Disclaimer: I own any OCs in this, the rest is Masashi Kishimoto.

"I'm not..I'm not..." I stuttered weakly, a scroll in my hand. "Mom, I can't..."

"The letter said it was for you honey, it's okay to accept it. You should accept it." my mom tried to convince me but th lump in my throat wouldn't go away. I know, I read the letter, that familiar writing but...

"That should go to Naruto, Hiraishin was Minato's signature technique." I told her with a frown. It felt wrong, so, so wrong to held that scroll in my hand. For me? Why...I've never had a great reaction to that jutsu, why would I want to learn it?

"The letter never said it was for you to learn it."

"Huh?"

"I knew Minato more than you. It wasn't just because you were his goddaughter that he was fond of you, I have no doubt he would have take you as a fuinjutsu apprentice if...well, you know." she explained with a nostalgic smile dancing on her lips.

I glanced at the red and blue scroll once again. It has been two weeks since we moved and a lot happened actually. Most of it was caused by oji-chan. Even dead he managed to do things for others. God damn prodigy. Anyway, the biggest surprise was how mom got the house. Surprise, apparently, when he was the Yondaime and I was at his place, Kushina and him got us a place for when we would move to Konoha, because that was the original plan. But still, as the Hokage, his will said the place was ours, or mom's, and that's basically it. I guess that having us far from his eyesight wasn't pleasant to Minato after what had happened.

When it came to money, even if we had our savings, mom actually got a job at the Konohagakure Intelligence Division, because that's where a Seal Master is the most asked for. And she got the job like a month after we arrived and hadn't told me about it! But well, it seemed like the reputation she gained back in Uzushio followed her, as well as, once again, what Minato would tell about her. But mom told me not to care about it anyway, that no matter what happened with my soul, I was her thirteen year-old daughter and I should enjoy my youth. Easier said than done when I know how expensive raising two kids is. Plus, she also had some requests from clan, which was to be expected.

As a result, I spent most of my time with Naruto. When he's not at school, it's mostly exploration, eating dinner at Ichiraku on Fridays and chilling in front of the TV or in my or his room once his homework was one. I also take care of picking him up after school, and it's incredible the number of stares I got the first time I went because Naruto screamed 'Nee-chan!' with stars in his eyes when he saw me. It was adorable, but also sad somehow. But I managed to get even more stares when Sasuke saw me too and called me 'nee-san'. Less loudly than my cousin, but that's Sasuke. I realized than when he's not with his family or me, he is an arrogant little brat. Well, I guess that he wants his dad to acknowledge him.

Oh, and it seemed like Itachi was on a break or something from what Sasuke told me. This whole coup story must have taken a huge toll on him, even though he didn't kill his family, and he got holidays by the Hokage I guess. But in the end, I would often see him when I was waiting for Naruto after school, and except greeting each other, we didn't speak. Mainly because I was giving him the cold shoulder. It was not my fault if I barely could deal with seeing him right now! But the thing was, he must have been interested or curious about me, because he would try to engage a conversation in the beginning. He stopped after three days when my cold answers became...silence. I plainly started ignoring him. I know it was not fair, and maybe he was a little bit hurt that a girl he barely knew was blatantly snubbing him, but I couldn't cope with him now. Because I needed to fully integrate he was not...him.

Then, we were told by the Hokage that, now that mom was legally Naruto's tutor, Minato's and Kushina's belongings were ours to take care for Naruto for when he'll be older. So we have a lot of fuinjutsu now, between his and Kushina's. Truth be told, I already knew most of them because I had gotten my hand on it previously. But, it didn't keep me, when Naruto was at school, from going through all of them to know why my soul was sent back. Unfortunately, even if I found the scroll for the technique, there was nothing about secondary effects except that we were bound to the Shinigami.

"Fine," I sighed, putting the scroll away, "fine. What..."

I was cut by the sound of doorbell. My mom waved me off so I got up, not without complaining, and went to the door. What a surprise it was to see Shisui standing there, hands in his pocket and a stupid grin on his face. I resisted the urge to face palm. Another thing I did? Avoiding that guy like the plague.

