(A/N) Sasuke part two. And hopefully the actual massacre. The scene where they're all sitting around, imagine one of those scenes that's just the characters talking and there's the one noise in the background, just repeating.
The next day at school he sat between Naruto and Kiba in the back of the classroom, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata in front of him, and Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino sat in the desk next to theirs. He felt a bit safer then he would've anywhere else, but honestly he'd rather be home. He'd had a sleepover at their apartment the night before, not that any of them had really slept for long before they all inevitably were awake with nightmares.
Iruka seemed to notice how tired they were, even letting Shikamaru sleep (he wasn't sleeping, just resting his head on the desk) uninterrupted. Sasuke tried to participate in class despite his lack of energy, tried to participate even though he couldn't concentrate on anything except the image of his cousin's dead body.
Iruka sent them all home early. Sasuke couldn't say he was surprised.
Tenten met them at the gate with Lee, Neji, and Torune behind her. He wasn't surprised about that either.
They walked to the apartment silently, settling into a circle on the floor of the bedroom upon reaching it.
"I can't focus on anything else," Sasuke murmured.
"I can't focus on anything else when it's all you guys are thinking about," Ino complained, sighing. "That's all I'm seeing on you guys now, just his corpse, plus red rivers and dark clouds. I'd say it's creepy, but I'm sure that's what my emotions look like too."
"The worst part is we can't even do anything!" Sakura burst, throwing her hands in the air. "There's nothing we can do because we don't know anything and we don't have any sort of influence."
"There's nothing we can do, not yet," Tenten said, sharpening a kunai with harsh methodical motions. "All the clan kids here are in line to be the next clan leader, right?"
Nods from everyone but Sakura and Neji.
"I'm not technically in line since I'm a branch member, but I'll be the leader of the branch family," Neji said, twitching at the next run of the sharpening stone down the kunai blade.
"I'm in line after my brother," Sasuke agreed. "I'd rather he not die though."
"Of course," Tenten agreed softly, dragging the sharpening stone down the kunai again.
He was going to head home that night, and was halfway there, but his brother appeared in front of him, stopping him.
"You need to go back to the others." He instructed calmly. "Stay away from the Uchiha compound."
"Why?" Sasuke asked, puffing up. "What won't you tell me! Why is Shisui dead and why won't you let me go home?!"
Itachi looked uncomfortable. "Please imouto, just go back. I can't tell you now, but find me someday when you're older and I'll tell you. Please go back."
Sasuke huffed, but turned around. "Fine. Don't tell me then! I won't go home if you're gonna insist."
"Thank you Sasuke." His brother sighed, sounding more tired than Sasuke had ever heard him. He sounded exhausted, almost weighed down by whatever was going on. "Please just stay with your friends for the next week, I don't want you to see anything you'd regret."
Sasuke didn't know how to feel about that one. "Write?"
"Sign the scroll in your blood and put a bloody handprint under that and I will be able to contact you whenever," Itachi agreed, sounding resigned. "If you still want to after this is all over."
"What!? Of course I'll want to!" Sasuke spun around to give his brother a piece of his mind, only to find nothing. He'd disappeared. Sasuke didn't like those last words, but what could he do.
He stormed back to the apartment.
Kiba met him at the door. "Hey! You're back! Guys! Sasuke came back!"
"My brother intercepted me and told me to go back here," Sasuke huffed. "And apparently will refuse to let me go back for another week."
Tenten's head popped up behind Kiba. "Huh, that's interesting. Is there anything going on in the next week?"
"I don't think so?" Sasuke replied, shrugging helplessly. "If there is I don't know about it."
"We'll see what we can do," Tenten hummed. "I'll get Sakura and Ino to ask around. They're best for that sort of thing."
Kiba stepped to the side as Tenten disappeared from behind him. "Come in, I guess you'll be here for a while."
"Yeah," Sasuke sighed, stepping inside.
He finally got the news of what had happened three days later. A massacre. His brother had been trying to stop him from going home because he knew there was going to be a massacre. A massacre that he executed.
Honestly Sasuke didn't know how to feel about that one. It was Itachi, his elder brother, Shisui's best friend, the person he now shared a summoning contract with.
He was officially moved into the apartment with the other kids soon after. It was kind of like he stayed over one night then never left. Everyone adjusted quickly, and he was added to the roster. Since he couldn't really cook all that well he just helped Kiba and Neji with the cleaning.
Perhaps the strangest thing that occurred was the crow that showed up at the house almost a week after the massacre, an envelope strapped to its back. Considering it really could've only been Itachi who wrote it, Sasuke refused to touch it. Tenten read it instead.
Itachi had given them a rather significant amount of money, putting it down as a payment for keeping Sasuke healthy and happy and safe. Tenten shrugged and added it to the budget. Shikamaru looked mildly annoyed at having to recalculate, but he got over it.
He got over it faster when he realized it'd let them get better blankets and fix the heater of the apartment before winter came, which they had been worrying about.
A different crow came later, a small note wrapped around its leg. It said simply to ask should they have any issues with money. Sasuke almost burned the note, then decided to leave it on the desk Shikamaru and Tenten used for the budget. He couldn't be trusted with that. Not now. He'd leave the reasonable ones to it. Those who could be trusted with it.
(A/N) Tell me who's pov you want to see next! Other than Sasuke of course since I just did him.
