.9

"Whose fault is it that things ended up like this? Coincidence? An accident? Fate? There's no such thing as fate. It's simply a combination of one circumstance and the next. And who is it that creates those circumstances? Who is it? It's you."~ Tokyo Ghoul

….

Patience was a trait I would never master. It had evaded me in my last life and it seemed like it would continue to do so in this life. I never liked waiting, when you had to wait you had to worry.

Worrying was something that I did frequently. I worried about almost everything. Planned to the tee because I hated worrying over my plans. I needed to be sure that everything would work according to how I wanted them too.

It is why I was such a good manipulator, it is why I had become a liar. I needed people to believe that I wasn't a threat. People didn't need to worry about me.

Now was a time that my patience was being tested.

Shishou was hurt.

If you were paying attention you will remember that he and Haku went on a recon mission to gather information about a breach in our security. That was a month ago. And while my teammate had come back in relatively alright shape. My shishou had not and had been on the verge of death.

Not to mention that they tried to hide that information from me so I could assist with sealing the last Uchiha's curse mark. At this point you are also probably wondering why I haven't interacted a lot with my brother. I think I've told you already that it was coming but first you needed to understand a few things.

I only cared about three people. My brother, my shishou, and my teammate. Two of those three people were fine. At this point I couldn't do nothing for either of them.

So I worried over my teacher. Because I had to wait, for the results, for him to get better. I needed him to be alright. He had been the first. Making cracks in my shell.

My shishou had to live. Because I knew he was supposed to help my brother become better, because I needed him to live.

I adjusted my legs to sit more comfortably on the edge of the bed. Haku stood over me I could feel the concern coming from his eyes and I promptly ignored him staring down into the apple he had brought me. Maybe I needed to eat.

I couldn't think straight. Because I had been reminded of the mortality of the ones I cared about. For so long they had just been pawns, characters to manipulate to my will. But for some reason, somewhere along this road I had started to care for them.

It made things difficult. Caring was a disadvantage that I couldn't escape.

Caring would bring me nothing but pain. I knew it. But I found myself in a state of indifference. It wasn't a good place to be in.

One thing was certain, I needed to reevaluate my plans…

.

The man, the one she will never call by name, is unnerved by the girl. She is a small thing. Barely eight years old but her eyes are ancient. It isn't her eyes though that unnerve him. It is the silence that surrounds her. He wonders sometimes if she is even a child at all.

He is no fool to the looks the sort-of-child gets either. She for the most part seems to ignore them. It makes him questions if she has feelings at all. It wasn't what he expected when they informed him that one of the jinchuriki's would be his student.

She always seems to be doing that to him. Destroying his expectations. After while he had stopped expecting things from her.

Uzumaki Mitomi always surprised him.

Even now as a twelve year old should be Tokubetsu Jonin. The little girl with the long red head was sitting at the foot of his hospital bed pealing an apple. She was scowling at the fruit as if it had offended her somehow. And he knows by the look in her eye that she is lost in some distant thought.

The other charge he had gained in the last six months was standing over the girl giving her a concerned look. Slowly, groggily, his body still rattled with the displaced feeling of being under, he brought himself up to a sitting position. It was his movement that brought her back. She glared up at the boy before turning her sharp eyes onto him.

"Shishou." Her tone is different, he can tell by just the use of his title that she was worried. Briefly he thinks that is probably not a good place of mind for her to be in. The girl worried was a dangerous thing.

"What did the apple do to you?" He asked after a moment as if to break the tension in the air and to test his voice. At least to clear the sleep from his lungs. Ignoring the question that lingers in the back of his mind of how did either one of them even get into this high security recovery room. She made a face at him before looking at the mauled fruit in her hands.

"I was contemplating mortality." Well at least it wasn't her own existence this time. He nodded his head with a slight wince. Yes it still hurt to move.

"Ah." And accepted her answer as if it was a perfectly acceptable reason to maul a fruit. With her it was.

Silence overwhelmed them after that. It was a state of being he was used to at this point. The girl had never really had much to say. Opposed to her brother, that kid didn't know how to shut up. To think he had only ever had to watch the boy from the distance. It was no wonder she never said much. He laid his head back into the pillow and sighed.

That man was back. "You did your best Shishou." Her voice is frail, she knows the truth. He shakes his head at her words. That wasn't his best. Perhaps they both know that though.

"Has he made an appearance yet?" She bites her lip before nodding. He thinks in that moment she actually reminds him of a small child. Maybe she has always been one.

"Yeah, he disrupted the second half of the chunin exams and placed a curse mark on the last Uchiha." He doesn't ask how she came upon that. It sounded like it was supposed to be classified.

The boy taps her shoulder, taking her eyes from him. He can tell by their looks that there is something he is missing. Something that neither want to tell him. His mask slips, and he frowns at the two. It isn't the wised eyed little girl who answers his look, but the boy.

"There is going to be an attack." He doesn't ask how they have come to this conclusion, but nods his head in response. That sounded about right.

"Yes I would imagine so." His tone is dry. He watches the girl closely, there is a knowing look in her eye. A look he has always grown accustom too.

"Shishou?" Her tone questioning, she's twirling a stand of hair through her fingers. It's a perfected act.

He looks between the two children, contemplating. What were they going to do? Finally he let out a breath. "We wait." It is the only thing they can do.

The waiting game, it was the worst game for a ninja.

An idle ninja was a terrible thing.

Just like a worried jinchuriki who had the bad habit of making plans.

XOXOX

Oh my gosh! I am so sorry about how long this took. Life has been crazy.

This chapter is a little bit different in the fact that it is a mix between Mitomi's first person and Tenzo/Yamato's third person narrative. I have decided that when I want something to be in another characters perspective it will be in third person. That way not to confuse anyone and to highlight the first person narrative.

Also there was a time skip between this chapter and the last. It's been a month. If it wasn't clear Tenzo/Yamato was in a coma during that time. He might have had a personal run in with his old tormentor that will be addressed in much more detail much later. It is vague for a reason.

Isn't Mitomi just a bright ray of sunshine? Yeah? Not really.

But can you see the change? The tides have shifted and I cannot wait to write the next part. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think, if you like it, what you would like to see, ecc..

Thank you so much for taking time to read this story you guys are awesome!

Also thank you to every review, favorite, follow, and alert this story has gotten! Hearing from you guys is what makes this possible!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sincerely, La'Rae