She was six months old when she fell in love, and she fell the only way Uchiha knew how to – deeply and irrevocably. It wasn't her precious little chubby-cheeked Sasuke she fell for though. Instead, it was her eldest brother who had the honour of attaining her deepest affection.

The moonlight was soft, falling in through the small gap in the curtains, casting light between the bars of her crib. She had woken then, bathed in that cursed moonlight, and wailed. Kaguya haunted her dreams, as did all the deaths of her comrades. Because she couldn't save them. She was always reaching out with a hand, only to watch as their blood painted the dry, hard earth. She was always too late. Too late to grow. Too late to save them. Sakura swore she wouldn't be again, but still she wailed, terrified of being alone once more.

Her family was still alive, right? Hands fumbled up in her crib, grabbing a hold of the bars, and Sakura pulled herself to a seated position. They weren't Edo-Tensei creations, were they?

It was just a nightmare, she reminded herself, sobs still falling from her lips as she floundered in her crib for some form of comfort in the darkest parts. She didn't want to see the light from the moon. Didn't want it to touch her skin. She preferred the nights of the new moon – when the miniature planet sealing Kaguya away couldn't be seen.

Dimly she heard someone stirring over in where she knew her parent's bedroom to be located, followed by murmured protests for someone to go back to sleep. Before her parents could reach her though, her door clicked open, and Sakura's head swivelled around so she could stare at the two smaller figures which had entered her room.

"'Tachi, you can't use your sister as an excuse, dammit," an unfamiliar voice rang out, coming from the taller of the two people. Sakura vaguely recognised his chakra as the one which had been hanging around with her brother for most of the day – well, for what he had spent inside the house within her minute sensory range. Apparently they were having a sleepover of sorts. "You can talk to me. In fact, you should talk to me… or at least talk to your psychiatrist. I don't want you eating yourself up with guilt – it wasn't your fault."

"I know," Itachi said, walking across the room towards her, a soft smile on his face when her cries were replaced by frantic grasps and grunts of complaint in his direction as she reached for him.

Sakura could only gurgle in happiness when he lifted her from her crib, checking her nappy briefly before peering down at her curiously. "Does she need changing?" her cousin, Shisui, asked. Sasuke hadn't told her much in either life about him – but all that she did know was that he was a close friend of Itachi and always stole him away from Sasuke. Sasuke had been awfully cute when complaining about him to her as she snuggled into his tiny lap.

"No… I think she just wanted some company," her brother murmured, as she giggled up at him, grabbing a hold of his finger with her miniscule hands as he poked at her squishy cheeks. He was there. He was real. Kaguya was gone, and she was safe. Safe in the arms of her precious aniki as he began to rock her back and forth.

The door creaked open again then, the tired face of Uchiha Fugaku filling the gap. He rubbed at his tired eyes. "Itachi…? Shisui…?" He peered between them sleepily, before glancing down at her, a soft smile pulling at his lips when she turned to him, reaching out her arms with yet another gurgle. She babbled at him, her words incomprehensible, fingers pulling at the small shirt on her brother's back as she basked in their closeness. Basked in her precious family surrounding her. They were all hers. Only hers. "I see you've got things handled here," he said, yawning the next second.

"Go back to bed, otou-san," Itachi all but ordered, snuggling Sakura a little closer as she turned to him with a radiant beam on her tiny lips.

Shisui smiled. "We'll come and get you if Sakura-chan needs anything else," he said, glancing at her closely then, as if inspecting her. Clearly she passed his inspection, and Sakura felt oddly happy that she had passed muster with her cousin.

Fugaku nodded, tiredness lacing his every step as he closed the door with barely a sound, leaving her alone with her brother and her cousin. She didn't know too much about Shisui, though she was eager to find out. He might be hers too. Hers to look after.

"She's certainly cuter than Sasuke-chan was…" Shisui said, peering down at her, face close enough to touch – so that was what she did, smiling as her hands sloppily patted at his cheeks. "Quieter too…" He trailed off then, catching sight of her brother's unamused stare before a cheeky grin appeared on his lips. "What? You can't deny it."

A soft smile broke on her brother's face. It was a beautiful sight. Sakura wished he would smile at her more. "You've stopped crying now…" Itachi murmured, finger brushing at her cheek, the tough feather soft, and her hands latched back onto the slim digit. "What did you want, imouto?"

Her hands fisted in his shirt even tighter in answer, incomprehensible sounds rolling from her tongue. There were no doubts she would definitely need to work on that later, but she had a few months until she was due to start speaking.

