KAGEROU DAYS: 2

"Wake up, Beautiful," I unceremoniously kicked the futon. "We're late." Said beauty groaned pitifully and I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "Come on. Ass movage, commence. You're going to have to get up anyway."

"Nee-chaaaan..." He groaned again, then pulled his blanket further over his head.

A touching scene...yet somehow, boring. "I'm not your sister." I ripped the blankets off, prompting him to curl up into a shivering ball and cry out in protest. "Time to go." I grabbed him by the scruff of his boxers and dragged him to the closet. "Are you going to dress yourself? Or do you want me to do that for you too?"

That got him up quick enough.

Mom was in the kitchen, hurrying here and there, looking for gear she'd misplaced and whatnot, and she patted my head in between rushing from one counter to the other. "Morning, sunshine!"

I blinked dryly at her and observed as she ran around like a chicken with her head cut off and remarked, "Another one?"

She grinned apologetically and admitted, "I'll only be gone for a few days."

I arched my brow and nailed her with the question, "What rank is it?"

"That's classified!" She sang before bending down and landing a kiss in my brow. "Stay out of trouble."

I bristled indignantly. "Who's the one who's always in trouble? Not me, that's for sure. You must be confusing me with another member of this household."

"Oh, hush. You know what I mean." She settled me with a look that told me exactly what she meant.

"O-o-oba-chan—" Naruto yawned, miraculously emerging—fully dressed in an orange T-shirt and black cargo shorts, I might add—from the tiny hall, stretching his arms. "Are you going somewhere—"

Mom cut him off by slapping wet one on his forehead as well, taking him by surprise, and she trilled out a cheerful, "Bye-bye! Be a good boy and listen to Kage-chan, ne? I'll be back sooner than you know it!" She then called back over her shoulder, "Kagerou! Any problems, go straight to Hokage-sama! No more terrorizing the neighbors! I mean it! Violence is never the answer!"

I rolled my eyes, grumbling under my breath, "Only if you're not using enough of it..."

"What was that?" She chirped sweetly, giving me that creepy as hell, closed eyed smile.

"Nothing, nothing!" I backed away slowly, "Have a safe trip!"

Creepy smile unchanged, she tilted her head slightly to the side to assess me, and, after a full ten second stare down in which all three of us stood completely still, she hummed happily, "Hai-okay! No violence, no watching TV after midnight, and no feeding him excessive amounts of sugar or ramen, got it? Remember what happened last time?"

Yep, I thought to myself grimly as Naruto went into a tirade of whines and 'how come?!'s, some things just can be unseen.

Evidently, Mom's thoughts were along the same lines because she shivered slightly and shook the fit-throwing, leg-clinging seven-year-old off of her. "Oba-chaaaan, don't gooooooo! Kage-chan's going to make me do stuff!"

Mom paused, and sent me a questioning look. "...Stuff?"

With a heavy sigh, I divulged. "We've been running errands for people... Trying to fix the bad rep, you know? It's slow going, but I think we're getting there..." I held my hands up, shrugging with a wry grin, "Besides, it's a good way to score treats—especially from old ladies who need help crossing the street."

Mom blinked, and paused in her attempts to pry Naruto off her leg. After a moment of silence, she questioned, "...Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?"

"I believe she may possibly be somewhere in this room," I looked around dubiously, then back at her with a dry smile and another shrug. "Not making any promises though."

Mom shook her head with a deadpan expression. "Never mind...I think found her."

"You should try not to lose things like that." I rose both brows at her. "It's a good way to make yourself late."

Her eyes went wide and she let out a loud curse, which Naruto then blatantly repeated, and she sequentially knocked him over the head for it. She then reinitialized her frantic searching, even lifting up the couch with one hand and tearing through the bedrooms with lots of clattering noises and more cursing until she shouted, "Aha! You're a thousand years too early to hide from Konoha's number one Aka Tonbo!" She emerged victoriously with her tangled seal wraps clutched in her raised fist and a dust bunny balanced perfectly on the tip of her nose.

I stared at her for about five seconds before voicing my opinion on her performance. "Laaaaame..."

"Hey!"

"Hmm, Kaa-san? What time is it?"

Another curse, and off she went.

