harry," he reached out slowly, touching Harry's raised arm, disrupting his cousins' chakra for him very carefully to disrupt any genjutsu on him but not wanting to affect the seal behind his ear. Harry jerked back, trying to get away, green eyes wide as he panted. "Shh, it's okay, you're safe," the words felt strange, he wasn't used to trying to comfort someone, but Harry was family. He didn't want Harry to be scared of him or anything. He tried to remember how his Mother had soothed him when he was upset but it was hard.
"Can't see any sign someone was here…nightmare?" Naruto offered.
A nightmare? That kind of scream was more like a night terror…and that scared Sasuke. What could Harry as a civilian in a civilian society have seen to cause that? He took a deep breath to calm himself and shifted closer, keeping his hand on Harry's arm, relieved his breathing seemed to be slowing.
"That's it, breath Harry, you're in your room in the Uchiha Compound. It's just me and Naruto here, you're safe," he whispered like Naruto had done for him when he woke thinking he was back with Orochimaru.
Slowly, he felt the muscles under his hand begin to relax some and then Harry lowered his arm, blinking at him.
"Can you hear me Harry?" he asked again, hoping Harry was aware now.
"Sasssuke?" he slurred before shaking his head, his other arm coming up to rub at his eyes before fumbling. Then Naruto was leaning over with his glasses and Harry shoved them on. He was obviously having issues with the darkness so Naruto turned on the lamp, leaving Harry blinking in the sudden light. He looked between them and paled, looking down. "Sorry."
"You're alright?" Sasuke pressed, and Harry looked up at him in confusion, but nodded.
Harry was pale and shaky but that was likely left-over adrenaline from whatever he'd been dreaming. Sasuke offered him a hand, catching the slight flinch, before Harry accepted and let Sasuke pull him to his feet. Sasuke did not like what he was thinking, why Harry was so defensive when he first woke and that flinch…yes, it was a very good thing he was away from those people.
Sasuke got him back to the futon, sitting down beside him, even as Naruto moved to fix the shutters from his energetic entrance. "Do you…want to talk about it?" he asked, almost able to feel Naruto's pride that he was talking to his cousin so much. He felt Harry flinch slightly at the question. "It can help," he admitted, it had actually helped him a bit to talk to Naruto about his own dreams.
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Talk about it? About watching Sirius fall into the Veil, about Cedric being hit by green light…Riddle rising from the Cauldron…the pain of the Cruciatus… he didn't even really talk about it with Hermione and Ron, because for most of it they hadn't been there. Even with Sirius, they had fallen in the battle before the Order had arrived, Ron to the brains and Hermione to a curse. Was it strange they never made it to the end of their so-called 'adventures' with him?
But there was something hesitant….almost hopeful in his cousins' dark eyes, an attempt to reach out. "My godfather," he whispered, hearing the shutter bang, Naruto making noise to give them privacy while offering support in being there. How long had they been friends for Naruto to just be able to do that for Sasuke and be willing to be there for Harry to? Or…where they more than friends since he'd been sharing Sasuke's room? He'd only ever seen that kind of relationship in the Muggle World, not the Magical who were obsessed with family and bloodlines.
"He…he was killed by his crazy broke out of prison cousin a few weeks before school ended. I…it was my fault. I was in trouble and he came and she…" he couldn't say it, nearly jumping when Sasuke's hand hesitantly rested on his arm.
"I'm sorry," Sasuke offered awkwardly.
"He…he wanted me, no one ever wanted me," he found slipping out, feeling Sasuke tense, but then his cousin had him in an awkward hug.
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"I want you," Sasuke swore, and Naruto felt like jumping for joy.
He was doing his best to give them space but also support. It wasn't like Sasuke or him had had what most would count as normal childhoods, though Sasuke had that for a while at least. Naruto understood not being wanted by why would they not have wanted Harry? He seemed like a good guy to him. Hearing him scream like that….he remembered Kakashi-sensei letting them think he was dead on the mission to Wave; would he have screamed like that in his sleep if it had been true?
