6. Yuki

blood blood blood messy everywhere and daddy angry oh no he take kunai slash slash into arms mommy not moving and blood blood and more blood and scream bad bad arms bleeding hurts a lot why mommy not move bad blood bad bad blood blood

Yuri woke up screaming again. This was the third time she had the nightmare in her entire four years. The first time was three nights right after it had happened, when her scars were still fresh. The second time was with Naruto-sensei. The third time was now.

Yuri looked around, confused. Where was she? Why wasn't she on her comfty couch with Nani in her arms? Where was the orange teddy bear anyways?

Then it all came back. Going to the training area, meeting and fighting Jooyeon, pulling the kunai out of the ground, going dizzy and falling into darkness. But how did she get here? Why was she still alive?

Yuri's eyes focused and assessed her surroundings. She was in a foresty area, but if it was a part of Konoha forest, she didn't recognize it at all. And there was Jooyeon and Father. Father was staring into the sky. Jooyeon was glaring at her hatefully.

Daddy. Father. Murderer. He was here. Yuri hadn't seen him since their escape. And she had hoped it would be that way.

Feelings flooded through the girl, and she recognized him. Yuri was very mature for her age, so she understood feelings a hell of a lot better. (Wouldn't you be if you saw your mom murdered by your father, spent a hellish time with him, and then was on the run for a long time afterwards?) There was fear, nervousness, surprise, hate, and…fondness?

Yuri was too horrified at the last one. Fondness? Love? Why would she love him, the murderer?

"You are awake." Itachi said. He was still staring into the sky.

"I-I-It-t-tachi." Yuri managed to say.

"Hello, Yuri. I'm quite upset that you didn't call me Father." Itachi said in the same voice.

Jooyeon's left eye twitched slightly. It was just like Father to treat Yuri the favorite this nicely. If she had lost a battle, become unconscious, and called him Itachi instead of Father or Master, he would've punished her. But oh-so-precious Yuri got off because she was who she was, freakin' perfect Yuri.

"Two out of five. Not bad. Not bad." Itachi continued on. "I have both my daughters. Now I must find all three of my sons."

"You'll never get them!" Yuri blurted out. "Never!"

"On the contrary, I will." Itachi replied.

Another eye twitch from Jooyeon. If she had said that, and not Yuri, she would be Tsukiyomi'd for her impertinence.

Itachi bestowed one of his extremely rare smiles upon Yuri. "Now, daughter. Let us leave. Kisame is waiting for us."

Then Yuri realized with a sickening jolt why she felt at least some measure of affection for Itachi. He would always be her father no matter what.

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Sometimes, the other members of Team Hebi wondered why Sasuke dragged along such a puny, impudent little brat around with him. No, they wondered all the time.

Christo was only four years old! Sure, he knew the location of Akatsuki, which was extremely far away, but why did Sasuke pay so much attention to the runt? Training him, too! Sasuke never glared at the boy. He never yelled at the boy. He even smiled at him once! And what about those frequent breaks Sasuke would decide they would take because Christo looked a little tired and/or sleepy?

Sasuke also invented a bunch of annoying rules they had to follow. No swearing. No fighting for no reason. No "references to sexual themes." And if any of them broke the rules in front of Christo, Sasuke would have a "talk" with them.

Suigetsu plotted to murder the boy, but stopped when Sasuke overheard him. (Sasuke "talked" with him again after that incident.) Juugo had went on one of his rampages once, but Sasuke stopped him very quickly. (Another "talk" with Juugo.) Karin had been extremely careful, but she knew sooner or later she would slip. (And earn a "talk.")

And the most important rule was that they were not even allowed to mention the "talks" to Chisto. Kind of ironic.

Meanwhile, Christo was being rigorously trained by Sasuke. Now that he had mastered the walk on water, Sasuke had introduced him to a new level of taijutsu and fire jutsus, which he was learning quickly. Not only that, but Christo's shuriken level had taken enormous leaps. Christo was in no hurry to leave Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't want to abandon Christo, even after he showed him to the Akatsuki.

Sasuke felt it was necessary to teach Christo about revenge. So he did. He hammered his morals into the kid, and Christo accepted them with enthusiasm.

Sometimes, Sasuke himself wondered why he was so fond of the kid. Sure he would be a powerful ally when he got older, but still, why him?

Twice, Sasuke could've sworn Christo looked exactly like him when he was four. But of course, both times it was a trick of the light. Or so he thought.

"When are we going to stop and eat, Sasuke?" Christo asked.

"Soon." Sasuke answered abruptly.

"Good." Christo nodded.

"But I'm not-" Karin started to say, but Sasuke interrupted her with a look that definitely said something along the lines of, "Do you want to have another talk?"

Suddenly, Sasuke froze. They were in the outskirts of another small ninja village that obviously got nowhere. Nothing special. But Sasuke seemed petrified.

"What is it?" Karin demanded.

Christo peeked behind Sasuke. It was only an old guy with white hair. And he wasn't even looking in this direction.

"Damn it. It's Jiraiya, one of the three sannin." Suigetsu hissed.

Sasuke turned around and glared. "Damn? Don't say that! Do you want to have another little talk?"

Suigetsu shook his head.

"Good." Sasuke hesitated before saying. "Okay, let's all disappear. Except for you, Christo. I need you to go talk to him, find out if he knows anything."

