Seeing Father wasn't something he was really ready for.

It wasn't something he was ever that ready for.

Father, Mother, it wasn't great to talk with either of them if Itachi wasn't around.

'I really wish Itachi was here. It's so much easier to talk with them when he's around.'

Itachi's absence, this pending conversation with Father, it was what lead to him standing outside the entrance to the headquarters for the Konoha Military Police Force for the past few minutes. He only found himself staring at the four-pointed star, the symbol of the Uchiha Clan within it, sitting so prominently on the face of the building.

From next to him, Sakura nudged his shoulder.

He snapped out of his thoughts, dropped down from the rooftop he had been standing on.

Sakura frowned for a second before she dropped down next to him.

"Want me to come with you? I've never been inside before!" She smiled at him, linked their arms together. "Do you know any secret ways in? Is there a secret tunnel? Please tell me there's a secret tunnel! That would be fun!"

"No…There's nothing like that." 'Even if there was, no one would tell me.' He left his thoughts to himself, ignored the gradually building anxiety at what was to come. "I'm just…I don't know if you'll be happy inside. Father just wants to talk to me and I don't know how long it'll take. It's probably going to be really boring. Maybe you should just go find Naruto or Sai? That'll be a lot more fun than just waiting around for me."

Sakura cocked her head to the side, her pink ponytail sliding around at the sudden movement.

"I don't mind waiting." She was smiling but there was something else in it, something he had usually only seen from Itachi, from Shisui when they were training together. It was almost weird to see someone else looking at him like it, seeing someone besides his big brother and his best friend wanting to support him. "I want to spend some time with you today!"

"Alright…" He didn't know what else to say, swallowed down his apprehension. He managed to offer a smile, managed something better than when she asked about the pictures.

He pulled her forward, ignored the looks he earned from the two guards stationed outside the station.

He walked up to the front desk and almost immediately came to a halt.

"So the Loser finally showed up?" One of the boys he had been trying to avoid all day, Taiko Uchiha, seemed to be manning the front desk. With him was another of the people he had been trying to avoid all day, had succeeded in until now, in Nana Uchiha.

"I'm surprised the Crybaby showed up." Nana didn't even bother to get up out of her seat or set down her nail file. "What do you even want?"

"I'm here to see my father." He was impressed he actually managed to say it, look two of his near lifelong bullies in the eye.

"Really?" Taiko made a show of looking down at the book in front of him, Nana scoffing. "And why should we let you? How do we know you're not planning something?"

"I-I'm not." He couldn't keep it up, years of the two, and the rest of their friends, picking on him coming to the forefront of his mind. "He wants to see me. He asked for me to come here."

"Sure he did." Nana outright laughed at him, finally got out of her seat to stare him down. "But why should we even bother listening to a mistake like you?"

He didn't have anything to say, could already feel himself shrinking in on himself like always.

"Leave him alone!" Sakura stomped one foot on the ground, finally drew the attention of the two Uchiha at the desk to her. "Now!"

"And who are you?" In the time it took to blink, Nana's Sharingan appeared in her eyes. It was only two tomoe in each eye but she had not only unlocked it but advanced the Dojutsu ahead of anyone else in her age group. "His little girlfriend or something?"

"I'm Sakura Haruno!" Sakura pulled him forward when she stepped forward, stared at Nana with challenge in her eyes. "Now stop messing with him!"

"And what are you going to do?" Like Nana, Taiko had unlocked his Sharingan as well, one tomoe in each eye. "You're nothing compared to us! You're just like that loser there!"

"So how about you shut up and get out of here already!" Nana seemed moments away from attacking, her gaze locked on Sakura.

"Try and make me!" Sakura reached to her side, her hand grabbing hold of the sword that hadn't been at her waist a second ago.

Nana only smirked before Sakura dropped against Sasuke, as whatever Genjutsu she used with her Sharingan nearly put her off her feet.

An icy chill swept through the room.

Sasuke would continue to deny what happened when questioned later, would say it wasn't his fault, that Nana and Taiko had been responsible for it when they attacked his teammate.

Regardless, it didn't take more than a second for the two bullies to end up flash frozen.

It also had nearly a dozen of the nearby officers in the station rushing to the front.

They saw Sasuke stumble back with Sakura now in his arms, only able to give a wide-eyed stare at the now completely frozen desk and the two Uchiha behind it in shock, in disbelief. They were little more than statues, only proven to not be such with the way their eyes darted around inside the ice, the frozen panic that had swept over their faces. Sakura was sound asleep on top of him when he went off balance, hit the floor on his back in front of all of the officers.

As he sat on the floor, as the shock of the Shinobi around him and Sakura was swiftly turning to fury, he could only stare at what he had done.

'I should have just ignored that stupid note. This is going to be bad.'

The officers finally reached him, the Sharingan he lacked in all of their eyes.