"Four years we've known each other, and I still don't know what your job actually is." Mikoto says, cradling a mug of tea in her hands. They are in the Uchiha family's kitchen, a new development for Leah. Thus far, they've met solely in public, when Mikoto tracks her down on her visits to the village.

"I know, dear." Leah responds with a smile. She doesn't elaborate, and Mikoto may be too classy to snort in amusement, but she does make a little huffing noise through her nose that communicates the same sentiment.

"You'll be the death of me, I swear." Mikoto says.

"Don't be crude, darling. I'd never be the cause of it." Leah stirs her own tea, and wonders if the sugar has quite dissolved yet. "Though I'm certain I'd benefit."

Well, not quite certain, but Leah has finally decided on what her sigil will be, since Jashin has his own triangle and circle design. It means she can finally start claiming souls before their time, tagging them as hers no matter what manner they die in.

It's basically a prim way of saying "I call dibs!" for when the person actually does die.

Mikoto quirks a brow and then her head jerks sharply to the side, "Sasuke!"

There's a guilty flinch in Sasuke's energy signature, the spiritual side that Leah can sense far better than she can recognize the whole of 'chakra.'

"Sasuke, I told you not to try that technique without supervision!" Mikoto stands and goes to stand in the door, so as to better reprimand her son. Leah watches her go, and her eyes trace down the human woman's form from behind, lingering on certain… areas of interest.

If only Mikoto weren't quite so devoted to her family. Or her husband, anyway, since the boys aren't really all that much of a hindrance in that sense, beyond wanting to make sure they aren't in the way on special nights.

(It's not even like Leah wants a long-term relationship or anything. It's just… it's been a almost a dozen years since she arrived in this world. She didn't have enough time for a roll in the hay at first, but her world has settled down. Hel has settled down.)

(She wants a few one-night stands and she wants them soon.)

"Honestly, that boy…" Mikoto says, coming back to the table and breaking Leah out of her reverie. "He wants to be so much like Itachi, and he's going to end up hurting himself on the way there."

Leah doesn't know what to say to that, because the only set of fate's ties that Sasuke has that are stronger than his ties to Itachi are the ones that lead to Naruto. Sasuke is going to be important, but how and why and whether he destroys himself in the process… she doesn't know that yet. There are still too many paths his future could take.

"You always seem to pay more attention to Sasuke than to Itachi." Mikoto says, then. "Why?"

"Do I need a reason to decide that one of my friend's children needs attention more than the other?" Leah asks, tilting her head, and Mikoto's energy flinches, even if the woman herself does not. Whoops.

"Do you mean to say that I have been neglecting my son?" Mikoto asks softly, her voice teetering on just this side of dangerous.

"Not you, no." Leah says, and the flinch pops up again, though lesser now. It's not offense, but guilt on the part of another. Mikoto blaming herself for Fugaku's lack of time, perhaps.

"Tread carefully, now." Mikoto's voice is cold, all Uchiha matriarch, which would probably be intimidating to the kind of woman that Leah pretends to be.

Leah stares back without blinking. Mikoto may be the wife of the clan head of one of Konoha's noble clans, and one of the most politically powerful women in the village as a result, but Leah is…

Much more powerful in almost every sense. Almost laughably so.

She doesn't want to lose Mikoto's friendship, though.

"He's certainly doing better than Kushina's son," Leah says, like it's a consolation and not a horrible, pinpoint accusation.

She's a bitch too, though.

"What are you trying to—"

"I visited him." Leah interrupts, and Mikoto's eyes widen. "He was being fed and cared for to the point of survival, but kept separate from the other children. I picked him up and held him, and was then attacked by ANBU for doing so."

Mikoto's jaw has shifted down almost imperceptibly, not a jaw-drop but close enough that Leah knows. Leah knows she's shocked Mikoto with this information, and only the self-control that she's gained as a shinobi keeps her from expressing that fully.

"How did you survive?" Mikoto asks, "and why has Hokage-sama not ordered your arrest?"