"The Hokage has asked me to fetch you!" he joyfully announced me. I just put my shoes on he yanked me outside and was silent the whole way. Shisui is not stupid, he realized I had been avoided him. The grim look on his face confirmed it.

"Do you know why the Sandaime wants to see me?"

"No." he replied sharply, not sparring me a glance when we arrived in front of the Hokage Tower.

I cringed a little when he stomped up the stairs. It could be funny if I wasn't the target of his anger. Once he reached the top, he stopped and finally glanced at me with annoyance.

"Now that I finally managed to see you for the first in two weeks, care to tell me why you've been avoiding me?" he asked me bluntly with a scowl on his face.

I gulped. Yep, he's pissed. And now he was crossing his arm and I almost could see tapping his foot on the ground.

"And you better tell me the truth. I'm not Itachi, you can't just ignore me without giving a reason because I barely know anything about you." he continued.

"I...well...I realized how real the situation was?"

"What?" he said and raised an eyebrow at me.

"The Uchihas are alive and...I mean...Shisui, I mourned you. I cried because you were dead and that I would never see you again and now you're..."

"That's the reason?" He hissed with annoyance flashing in his dark eyes.

"I'm sorry?" I frowned at him and he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You could have told me you needed time to adapt now you're not hiding anymore instead of avoiding me with no explanation. I thought I did something wrong and couldn't even talk about it to Itachi because his case is worst than mine." he explained, half with relief and half scolding me.

"Forgive me?"

He stared at my face, deep in thoughts, so I gave him an embarrassed smile. He closed his eyes in reflection and took a step forward. He slowly raised his hand and as a reflex I closed my eyes. Just to open them again when I felt a finger poking my cheek, and then pinching it.

"Don't do that again." he whispered to me, and guilt filled me when I realized I really had hurt from the faint pain in his eyes.

"Sure. Shouldn't we go to..."

"Oh right!" he exclaimed. He took my hand and dragged me to the Hokage's office. He knocked, waited a few seconds and opened the door. "Hokage-sama, I brought her."

"Thank you Shisui-kun, you can leave." the Uchiha did as told and I stepped forward. "How have been Akane-kun?"

I shrugged, "Fine I guess, Naruto can be clingy but I can deal with him."

"Good," he nodded and exhaled the smoke of his pipe. "Have you or Akiko found anything about your seal?"

"Not really, my mother didn't find anything in the books of Konoha library and the only thing written in the scroll Minato left me says it bounds us to the Shinigami. Just things we already knew."

"It actually can be useful." the Hokage informed me thoughtfully. I perked up at that and shot him a puzzled glance. "Minato and you both have a seal on your stomach. The difference is that your soul has been sent back in time when his was sent in the Shinigami's stomach."

"Yeah..."

"What is the difference between the two of you which has a link to this jutsu?"

"The differen..." I started but stopped to widen my eyes. Of course, no difference between oji-chan and I even though we're both fuinjutsu users, the jutsu's origin. "The Uzumaki blood running in my veins and the chakra that comes with it."

"Exactly what I thought." He agreed with a nod of the head.

Now that I'm thinking about it, from what old Sasuke told me...when he brought the Hokage back during the war, they were all in the Shinigami's stomach. The Sandaime because he used the technique, and he doesn't have Uzumaki blood either. So that's the reason?

"I would need more informations about Uzumaki kinjutsu Hokage-sama. Is there any other informations from the clan in Konoha we haven't seen? This...there must be secondary effects to being 'reborn' if I can call it like that."

"Hum...there must be in Mito-sama's belongings. However, even if I am the Hokage, I am not allowed to look through it. Only a relative could give the authorization needed."

"Oh." Hide your disappointment Akane, hide it.

"What I can do is contact my student and tell her that an Uzumaki of the village would like to know more about her clan and would like to have the permission to take a look at her grandmother's personal effects." he added with the hint of a smile.