It was great seeing Sasuke try to reach out to someone outside the team. Not that he'd really had the chance to try since being released from the hospital since they'd jumped right into getting him fit for the mission to save Harry. He hoped Sasuke would try with the other Rookies, not that Naruto had seen them since he left either. He hadn't expected to be back in Konoha yet but now that he was, that he had his team back…he didn't really want to leave again. But with how easily Itachi and Kisame had dealt with some of the top jōnin back then, Ero-Sennin said they were better off on the road where it was harder to track them.
Realising it was too quiet, he glanced back, stifling a laugh at the sight of Sasuke and Harry fast asleep, slumped against each other. So cute! Though ouch if any of Sasuke's fangirls saw that Harry would find himself with his own fangirls very fast, once they calmed down enough to realise they were family and Harry wasn't competition.
Naruto carefully picked up the blanket to settle over them, Sasuke not reacting since it was him. Having that level of trust from him felt really good, before the mission to Wave Sasuke would have woken. Naruto sat on Sasuke's free side to keep watch, knowing it would help his teammate sleep soundly.
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Kakashi paused when he sensed all three boys in…a bedroom? He snuck around the traps to peer in the window, finding them on the futon. He recognised the room, though it looked different to how it had years ago, it had been Sasuke's room before the massacre. Was he staying in there or…no, the shutters had been very recently fixed and the door looked like someone had almost ripped it from the wall. So something had happened last night. The boy had been through a bit yesterday, it wouldn't be surprising if he'd had a bad reaction and his students had panicked.
The three of them did look a bit adorable, curled together with Sasuke in the middle, his cousin held to his chest like a cuddly toy. Naruto had ended up sprawled on his back, mouth open, hand tangled in Sasuke's shirt. And yeah, there were weapons placed beside the bed, so something had definitely happened.
Kakashi rapped his knuckles against the windowsill very softly, Sasuke immediately waking, tense, and to Kakashi's surprise, that woke Harry who lifted his head, glasses askew.
"Silver mask guy," the boy mumbled before settling back down in his cousins' arms. Something had broken the ice between the two or he was just too tired to care.
"Yo," Kakashi called softly, seeing Sasuke relax at his voice, twisting his head to see him.
"What?" Sasuke asked even as a disgruntled Naruto tossed a kunai at him, Kakashi catching it easily.
"No training today," Naruto groaned. It was standard procedure to give them a day to recover from a mission like that.
"Well…" another kunai flew at him, from Sasuke this time, and he chuckled. "No, just checking in."
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a look before Naruto got up and moved to the window. "Harry had a nightmare, woke us screaming. He…" Naruto glanced back at Sasuke who was tense, holding Harry…protectively? Finally, Sasuke jerked his head in a nod. "He saw his godfather murdered; he said before school ended."
Kakashi grimaced behind his mask, shared trauma could help the cousins bond but that wasn't anything any child should have to go through. Though be Konoha standards they weren't children…Harry as a civilian was. Hopefully the boys would remember Harry-kun was a civilian, he thought Sasuke would have less trouble doing so since the Uchiha clan had not all been shinobi but Naruto was more used to being around ninja since the civilians had been the ones with the most issues with him. they'd have to keep an eye on Harry to make sure he had the help needed to deal with what happened. Sasuke had gone through the mental health appointments after the massacre and should be going back to help him with everything he'd been through in the last few years. As his sensei, Kakashi could and would be signing him up, it'd be easy enough to sign Harry up too even if he was a civilian he was an Uchiha and therefore eligible.
"Sakura will be by later to give Harry-kun a check-up, depending on what she finds he might need to be seen at the hospital," Kakashi warned them, loud enough for the boys to hear but not a civilian.
Sasuke nodded in understanding. He lifted a hand, forming awkward signs…he could feel Harry's ribs and scars under the clothes. That was not encouraging at all. Hopefully, Sasuke was overreacting, if there was one thing Kakashi hated, other than treason, it was adults who harmed children in their care. Of course, any issues could be from another reason, but the family's reaction to them when they had asked for Harry had him wary.