I sent Naruto a look after the door slammed shut. "Don't even think about trying to escape. We have to leave now, or else we'll miss the early birds." At his continued moaning and groaning, I barked at him, "You want free ramen, or not?!"

"But...Oba-chan said—"

I arched a brow at him. "You really wanna push this?" I shrugged at his dumbfounded look, "Hey, look, if you're that against it, I guess we could just stay home alone in the dark all day and starve—"

His voice rose up an octave and he jumped up hurriedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door. "What are we waiting for? Let's go! The early birds are waiting!"

Hook, line, aaaaand sinker...

And that was how life usually went. Mom started taking missions again a few years ago. We needed the money. And it's not like she could ask anyone to babysit. Naruto was the village pariah after all, and, by extension, me. Well, actually, not so much. I tended to get more sympathy, simply because I usually acted as nothing more than a glorified drill sergeant/babysitter. It took a lot of effort to get him to do what you wanted him to, and in consequence, I learned real quickly how to wear an iron fist. And that's why Mom trusted us on our own—well, she trusted me on my own. I was pretty much the only one who knew what to do with him.

In the beginning, it was all I could do just to tire him out. Plus, it gave me a strange sense of gratification in getting revenge for the hurtful things people would say and do. Naruto was a bit of a genius in that area, actually, not that I'd ever admit it. But they weren't the worst of it... Sometimes there were bullies. I couldn't even count how many times we'd gotten beat up before I decided it was time to fight back. And when we fought back...let's just say things got a lot more interesting.

But I quickly began to notice a trend, and the revenge pranks and the mischief really only aggravated the situation. The village hated Naruto more than ever, and I was the orchestrator behind everything. It was a couple of months ago that the conflict reared into a hot boiling mess...

I gripped the boy's hand tightly, choking on my breath as I dragged him after me through the back alleys. We had to be close to the edge of the village by now, surely. Yet they still chased us down like wolves. It was Naruto's birthday. It was also the day that several people had died. People tended to remember that before they remembered the boy's birthday. And, in grief, people tended to do a lot of things they shouldn't...

I threw a glance back over my shoulder and saw the group of five on our tail, heading around the corner, shouting and uttering horrible things. I also saw Naruto, exhausted, terrified, and knew he couldn't go on much longer. I couldn't go on much longer. But I had to. Mom was on a mission, and there wasn't anybody else in the world who could help us. It was my job. Had been ever since that day so long ago when we took him into the clan. My responsibility. I had to do it on my own.

That was when we ran into him.

"Hey, hey, Nee-chan?" Naruto interrupted my thoughts as we passed by the ninja school.

"I'm not your sister," I reminded him with a well aimed stink eye.

As always, he ignored this, and went on, "Nee-chan, when can we go to the academy? I want to be a ninja too, like Oba-chan!"

I rolled my eyes grimly. "You know how she is about that sort of thing..."

"Absolutely not."

I stared across the table at her. "...Why?"

"You are not ready."

I stared her down. Mom used that voice whenever she was dead serious about something. She became another person—a brick wall. But I was me, and so I did what I do best. "...There are kids who start the academy at age four. There are kids who have graduated at age four."

She rested her chin in her palm, assessing me with her eyes, the same as she always did when I expressed knowledge of things that most five-year-olds couldn't. She'd never really commented on it before, but I knew she knew, and she knew I knew she knew. Instead, all she needed to say was, "You are different from them..."

Next I brought up the second item on the table. "And Naruto?"

Her lips twitched into a dry smile and replied, "What about him?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You know how he is."

"I do," she agreed, her smile still in place.

I stared at her intently. "What are you going to do when you have this conversation with him a few years down the road?"

And they did. But I suppose it's fairly easy to guess how that turned out.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he copied my rolley-eyed face and mimicked with air quotes, "You're not ready! What does that even mean?"

I sighed.

"The two of you are very special in different ways," she told me seriously. "Naruto...has a special power that people hate him for. But that will change one day if he wants it to. That's just the way he is. Until then, he's not ready. As for you..." She smiled. "You're just like me. So when you show me that you're ready, I'll teach you myself. You don't need to worry about the academy."

"I have absolutely no idea," I told him honestly. "But that time better come sooner, rather than later..."

It's not exactly like we had all the time in the world, after all.