"Yes! Hum, I mean...that would be useful to..."

"You're dismissed Akane-kun." the Hokage chuckled at my outburst and I blushed of shame, but bowed and left.

"Kakashi-san?"

He didn't budge when I called him, or when I walked past him and to set the flowers down. I stayed on my knees in front of the Memorial Stone and looked at it. Oji-chan's name, Aunty's name, Rin-san's name was missing but not Obito's name. It's faint, but I remember my godfather stopping by with three kids and introducing them as his students. I remember mistaking the Uchiha symbol for a lollipop and the one bearing the symbol correcting me and proclaimed that he would be the Hokage one day. But that boy died during the Third War.

I knew he wasn't dead though. He survived and provoked Kurama and killed my family, including his own sensei. He manipulated Yagura-sama and declared war. But even though, the boy with the dream to be Hokage one day died, and that's that boy I came to visit. The one who saved his friends even if it meant death.

Now that I'm thinking about it, technically he was the one who ordered Hoshigaki-san to kidnap me when I was eleven. He was the one who ordered Sasori to kill my mom.

No matter what, Obito died that day.

"Have you been to the cemetery before?" Kakashi-san asked me, not breaking eye contact with the stone.

"Yeah, I had a lot of people to visit and with Naruto at the Academy, it was the best moment. There is too many people I know at that place." I answered, getting up. "That was my last stop."

"Four. Rin, Minato-sensei, Kushina-san and Fubuki-kun."

"It has been a while since I've heard my older brother's name," I sighed softly and dusted my clothes. "You know, no matter what you think about yourself, you protected me that day."

"Liar." I raised a curious eyebrow at him. "If I had protected you you wouldn't call me 'Kakashi-san'."

"I thought you hated 'Kakashi-nii'?"

"At least you weren't traumatized."

I pondered over his words. True, but that's what pushed me to survive in Kirigakure. The fact I made it out alive that day made me survive in the Bloody Mist, no matter how much I hated training or the mission. The only thing that mattered was my survival, and with time I didn't care if it meant killing others.

"I have to go to the Yamanaka's, apparently Inoichi-san wants to see me." I told him when I started leaving, waving at him. "It's probably going to rain, so don't be an idiot."

"You're way too young to tell me this."

"Oh, am I?" I hummed at myself.

I left and made my way back into the village, quietly gazing at the crowd. It was the middle of the afternoon and many people thought it would be a good occasion to go shopping. When I arrived at the flower shop, I was even a little surprise by how crowded it seemed to be.

"Akane-san?" I cursed under my breath and turned my head. I met Itachi surprised eyes and narrowed mine curiously. "What are you doing here?" he asked, not bothered by my stare.

"My mom told me Inoichi-san wanted to see me, what are you doing here?"

He frowned pensively, "My mother told me the same thing."

"Right on time you two."

We both averted our eyes from each other to look at the Yamanaka leader, who told us to follow him. We ended up in the house part of the shop, pretty big actually, and we stopped in room with three cushions on the floor, two facing the last one.

"Do you know why you're here?" We both shook our head and sat the cushions in front of him. "Well, your parents thought you needed a therapy."

"What!?" I almost yelled when Itachi only widened his eyes, but clenched his fists on his pants. "What for!? And why together!?"

"I have to agree, a therapy is not to be done with someone else." The Uchiha spoke out coldly.

"Well, you both went through traumatizing events when you were around the age of four and never received help. Because of recent events, your parents thought you needed to talk about it."

"That's bullshit, and I won't stay here to talk about it nine years after." I stated, ready to get up.

"Your reaction proves you're not over it Akane-chan."

I glared at him, but he ignored it.

"I know what you went through, but I can't do anything if you don't say anything."

My rising anger simmered down a little. If he knew, I wouldn't be confronted to pity, right?

"Fine." I grudgingly accepted. Mom wouldn't leave me alone if I ditched it.

"You're doing it?" Itachi asked me with a frown.