"Awww," Shisui cooed, face looming over her tiny body. "It's like she wanted you… how adorable."

"I love you too, imouto," he whispered, ignorant of the warmth that bloomed in her chest.

'I love you too, nii-san,' she wanted to whisper back, but her immature tongue and vocal chords wouldn't move as she wanted them to. Instead, she settled for a gummy smile, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. She wouldn't lose him. They were family now. She had to protect all of them. Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect. The word rang around her brain like a mantra. They were her world now. She had lost the first one. She couldn't afford to lose a second. There'd be nothing left of her sanity to piece back together if that were the case. They were hers. She was the only one who could hurt them. The only one who could let them die.

Tears leaked down his face, her blood running cold as she stared up at him, reaching up to wipe that sad expression off his face. Why was aniki crying? Who hurt him? Her eyes narrowed into slits, hands patting at his cheeks as he held her up closer.

"She's trying to stop you from crying… my heart can't take this," Shisui mumbled, snatching her away from her brother, nuzzling his face against her own. "You're too cute, Saku-chan!"

Itachi glared at him flatly, his voice complete and utterly deadpan when he next spoke. "Shisui."

"Speak to the baby, 'tachi," he said, cradling her disgruntled self for another few minutes before he spun her around to face her precious brother. "Think of it like puppy therapy, but with a baby instead, OK?"

Sakura felt her lips turn flat, Shisui's laughter vibrating through her body as he spied the displeased expression on her chubby face. He had just claimed her as a substitute for a dog. She was allowed to be a bitch about it.

"Go on… it's not like she'll remember this or be able to understand it," he urged, holding her back out for her brother to take.

"OK then," Itachi said, staring intently down at her with a sombre face. Sakura didn't like that expression on him at all. Smiling suited him more. She wanted to find whoever had made him that sad and rip them apart. "Today… I awakened my sharingan." Black eyes spun into red, a single tomoe spinning in each eye as he stared down at her. "Otou-san congratulated me." Tears leaked down his face, and Sakura swallowed thickly, her throat feeling oddly dry.

"Let it out, 'tachi…"

"A boy who I considered a friend is dead…" he whispered, voice cracking. Itachi-nii wouldn't have been sad if that friend hadn't existed, Sakura mused sourly, jealously and hatred clawing at her chest. Itachi was hers now. He wouldn't have been sad if he was all hers. "All because I wasn't strong enough to save him… and all everyone around me is saying is how great it is that I've awakened these cursed eyes."

She couldn't save them either. Her fingers curled in his shirt. Nobody was congratulating her though… that would only make things worse. She yawned then, staring sleepily up at her brother as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"I think she's tired…" Shisui mumbled. "Best put her back to bed… we don't want a repeat of the cranky Sasuke incident."

"No." Itachi's smile was pained and broken. "We don't."

They placed her back in her crib, leaving just as silently as they had arrived, and then Sakura was all alone – left to mull over the events that had just occurred – a better thing to think about than death and Kaguya. Her brother had cried. Someone had made him upset. She wanted to kill whoever had done that. Her new family were meant to be happy, and they were meant to live. She blinked, flopping onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, eyes narrowing. Uchiha Itachi… her older brother… the boy who would murder all his clan aside from Sasuke… and he had just cried right in front of her. It wasn't the face of a burgeoning mass murderer she had seen just then. It was the face of her precious aniki. The same one that Konoha would mould into that of a hardened killer.

Even though he was so gentle. She could feel the odd sort of comforting wavelength his chakra seemed to emit. It was like campfires and marshmallows. Like a fluffy, warm blanket on a cold winters evening.

Konoha wanted to strip that away. Wanted him to become an excellent shinobi with all the blood and death that entailed.

Konoha was going to destroy her brother.

Sakura sat up, sheer and utter loathing coursing through her at that thought. The village she had once thought was nice – better – was going to rip her brother's sanity to shreds… and for what? To keep an old warhawk's thirst for power sated.

No. She shook her head. That wouldn't happen. She'd tear Konoha to the ground if that happened. Itachi was her brother. Her lifeline. Her stability. The Uchiha were her family. Hers. She'd lost one. She wouldn't lose another. Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect. The thoughts raced around her brain, and then the world bloomed red. Tiny black eyes became small red ones, a single tomoe swirling around the gleaming bloody iris in each eye. Her back slammed into the cushioning of her crib, exhaustion flooding through her tiny limbs as the red glow of her eyes permeated the room.

Nothing would touch her brothers. Especially aniki.

She'd kill anyone who tried.