"Morning, Teuchi-san," I hailed, waving my hand as Naruto caught up with me, repeating the greeting with much gusto. Free ramen was a big motivator for him.

"Good morning, you two." The man smiled at us from over the counter. "Getting an early start?"

"Yep," I confirmed, ready to talk shop. "Got any deliveries for us?"

"Hmmm," He tapped his chin in thought. "not quite at the moment, but I'll definitely have some if you come back later. Ayame could use the help, and there's a reward in it for you if you manage not to spill anything on the way. Eh, Naruto?" He sent a grin at the boy.

"You bet!" He returned enthusiastically, "You can count on me, Old Man!"

"I'm not that old," he protested in good humor, then turned his attention back to me. "I'm sure you can find something to do at Yamanaka Flowers. And there's the grocer stalls too. They always need help."

"Great!" I chirped. "We'll try to be back at around thirteen hundred, then."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll have some miso ready for you." He grinned at Naruto, who cheered. And after that it was pretty easy to get him moving. It was almost the other way around, and he ended up dragging me through town. That's usually how it went. Mornings weren't motivating for Naruto, but once you got him going, it was pretty hard to get him to stop.

But at best, people tolerated him. Most just pretended he didn't even exist, like Mrs. Yamanaka—Inoichi was alright though, and it was him we met at the flower shop that day, to my relief. We delivered a couple of bouquets; a few to the cemetery, and a few to the objects of other's admiration. That's how we ended up at the Uchiha Compound.

"Happy birthday, I think?" Itachi honestly seemed shocked. "I mean, it's gotta be your birthday, right? This doesn't happen every day, does it?"

He shook his head. "No...but it's not my birthday either."

I switched my eyes between the multiple bouquets and the confused Itachi—like, when does that ever happen?—with confusion of my own. But that's when Mikoto curiously poked her head around her eldest son and I took full advantage of the situation with the bright lie, "They're for you!"

"Oh, how sweet!" Again, hook, line, sinker. "Why don't you come in? I just made lunch."

I sent a shit eating grin at Itachi behind her back, because of course he wasn't going to say anything. What kind of son tells their mother that the pretty flowers they just received are actually for him and not her? Which begs the question, who was sending Itachi a shit load of flowers in the first place? "What'd you do?" I mouthed at him out of Mikoto's earshot.

"Shisui..." He muttered the name like a curse.

I raised both brows, "Really? I always thought you two were a little funny..."

He sent me a look. "You're irritating."

"And proud." I nodded sagely.

Irritating Uchiha Itachi wasn't really something I had on my to-do list until recently.

"Beating on little kids isn't much of a challenge..." came a mystifying voice from the roof of the alley. But when the bullies paused in their onslaught, and I was able to hesitantly look up from my defensive huddle over Naruto, there was no one there.

"...The hell?" the leader looked from left to right in frustrated confusion. "Where are you?! Show yourself!"

That was when two, glowing red eyes opened slowly in the shadows.

Who would've thought meeting Uchiha Itachi in a dark alley could lead to the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Well, I thought it was beautiful. He thought we were annoying—which was actually true—but I'd never forget what he did for us. Seeing those assholes running away screaming like little girls had been one of the few high-points of my new life. Plus, he brought us back to his house where Mikoto patched us both up. Once I told her whose daughter I was, she practically flipped out with happiness. She'd lost track of Mom, having only met her in passing when Kushina dragged her along, but after that day, they were both as thick as peas in a pod. Bonding over a dead best friend... I supposed there were worse things to bond over, I guess...

Naruto had similarly bonded with Sasuke almost instantly, and after Mikoto told him he was training out in the back yard, he disappeared. Shouting and cursing could soon be heard from outside the walls. 'Wah- What the hell are you doing here—' 'TEMEEEE!' and then there was a subsequent crash, and the 'bonding' began. I rolled my eyes, and Itachi sighed.

He eyed the flowers with distaste as Mikoto busied herself with finding a vase for all of them, and me with even more as he pointed out, "I see you took the advice to heart..."

"Sort of, yeah." I nodded. "You make a pretty good point. Getting revenge on people only makes it worse. Plus, helping people out has more profit." There was a wonderful smell coming from Mikoto's oven. "What's cooking?"