"My mom won't leave me alone if I don't. Maybe that's...not so bad..." I almost sneered the end of the sentence.

"Itachi-kun?"

He looked at his fists. His shaking fists and glared at nothing in particular. To be honest, old Itachi never told me anything, really, about his past. But he was totally withdrawn. This one was not there yet, so maybe, maybe it could help him. That's why I placed a hand on his fist. He raised his glare at me and I gulped. This was one of his coldest glare I bet.

"Maybe it can help you know, to move on."

"You were against it a minute ago." he replied icily.

"Yeah, but it looks like, that we want it or not, we're in this together. If I can give it a try, you can too."

He stared intensively at me. After I all, I was the girl who was giving him the cold shoulder and was avoiding him as much as she could and now I was trying to help him. I'd say he was confused as fuck if he wasn't Itachi.

"Okay," he finally accepted.

"It was faster than I thought to convince you." Inoichi-san admitted. "Itachi-kun, I will take care of Akane-chan first. You can go in the room in front of this one and occupy yourself."

He nodded and left.

"So, this is going to be simple. I want you to tell me what happened before you came to Konoha nine years ago."

I sighed and looked down, my previous bravery completely gone.

"Nothing will come out of this room." The Yamanaka assured me.

I breathed out deeply and started talking.

"Your turn," I announced to Itachi when I stepped in the room he was in. He nodded, nervously I noted, and stood up, placing the book he was reading back in the bookshelf. "and if it can help, forget you're a shinobi and think of yourself as a random thirteen year old."

"Would you pick up Sasuke at the same time as Naruto-kun?" he asked me in return, not looking directly at me. Probably for me not to see his troubled eyes.

"Sure, you know where I live." I told him and left the place.

I hope he will be okay...because that was tough. You need to sink back in the heart of the trauma and it's...awful. Because talking about it made me realize once again how useless I was back then. As I walked to the Academy, I internally cheered myself up. The War left scars to everyone and I am not different. Because...that was the War that changed him.

"Nee-chan!" Naruto shouted when he spotted me on the swing. Once again, we received glances and I was sure I heard some parents whispering, but a glare from me shut them up. Plus, I wore the same symbol than Naruto. The Uzumaki symbol.

"You didn't cause trouble I hope? Last time I went to see one of your teacher I thought I would make it worst."

"No! Even though Kiba made fun of me and I did the same!"

"I see. Where's Sasuke?"

"Here." the latter said when he was close enough. "Hello nee-san, have you seen nii-san?"

"As a matter of fact, I have. He had to do something for your parents and asked me to take you with me, you don't mind?"

He pouted and shook his head, hiding his disappointment as much as he could whereas Naruto was complaining. I raised an eyebrow at Sasuke when he frowned at me.

"Were you with him?"

"Yeah, I had to do the same thing for my mom as well." I explained, taking their hands to lead the way.

Naruto's chatter filled the way home. With Sasuke giving him sneaky remarks. So they bickered, and I was the voice of reason.

Because I'm the smartest, duh. And oldest, but let's not talk about that.

Once we're home, Naruto threw his bag on the couch and ran to the kitchen whereas Sasuke was more than polite, even though mom was at work. It must suck to be important to an important clan sometimes. But it didn't stop him to criticize my cousin when he appeared once again, his mouth stuffed with candies. I sighed and my voice stopped Naruto before he walked in the study.

"Couz', you could at least try to be a good host and offer something to drink and eat to your friend."

"But...but that teme is not my friend!" he cried out comically, a finger pointed at Sasuke.

"I'm still a guest, so be a good host dobe." the Uchiha taunted him. I pinched his cheek.

"Now, be a nice guest Sasuke."

I squealed mentally at his pout and watched Naruto and Sasuke trying to be civil with each other. Flipping hilarious. So after making snacks for everyone, no way I'm letting Naruto screw up his teeth, even his baby teeth, I made my way to the study and sat between them at the square coffee table. I sweat dropped at them glaring at each other. No matter what, their friendship would always be complicated.