"Hmmm," Harry shifted in Sasuke's hold, obviously they were being just active enough to keep him from falling asleep fully and he wasn't happy about it. the teen slowly sat up, hand going to his glasses to straighten them and then to his hair to try and push it back, it was hilariously messy. They way it was sticking up made the odd scar on his face even more obvious though, it didn't look very old but it was also rather precise. Had someone carved that on him? If they had, he wouldn't feel at all sorry for them when Sasuke found them.
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Harry could vaguely hear their voices, had tried to go back to sleep once he'd identified the intruder as someone safe, but it seemed he was going to have to give up the best sleep he'd had in a long time. He felt stupid, he didn't know his cousin or the blond and yet he'd fallen asleep with them. He felt…safe for the first time since watching Voldemort rise from the cauldron.
Still, he opened his eyes and then sat up, shoving his glasses into proper position and then tried to tame his hair even a little. "What's going on?" he asked, fighting back a yawn.
"Ah, good morning Harry-kun," the man greeted brightly. "Just making sure you're all alive this morning."
Harry stared at the man before looking at his cousin, was he for real? His cousin had his arms crossed, glaring at the man.
"Why wouldn't we be?" he snapped and then blinked.
Harry looked between them, feeling a little nervous, but then Naruto stepped in, resting a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Easy Sasuke, you know he doesn't mean anything by it," the blond murmured.
Sasuke muttered something, slumping, pressing his hands to his face. Harry looked from him to their teacher…what was his name again? Yesterday was kind of a blur for the most part. Makaki…Hisashi…Kakashi? That one sounded right. There seemed to be guilt in the one visible eye, the man slipping fully into the room, and Harry felt his wand warm against his skin, grateful he'd gotten out his holster once alone last night to ensure his wand was undetectable and close at hand. He…he was actually willing to curse the man for a cousin he didn't even know…but had already done more for him than the Dursley's ever had.
"Poor choice of words," the man offered, hands in his pockets, body loose. He then looked at Harry. "Sakura will be here in a while to give you a check-up."
"Why?" he asked in confusion.
"Just make sure you're doing okay in a new environment; we probably have diseased they don't in Britain."
"Oh, okay," that made sense. He'd asked Madam Pomphrey about that in first year after hearing one of the older students mention Dragon Pox and she'd assured him that he'd received vaccinations while his parents were alive.
"Don't forget to eat!" and with that he was gone.
Harry turned back to his cousin who still had Naruto's hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
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Sasuke was trying not to shake as he leant into Naruto's hand, he hadn't meant it, he hadn't. Kakashi knew he wasn't like Itachi, he did. And then Harry was in front of him, green eyes narrowed in concern, hand half raised between them. And he knew, he could reach back, just like Harry had accepted his comfort last night. No one would think him weak for doing it. He tried to lift his hand to him but he couldn't make himself move, breathing faster.
"Sasuke?" and that was alarm in Naruto's voice.
But then Harry was right in front of him, cradling his face in his hands. "It's okay, just breath with me. You're okay, no one's hurt. It's just the three of us here." Harry was taking deep, even, breaths and Sasuke found himself following him. How…how did Harry know to do that? His cousin carefully shifted to hugging him and Sasuke leant into his embrace, feeling Naruto shift to lean against his back, making sure he was held safely between them. He wasn't keen on Harry having his back to the window but Naruto would be able to summon a clone fast enough if something happened.
He felt…warm, kind of fuzzy like he hadn't since the hospital, strangely safe despite Harry being a civilian and unable to defend himself let alone anyone else. All the tension slowly drained from his body. Kakashi hadn't meant it like that, he was just trying to tease…and Sasuke had nearly attacked him. He'd thought he was better; he'd been so focused on the mission…and maybe that was why he'd seemed better, he'd had a mission, a concrete goal. Now what was there? He knew his clearance had been for the mission, would the Hokage revoke it when she heard about this? Would he ever truly be recovered from what Orochimaru did to him?