"So that's all you're after?" The corner of his lip twitched, in annoyance, or the beginnings of a reluctant smile, I didn't know.

"Yep," I admitted unrepentantly. "And it's good for my reputation."

"What reputation?"

"Exactly."

"Nii-san!" Sasuke finally dragged himself in, scraped and bruised and covered in dirt, with an anklebiter attached to his leg. "Why did you bring him here?"

"They brought themselves here." He pointed to the flowers and me.

"Hi, Sasuke," I greeted with a wave of my fingers. "Your mom was kind enough to invite us to lunch."

One look at me, and his face went red. He disappeared with Naruto a moment later. I think it had something to do with girls. Sasuke hated girls. Either that, or he was thoroughly terrified of them. It was hilarious.

"Did Yamanaka-san say who these were from?" Mikoto questioned absently, admiring the arrangement of pretty pink lilies and their alluring fragrance.

I shoved the greeting card—which was indeed addressed from Shisui—further into my jacket pocket and grinned at her. "Looks like you've got a secret admirer, Mikoto-san! Fugaku-san better watch out!" I then discreetly leaned over to Itachi as she laughed and whispered, "That Shisui sure has a lot of irons in the fire, ne? How scandalous."

He slowly turned to look at me, unamused, and murmured, "Sometimes I contemplate long and hard what mental pathology you must have that causes you to speak such utter nonsense."

I hid my smile at the irony as I told him mysteriously, "I'll never tell. It's my deepest darkest secret, after all. But you're right, it really does mess with your head. I bet if you found out, you'd probably have to sit down for a minute or two. Took me a few years to get over it actually..."

He arched a brow, "...Try me."

"It's my deepest darkest secret!" I repeated, reproachfully. "We're not that close. I wouldn't even tell you if you tried to torture it out of me."

His eyes assessed me critically for a moment, then turned to watch the boys playing outside the window and he spoke musingly, pointing out Naruto, "Then I wonder what you would do if I tortured him instead..."

That choked all of the ironic amusement right out of me in a heartbeat, and my expression went hard as I stared him down. "I'd kill you. That's what'd happen."

"Now, now—no death threats at the table, you two," Mikoto smiled. It was that creepy smile Mom sometimes got when it meant she wouldn't hesitate to use violence to get Naruto and I to stop bickering, and I felt a surge of static creep up the back of my neck.

Sitting up straighter, I replied immediately with a sharp, "Yes, Ma'am."

When she turned away with an approving nod, Itachi murmured, "For future reference...it would be a good idea not to advertise deep, dark secrets to those you aren't 'close' with."

I nodded hurriedly, my expression chastised. "As I said, you really know how to make a good point... I'll remember that." I narrowed my eyes at him. "...I'm still not telling you anything though."

I caught the ghost of a smile on his lips before Mikoto turned back around. "One of you, go get the boys for lunch."

"I'll go." I shot up, wanting to get away from Itachi. I could only stand him in certain doses, and after he goes and says something morbid like that...even less. It was a bit of a strange friendship. And I didn't even know how long it would last...

"Oi! Dumbasses!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and called to them when I reached the edge of the porch. "Stop trying to beat the snot out of each other, and get inside! Now!"

Naruto popped up immediately, used to following orders (or else), but for some reason, Sasuke seemed to hesitate. Perhaps it was at being addressed as 'dumbass.' He looked to be unsure whether or not following Naruto would mark him as one too. I simply sent him a look and told him, gesturing towards Naruto, "He will eat your lunch if you don't hurry, you know. He's like a walking bottomless pit."

That got him moving soon enough, and the two bickered, shoving each other and trading sideways blows all the way passed me and back to the house. Sasuke made sure to use Naruto as a barrier between me and him before informing me, "You're always acting normal in front of grownups...But you're the weirdest girl I've ever met."

I raised my brows at him, "Keep staring at me like an alien, and I'll be the last girl you ever meet."

Naruto sent him a look and hissed, "She means it. Kage-nee doesn't mess around."

"Yeah, but she's a girl..." He whispered back, "We can take her. She's not even trained."

I grabbed Naruto's arm and jerked him over towards me. "Who says he's on your side?"

"What makes you so sure he's on yours?" he argued back.

