Author's note:

And for an ending theme I chose: Yume de Aru no Youni from DEEN. It is the Japanese opening from Tales of Destiny. Unfortunately, I haven't played Tales of Destiny. Come on, Namco release it already for the Nintendo Switch. And if you already do it, then also please Tales of Destiny 2.

Promise

Kai scrunched his eyes close and expected that his life was going to end now. Bile formed in his throat and he felt tears stung into his eyes. He expected Yuma-san's fingers on his lids pushing its into the flesh and taking out the entire eye ball. He expected the pain from a stab wound. He expected everything terrible.

…

But neither of those things happened.

Slowly Kai opened his eyes again and looked straight into Yuma-san's. He gasped audibly at what he saw. His eyes weren't black anymore. Instead the iris had turned to red with three black tomoe sitting on a small ring. The tell-tale sign of the heritage of a massacred clan. The heritage of the Uchiha clan.

"You…" Kai stuttered, unable to form more words.

He had expected everything… He had expected death. He expected that his eyes were going to be stolen… But what he got… was something completely different; Yuma-san also was an Uchiha. Yuma-san had the Sharingan.

The psychologist simply stared at him. He couldn't say something. He was unable to say something. His emotions were running high currently. He had thought that he was alone. He had thought that he was (except for Uchiha Sasuke) the only survivor. Now meeting another one… That was a shock to him.

He couldn't control it. Suddenly there were tears in his eyes making slowly their way down his cheeks. Part of him was actually happy. Happy that he got now another one who could understand him.

"My, my. No need to cry, Kai-kun." Yuma-san said but he leaned forward and enveloped him in a hug. "I've got you. You don't need to bare this burden alone anymore. You have me now. We are practically family now."

Kai's arms reached up and behind Yuma-san's back pressing him into his body. He closed his eyes and cried. He never had realized that he had such a burden of loneness. Only now did he realize it. This burden he had, had weighed him down. And someone like him was a psychologist… What a fool he was. But it was okay. He wasn't alone anymore. It was like a long time wish came true. A wish, he hadn't realized he had.

His eyes stung and twitched but he ignored it. It was probably nothing, although he knew that feeling all to well as he had felt it then his comrade died during a B-rank mission. But it was okay. Everything was going to be alright now. He had found someone who shared his faith. And never in his life before, he felt so happy.

"Thank… thank you." Kai finally said pushing himself free from Yuma-san.

"You're welcome." he replied smiling.

The psychologist rubbed over his eyes, now embarrassed of his reaction. When had he gotten so emotional? He hadn't shown much emotions before. Was this relief, of not being alone anymore, so great?

"Hey, it's okay to show emotions. We are, after all, pretty emotional, although we mostly don't show it." Yuma-san continued reading his reaction correctly.

Kai only nodded his head in understanding. The Konoha shinobi began grinning and put a hand on the psychologist's head ruffling his hair. Kai tilted his head in confusion. What now?

"Well… That entire story caused your Sharingan to develop into the second stage." Yuma-san said. "Congratulation… I guess? It's never a good thing that the Sharingan develops through trauma…" he added more to himself.

The psychologist reached his fingers towards his lid only now realizing what had happened. He shortly wondered if it was the relief that caused his Sharingan to reach the second stage. Or was it because of this whole kidnapping? He assumed it was the first reason.

Kai took a deep breath in order to calm himself. He deactivated his Sharingan and began smiling slightly. Now that was out of the way-

Wait, Yuma-san seemed to know a lot about the Sharingan and the Uchiha clan. And he lamented on how the Sharingan developed. Maybe he should ask him about their clan. He had always been curious about his heritage and seeing that Yuma-san was experienced with such things…

Kai sat down and drew his legs under him. The Konoha shinobi seemed to notice that this conversation wasn't done and he followed him, although he sat down while his legs were crossed. The psychologist wasn't stupid… Yuma-san told him just by how he sat there that he was more experienced and now expected respect. Had that something to do with the Uchiha clan in general, that the oldest one in the room sat with crossed legs while the others sat with their legs pulled under them?

"I… have some questions about the Uchiha clan." Kai began.

"Figured. I try to answer them as best as I can… though, I need to tell you that I don't remember much. You see, I lost my memories and can only remember bits and pieces of the clan life." Yuma-san explained and deactivated his Sharingan. "But first… Will you answer me this question? How did you survive the massacre?"

"I'm adopted." he answered.

"Oh… Okay… That would explain it. Although I doubt our clan would give away Uchiha children for free. Let's continue with your questions…"

"How did you lose your memories, Yuma-san?" he asked.

Yuma-san closed his eyes, a somewhat pained expression forming on his face.

"I don't know. Every time I try to remember, there is fear and darkness and the feeling of being alone. It isn't a nice feeling. Part of me actually doesn't want to remember though." he admitted. "Alright, next question."

Kai noticed that Yuma-san didn't want to continue the conversation in this direction. It was fine for him. After all, he didn't want to pressure him in telling him more. Sometimes, forcing themselves to forget something traumatic was actually a good thing, as twisted as that sounded. Instead, Kai should focus on the more pressing matters. He had so much more questions.