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Naruto had really been worried Sasuke would attack Kakashi. Even he knew the joke had been the total wrong thing to say. He was just glad Sasuke had let him stop him. And now Sasuke had let Harry calm him down the rest of the way, was standing almost limp between them. He was really worried about Sasuke and he could see Harry was worried too. That was good, right? Family bonding or something. He was glad Harry hadn't reacted badly to Sasuke's episode but would Sasuke explain them to him? They were living in the same house, if he had more…would Sasuke let him stay too, want him there? They'd been sharing his apartment and hotel room after all.
He felt Sasuke steady, standing on his own, and loosened his hold, not wanting it to get too much for him. And it seemed Harry knew that too since he'd stepped back slightly.
"Okay?" Harry asked, and Sasuke nodded, looking away.
"We should eat," with that he slipped out from between them, leaving the room.
Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You okay Harry? Sorry about the excitement."
Harry was watching the doorway Sasuke had vanished through, Naruto could hear him moving about the kitchen. "Someone hurt him."
Naruto grimaced, it really wasn't his story to tell and Harry didn't know anything about Shinobi so would he even understand? "He…was in hospital for a while recently. But he's gotten a lot better, just give him time and space."
Harry nodded thankfully. Eventually, Sasuke would need to tell him more if the emotional fits didn't stop.
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Sakura took off her sandals before entering the large home. Even knowing the three were inside, it felt…empty. She supposed it made sense, it had stood empty for years and it would take time for the presence of the cousins to soak into the building. She followed her sense of her teammates to find them finishing breakfast. Sasuke had obviously supplied Harry with clothes, they were a little big on him but clean, his hair looked like he'd just rolled out of bed though. He looked a lot better than he had yesterday, it seemed he'd had a good nights sleep. Though he seemed to be picking at his food.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted with a big grin, but she could see the worry in his eyes.
"Morning boys," she grinned in return, moving to sit beside Naruto. Sasuke looked up and nodded at her in greeting, her grin becoming a softer smile at the acknowledgement. Kakashi-sensei had stopped by to warn her what had happened but he seemed settled now.
She got comfortable, waiting for them to finish the meal, not happy by how much was left on Harry's plate. She wasn't going to rush Harry; they were strangers and they'd taken him from his home. Even though it was done to protect him, it would take time for him to get to know and trust them. She wished the exam could wait until he trusted her some, but they were all worried about diseases, the four of them had been thoroughly checked and immunised before leaving, not that Naruto got sick. She'd already checked Kakashi-sensei and been checked herself at the hospital, shed check the boys while she was there to be safe.
Harry was eyeing her even as he rushed to help clean up from the meal. Yeah, he really didn't want this exam, but it was for the best. Their sensei had told her of what Sasuke had signed to him that morning and she was worried. Harry did look a bit thin and like he hadn't been sleeping well for a while.
But when she motioned him over he sighed, walking over. Good. They went to the next room for some privacy but where he could see the other two through the doorway. She chatted away as she began checking him over. Underweight but not by a lot thankfully. Her tone and expression didn't change even as she began finding the scars. The one on his face was bad enough but the back of his hand looked like writing had been carved into it…and then she realised it was words as her translation seal worked on them, I Must Not Tell Lies… yeah, someone was going to die. There were two on his arm, one ragged and torn and the other where he'd been impaled by something curved, it had gone all the way through, thankfully missing everything important. As she ran deeper scans she found signs of past nerve damage, now healed thankfully, but it was the same age as the ragged scar. Had someone…tortured him?
She knew her chakra had spiked, sensing the boys react, so she focused on calming down…and what was that in Harry's blood?!
TBC…
Family bonding over similar trauma and nightmares. And Kakashi putting his foot in his mouth but Sasuke had been doing better while focused on finding his family. Now they're home and safe he doesn't have that laser focus to help keep things under control.