"Because I know where he sleeps." I smiled sweetly. "I also happen to know he's terrified of caterpillars. It'd be a shame if a bucket of them ended up in his bed one night..."

Beside me, Naruto's face drained of color. His voice seemed to have gone higher and he pointed to me as he choked out, "I'm on her side."

"Th-that's not fair!" Sasuke shouted.

"Life's not fair." I shrugged. "You got a better argument, be my guest. Until then, he's on my side."

He screwed up his face in frustration for a second until his freaky Uchiha brain seemed to zap him with a eureka moment and he smirked. "...Anyone on my side gets to learn shuriken jutsu."

I stopped walking in the middle of the hall, and Naruto too, since I still had a grip on his arm. "In that case...I'm on your side too."

He stopped as well and shot a flustered glance at me from over his shoulders, "Wha — but that's not even — no way! You're a girl! Girls can't learn shuriken jutsu!"

"Your mom knows shuriken jutsu and she's a girl!" I pointed out angrily.

"Leave my mother out of this!" He turned his attention back to Naruto and demanded, "You're on my side, right?"

The moment I looked at the blond, my heart sank. At the moment, Naruto wanted nothing more than to be a ninja and show up Sasuke... And against the threat of being catterpillared in his sleep... It went without saying, this time around, Sasuke's was the better argument. My face fell, and I let go of Naruto's arm dejectedly. Stupid, shuriken-throwing Sasuke... But at least one of us would get to—

"Not without Kage-nee..."

I shot an incredulous look at Naruto, whose eyes were shaded by his overgrown bangs and I shook my head, "Hey, wait, this is a big opportunity you're passing up here—"

"So what? If Kage-nee isn't with me, why should I try to become a ninja at all?"

I froze, staring at him as if he'd just struck me. Normally, at such a heart warming gesture, one would smile, or go all gooey and hug the guy but...despite how desperately I tried to convince myself that I—we—were normal, the fact still remained that I was lying. None of this was normal. It was all wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

Looking down, I realized my hands had balled into fists, they were shaking, and I felt my heart jumping in my chest. "Why are you — why do you always have to rely on me all the time, huh?!" I backed away from him, trying not to look at the startled expression on his face. "Do something on your own for a change! Why do you want to be a ninja, Naruto? Huh? Tell me! What reason?!"

"Huh...but, Kage-nee—"

"Say it!" I shouted. "Say you want to be Hokage! Say it!" I felt frustrated tears welling in my eyes at his incomprehension. "You — you're supposed to say it!"

"I — I'll become Hokage! So please don't cry, Nee-chan!" Suddenly he was hugging me, and that just made it all worse. All this time, I thought I'd been teaching him how to stand up for himself...instead, I'd just taught him to obey me.

"Y — yeah, don't cry!" Sasuke chimed in, looking somewhat panicked. "I'll teach you shuriken too, okay? Just stop crying! It's gross!"

"You hear that, Nee-chan? Sasuke-teme said—"

I pushed him away abruptly, right into Sasuke with the exclamation, "I'm not your goddamn sister!" I then took off down the hall, passed the wonderful smelling kitchen, Itachi, and out towards the door, only pausing to grab my boots and shove them on. I felt his calculating eyes on me as I did so, and stilled for only a moment, speaking softly, half over my shoulder. "...Make sure he's sent home before it gets dark." And, without waiting for his answer, I was off.

I tried not to think as I brought Inoichi back the signed order ticket from the bouquets, and accepted the free ramen from Teuchi gratefully after delivering those takeout orders I'd promised earlier; He inquired briefly about what happened to Naruto, but I brushed him off as politely as I could. I...couldn't explain my outburst. I just...had to get away.

Living, breathing, this world, twenty-four/seven had a way of driving me completely and utterly insane. Especially times like now, when I was alone, in my dark room, and I had time to think. Things were already beginning to change because of me. Big things. Naruto didn't care about becoming Hokage. All he cared about was spending time with me. And why not? Of course he would want to. I was pretty much the only person who gave him the time of day. I was always, always with him, because Mom trusted me to keep him out of trouble. And I hadn't given her any reason not to. Sure, I was seven years old, but for age seven, I was a fucking genius. Mom knew it. I was positive Itachi knew it. It wasn't that hard to figure it out. And, somehow, without me noticing, Naruto had started to take after me. He did what I did, ate what I ate, laughed when I laughed.