"Magic." Leah answers, and then loses her smile when Mikoto's stare hardens. "I am… incredibly difficult to kill, Mikoto. There are some who know how to do it, but even the most dedicated of attackers and the most fatal of blows will do nothing to harm me if certain actions are not first taken."

"You're trying to say you're immortal."

"Not quite." Leah murmurs, looking down into her almost-cool tea.

It's just that it's very hard to kill something that was never alive in the first place, and godhood is a good defense against most any attack.

The bijuu could, perhaps, manage it. Jashin and Shinigami certainly have a chance, should they attempt it. Even a few of the Kami among the living would have some level of opportunity.

None would be certain save for Death herself, and even for her… Leah is story. Not just a story, but built of story as a concept, built of narrative itself and given form by magic and reality warping powers.

Even Leah doesn't know what would happen if she were properly 'killed.' No one back home ever seems to die forever, and Leah has a feeling she hasn't lost that property just by jumping dimensions. There are a few, even here, that she can sense evading death in their own way.

(She wants to meet them, fight them, see them burn brighter than the stars themselves as they struggle to stay alive.)

(She wants to see them impress her.)

Those who seek immortality run the gamut in terms of personality, method, motivation, and any number of other personal quirks, but they are almost always interesting in their own way.

"Leah… what are you?" Mikoto asks, and Leah… Leah doesn't quite know how to answer that.

"I'll tell you the full truth someday," She finally says, and it's true. She'll tell Mikoto when the woman is dead and in her clutches. "But until then… let's just say I'm not the only one of my kind."

"A kekkei genkai," Mikoto says with a frown.

"Close enough." Leah allows.

"And why did Hokage-sama never order your capture for the incident?"

Leah actually doesn't know the answer to that. She shrugs. "I didn't attack the ANBU even after he stabbed me. The consistent lack of hostility likely had something to do with it."

Mikoto makes a face. "That doesn't explain why he didn't tell me."

Leah shrugs again. "I'm afraid I wouldn't know."

The two are silent for a few moments, only hearing the ambient noise of the district and Sasuke practicing outside.

"Why did you bring him up? Naruto, I mean." Mikoto looks her in the eye, and her Sharingan springs to life. They spin quickly, an image that is probably intimidating to most of the elemental nations.

There's something locked into those eyes, asleep but… so much potential. For so many things. For so much power.

It feels like a threat.

Leah resists the sudden and overwhelming urge to rip Mikoto's eyes out of her skull and take them back to Hel. That would be rude.

"Do you remember what I told you, the first time you asked me why I saved Naruto?" Leah asks instead. "I told you that I didn't know how or in what manner, but that he was going to be amazing, that he was going to influence the world in ways no one expects, probably more than any person alive."

Mikoto nods slowly.

"And Sasuke is his counterpart in that." Leah finishes, her gaze dropping down to her empty cup of tea. "They're… tied. Fate has her strings wound around both of them, so very, very tightly, and I need to know why."

Everyone has their own quirks. Leah's just happen to deal with the fate of the word. No biggie.

"And help?"

"And watch." Leah clarifies. "I don't interfere. They don't need my help, and I'm right, my involvement would only weaken them in the long run. They need to make their own way."

They're going to suffer, I can tell, and it will burn as Loki burns, but that fire will shape them, mold them, temper them into something better and brighter than they'd thought possible.

Leah wouldn't wish it on anyone to burn as Loki burns, but she refuses to turn a story intentionally. She will sit on the sidelines, perhaps cheer or provide refreshments, but the ball is fully in the boys' court.

Ooh, sports metaphors.

She wonders what Loki would say if they knew she was watching two children walk ever closer to burning as Loki burns.

Mikoto watches Leah, watches the smile slip from her face in contemplation, and hears a whisper of a phrase pass over her lips in a language Mikoto has never heard.

"…Loki burns."

o.o.o.o.o

A/N: Maybe leave a review?

Next time: The title says it all, really.