"You said that the Sharingan develops through emotional trauma." the psychologist continued.

"Mostly. I've read about cases there it developed through other strong emotions. You see, Kai … The Sharingan develops then an Uchiha feels strong emotions, mostly if someone lost something. The stronger the bond to the someone is, the stronger the Sharingan develops."

"Do you remember any notable members who developed their Sharingan through other strong emotions, as you put it?"

"I only know about my great-grandmother, Naru. She developed her Sharingan through the will to protect our clan. But at that time… Women weren't allowed to participate in any battles. You must understand that the Uchiha clan was really strict and was traditional even then they were mostly massacred."

Kai was silent for a moment. He didn't quite believe Yuma-san's words. If the Sharingan also developed through strong will of protecting someone… then why weren't there more members?

"I don't believe you." the psychologist exclaimed narrowing his eyes at him.

The next question would be far more personal though…

"What was the reason as to why the Uchiha clan was massacred by Uchiha Itachi?" he asked.

"I don't want to tell you the truth. You could turn against Konoha." Yuma-san replied seriously and narrowed his eyes as well.

"And I should just accept that Itachi murdered our entire clan just because he wanted to test out his strengths?"

"You can't force me to tell you the truth."

An anger overtook him. What was so difficult to tell him? He had no personal relationship with Konoha. If anything, Kai firmly believed that the village was still his enemy. And also… Hadn't Yuma-san said to him that they were now family? He should tell him about what truly happened during the massacre and what Itachi Uchiha's reasons were. But he also knew that he wouldn't get any answers from Yuma-san… At least not now.

"Alright. I let it slide… for now." Kai decided. "Another question… How did you survive the massacre?"

"I don't exactly know how I was found by Ojiisan… He just found me, badly injured and without my eyes. He said that my eyes were stolen but he gave me his eye because he was already pretty old. He taught me how to survive in the wild." he remembered.

"How did you end up being a Konoha shinobi then?" the psychologist questioned.

"Ojiisan's health was declining rapidly. Six years after he found me, during a tough winter, he got a terrible cold. I feared that I would lose him. That was why I decided to bring him to Konoha, although he didn't want to. I forced him and we ended up in Konoha. Thankfully we had enough money because I worked as a bounty hunter before we moved to the village." he trailed off sounding sad.

Kai already knew that his grandfather didn't make it. And Yuma-san was forced to stay in order to pay the bills.

"It must have been hard. You were forced to stay in Konoha… and you probably started to remember things about the clan, you didn't want to remember." the psychologist empathized.

"Yes. But I managed. I kept it a secret that I was an Uchiha. I never used any clan jutsus, I remembered. Even those rotten Ne and Danzo didn't find out." Yuma-san admitted, his voice taking a hateful tone for a short period of time. "It was difficult but eventually I became a jonin again. However, I didn't make any friends in fear that they might find out."

"We are in a similar position. I also didn't make any friends because I feared that I would be murdered if they found out. I pushed my former friends away saying that I didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore." Kai replied, sounding wistfully.

"Yes… That would make sense."

"But I couldn't push away my parents. I simply couldn't. But our relationship worsened. They didn't understand as to why I changed so suddenly then I was eleven. But they supported me with my new goal."

"Your parents… Do they live?" he asked.

"Yes, they do. They were actually surprised that I decided to take a job in Konoha because of the relationship of our countries." Kai said. "Anyway, how does it come you have two eyes now?"

"Honestly… During the Fourth Shinobi War I was surrounded by the Kyubi's chakra. Because of this somehow my eyes grew back."

"Huh… convenient…"

"Yes… Very convenient. I was also really happy because my Ojiisan's eye was getting weaker and weaker. I would have lost my sight if I've kept it. Besides, Ojiisan's eye had actually a negative effect on me."

"How so?"

"I grew sick. Then the Fourth Shinobi War started, I was estimated to live at least for two months. That's why I was so happy."

The will to live… The will to move one even after what happened. Kai felt sorry for Yuma-san. He had lost everything… and still, he kept moving. He wondered why this was. But they had spent too much time here. They should return to the carriage. That was why Kai stood up and stretched his hands over his head.

Yuma-san followed and rotated his shoulder blades before he chuckled again.

"Let's make us a promise." the Konoha shinobi declared activating his Sharingan again.

"A promise?" Kai repeated surprised but also activated his kekkei genkai.

"Yes." he answered and raised his pointer and middle finger in front of him. "No matter what happens-"

"We won't tell anyone who we are." he finished and interloped his fingers with his'. "No matter the circumstances."

"If someone finds out who we are, we will either erase their memories-"

"Or kill them."

"That's the promise we make as members of the Uchiha clan!" both shouted.

Then they laughed in happiness.

Author's note:

If I have to decide Yuma's theme would be Adventure Heart – Daisuke no Theme from Digimon Adventure 02. It helps symbolizing Yuma's upbeat personality.