I'm sitting in a field with Mom, quietly observing as Naruto toddles around, laughing, playing with butterflies. After the initial freakout about the adoption, I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, having him as a housemate. It's not like it was really hurting anything at the moment... And besides, he kind of reminded me of...no...don't think about that.

Mom smiled at him, then at me, and told me as if she'd been reading my mind, "You know, Naruto is like your little brother." I felt myself freeze involuntarily. "You have to watch out for him, in case I'm gone. If he falls down, then you'll be the one following behind him to pick him back up and protect him from people with anger in their hearts. He'll look to you when things get tough. That's what big sisters are for, ne?" She smiled gently at me. "I know you can do it."

"But...I..." I began, but I was cut off by a flower clutched in a pudgy toddler hand being shoved in my face. I looked up to see a grinning three-year-old Naruto, and for a moment, his face was replaced with a similar one, holding out another kind of flower.

"Flowers are pretty, like Nee-chan!" He chirped in his too-high voice with his too-big-for-his-face eyes shining happily in the stifling summer sun.

And, because another scene of this nature, so similar, yet completely distinct, played in the background of my memories, I could do nothing more than take the mangled daisy and tuck it behind my ear gingerly. "I'll keep it forever."

After that, he uprooted nearly half the field searching for the prettiest flower for 'Nee-chan.'

I thought I'd been in control of the situation. But I'd just learned that there is no controlling how people are. This Naruto grew up in a home—loved—safe, and cared for. While the entire village hated him, Mom was there, and I was always, always there. I did like Mom told me to, because I couldn't stop seeing another set of blue eyes where Naruto's now were. I kept him out of danger, protected him when things got out of hand, and let the hatred roll off my skin like water. They didn't matter to me. Therefore, they didn't matter to Naruto either. I even remember telling him specifically:

"People you don't care about can't hurt you..." I whispered to myself quietly in the dark, pulling my knees up to my chest. "It's the ones you love whom you need to watch out for the most..."

Before I knew it, I was shaking myself awake with a jolt. When did I fall asleep? It was dark, and I called out tentatively, "...Naruto?" There was no reply.

That was the first sign that something was very, very wrong.

I shot out of bed, the blanket falling from my shoulders, and, alertness sinking into my bones, I called again, but the answer was the same. I then strode briskly into the kitchen to see Teuchi's ramen freebie still out on the table—cold as ice. He hadn't been here.

Checking the time, I registered it at twenty-two hundred hours—ten o'clock—then looked out the window. Pitch black. And that was when I felt the first stirrings of worry in my gut. I hustled to the door, jammed my boots on, and was out in a dash. The streets of Konoha were different at night, and the air smelled thicker—more like breathing in velvet. Made my heart speed up even more as I ran beneath the flickering streetlights, and even those blinked out when I began to near the Uchiha compound. For some reason, the electricity glitched in the neighborhood... I couldn't even begin to imagine why, can you?

When I was pounding on the front door of the Uchiha Main House, I didn't even stop to think the inhabitants might be sleeping, or discourage late night visitors. I didn't care about any of that. Not even when the imposing figure of Uchiha Fugaku opened the door and glared down at me, "What are you doing on my doorstep at this hour—"

"Itachi!" I shouted at him hysterically, tears gathering in my eyes. "I need to talk to him — where is he?"

For a moment, it looked like he would slam the door in my face, but something in my face must've convinced him I would be up pounding on his door all night, because he sighed, "He's on a very important mission. Ninja have no time to be playing with little girls. Now why on earth—"

"Kagerou...?" I flinched as I recognized the pale form of little Sasuke ghosting up beside his father. "Are you crying again?"

"Sasuke. What are you doing out of bed?" Fugaku demanded.

"I heard...I thought..." He stammered, looking up at his father guiltily, but glancing curiously at me.

I stared at him for a moment, not bothering to wipe my eyes as I asked him helplessly, "Sasuke, where's Naruto...?"

He stared back at me uncomprehendingly, and shook his head. "Itachi-nii-san sent him home hours ago..."

I felt sick in the pit of my gut.

What had I done?