"Naruto, ready to continue the translation?"

"Yosh! That's easy!"

Leave it to his DNA to find easy something most people do not even bother to comprehend because it looks like scribbles. So, whereas Naruto was translating some very short sentences in fuin, Sasuke was doing his homework. But I guess seeing Naruto so focused on something was weird to him. I chuckled at him, which he noticed and glared at me.

"What is he doing?" he hissed at me and dropped his pencil on the table.

"Fuin translation."

"Fu...in?" he repeated with curiosity.

"Remember how I got that sword back then and the symbols? He's learning the meaning of them and is pretty good at it."

"What for?"

"Seals. That's the symbols used for them, pretty much like a code you could say." I explained, taking a sip of my orange juice.

"Pff, I bet that's easy." he said smugly, almost arrogantly.

Two sheets of paper appeared under his nose. He darted his eyes between them and my smiling face. The thing is, the symbols in fuin all look alike, the differences are basically imperceptible for everyone, except if you're a seal master, like oji-chan and Jiraya-sama, or an Uzumaki. It wasn't rare to use fuin to send messages in Uzushio from what mom told me. I know how to read and write it, even if my soul hadn't been sent back I would know because I was immersed in it ever since I was born. As for Naruto, his Uzumaki senses are popping out. Old Naruto never really looked into fuinjutsu to be fair, he would let me deal with this. But if kid Naruto wants to, I'll teach him.

Back to Sasuke, he was clearly struggling, his brows in a deep frown.

"I'm sure nii-san would translate that easily." he proclaimed, crossing his arms with his head high to prove his point. I had no doubt Itachi would grasp it, but it took a while for Minato, so it should for him too. "Nii-san is a genius!"

"So I've heard, but it would take him a while. Plus, he is already amazing at what he does, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is!" Well, count on Sasuke to beat any of Itachi's fangirl.

"Nee-chan is better than Itachi-nii!"

I froze. Oh oh, huge fight coming.

"No, nee-san is strong but my nii-san is stronger!"

"No, nee-chan is!"

"Nii-san!"

"Nee..."

"I'm good at what I do, Itachi is good at what he does, end of the story." I cut them sharply, throwing them a threating smile.

And I wouldn't last long if I didn't lock his eyes. Even without his sharingan I doubt I would win. He is the Itachi Uchiha after all. I could win if I kidnapped Sasuke and threaten him to give him to his fans though...that's a plan worth exploiting huh...

I was cackling evilly before I knew it.

"Nee...nee-chan?" came the scared voice of my baby cousin.

"Nothing, just scheming, keep translating." I told him with a wave of my hand. "Sasuke, want to learn something your nii-san doesn't know?"

His eyes brightened at my offer. The prospect of being better than his brother in something must be quite pleasant for him after all. Thus, the next half an hour passed more or less calmly, me explaining the simplest symbol to Sasuke whereas Naruto was progressing without any big troubles. When he asked me to teach after mom and I explained to him the whole Uzumaki thing, I wasn't scared for the translating part or the comprehension of the seal...it's the calligraphy that scared me. On the other hand, it was the opposite with Sasuke. The comprehension would be hard as hell, but not the calligraphy, especially because he must have had some private classes when he was younger.

"Oh, must be Itachi," I said, standing up when I heard the doorbell. When I opened the front door, it was a visibly mentally exhausted Itachi that greeted me. "That much huh."

He glared at me in response, a 'no comment' glare that vanished when his brother rushed to him. Naruto followed slower and stood next to me. I muffled a laugh when I realized Itachi was barely listening to Sasuke's enthusiastic chatter.

"We should go home Sasuke." he finally said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Thank Akane-san and Naruto-kun for their hospitality."

I covered Naruto's mouth with my hand in anticipation.

"Thank you nee-san," he told me politely and scowled at Naruto "...dobe."

Naruto started to struggle against my grip and it was Itachi's cue to grab his brother to leave. I smelled a sibling scolding within the Uchiha.

Thanks for reading ! And feel free to leave reviews !