"Yes, sir!" Christo barked. He always followed Sasuke's commands with a sort of religious fervor.

Christo sped off to Jiraiya, and Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo all turned around accusingly to Sasuke.

"Why did you just send Christo out?" Karin and Suigetsu said at the same time. Then they both looked mortified that they were even thinking the same thing.

"He's only a little boy. The old guy won't suspect anything suspicious." Sasuke replied. And he hoped that Jiraiya wouldn't find him. He was Naruto's old teacher after all, and from Konoha. "You guys leave now, one mile south. I'll stay here."

They grumbled but listened to their leader and left.

Meanwhile, Christo had walked up to Jiraiya. Then he tugged on Jiraiya's arm to get his attention.

"What!" Jiraiya snapped when he saw it was only a little boy.

"How much do you know about Akatsuki?" Christo asked in an innocent voice.

Jiraiya sputtered with surprise. This harmless little thing was asking him, the famous, powerful warrior about top-secret information on a dangerous criminal organization. That's they way Jiraiya thought of it.

"What? Akatsuki?" Jiraiya finally managed to say.

"Yes! Akatsuki! Tell me!" Christo whined.

"No! And how do you know about Akatsuki?" Jiraiya demanded as he rounded up on Christo. Was this boy really a genjutsu trap?

"Hey! Lemme go!" Christo shouted and squirmed as Jiraiya picked him up.

Christo tried to kick him, but missed. Then he bit him, but the man didn't react. Christo was getting really annoyed.

"Tell me kid, how much do you know about Akatsuki." Jiraiya frowned.

"My father is in Akatsuki and! Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!" Christo screamed this very loudly so that some people nearby heard.

"What do you know about Akatsuki?" Jiraiya demanded and gave the boy a big shake. "Surely, if you are the son of a member, you should know!"

Sasuke had watched this whole scene. He was gladthat he already sent the rest of Hebi away. He suppressed a groan as he watched the scene. Couldn't the boy be more subtle? Now he stepped forward to save Christo.

Jiraiya's frown deepened. "Your father is Itachi. You look just like him, and he's in Akatsuki."

"So what!" Christo yelled and swiped after Jiraiya again.

Sasuke froze for the second time that day.

Christo, the boy he'd come to actually care for, was Itachi's son.

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"Relax, Naruto." Sakura said in a soothing voice. "You'll never heal properly if you don't."

"Didn't you hear what I said? Yuri is Itachi's child! Yuri! The little innocent girl! And now she's been kidnapped by that bastard!" Naruto spat out.

"You heard Sakura. Relax."

Naruto and Sakura both looked up at the voice. The hospital door had opened and closed and someone stepped in. It was Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei! Yuri was kidnapped by Itachi!" Naruto flung the sheets on his bed to the other side of the room. "We gotta rescue her!"

"Shh, you're disturbing all the other patients." Kakashi immediately scolded. Then he sat down on a chair near Naruto's bed. "And, yes I know."

"Know about being Yuri being kidnapped or Itachi being Yuri's father?" Sakura asked. She had been in shock when Naruto had blurted that all out to her at first. But now she knew it was a time for action.

"Well, I was informed she was kidnapped and Naruto found unconscious by an ANBU who I met a minute ago. As for her father, I've known that for a while now." Kakashi braced for impact.

"YOU KNEW WHO HER FATHER WAS? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! I COULD'VE PROTECTED HER BETTER THEN!" was heard throughout the hospital.

Kakashi leaned comfortably in his chair. He sighed. "Calm down. What's done is done. The problem is getting her back. And finding the others."

"The others?" Sakura timidly inquired.

"Yes. Her half-siblings, Itachi's other children." Kakashi said. "They're probably in big danger already."

"Her sister!" Naruto was getting more and more excited. In the bad way. "A girl named Jooyeon who said she was Yuri's sister was with Itachi!"

"One down. Three others remain. Who and where are they?" Kakashi's brow was furrowed by this distressing new problem.

"They might come to Konoha." Naruto mused. Then suddenly he shot up. "But what about Yuri?"

"We'll find her somehow." Kakashi assured. "I promise."

Suddenly, the door burst open. A frenzied looking woman came in. Naruto gulped when he recognized her. It was Mrs. Scary Nurse back when Yuri was in the hospital. Oh great.

"Don't shout! And you medicine? Where could it be? Ohhh……" the nurse said. And Naruto knew he was in deep, deep trouble. He had to run out of the hospital if he was to survive this insane nurse.

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Yuki Uchiha was here in Konoha! Finally!

Everything had been a blur since the escape. He had pinky-promised Yuri that they would meet here when the others hadn't been looking. They didn't want bad-tempered Jooyeon to burn with jealousy again.

Yuki looked around in awe. He had never seen a place like this in his life. Most of his life had been with his single mother in a little civilian town near the outskirts of Sunagakure. (The Sand Village, if you guys don't know.) And the remainder had been in the Akatsuki hideout or traveling, both with his father and siblings and by himself.

Yuki felt a lump in his throat. He had wanted to meet up with Yuri along the road badly, but hadn't. He missed everyone, but Yuri most of all. Smart, comforting Yuri. His favorite sister and sibling.

Where would he go now? Yuri didn't know what to do next now that he was here. Go to an orphanage? Find the others if they were here?

Suddenly, an orange blur passed by Yuki. He blinked, unsure of what he saw. Then a tired and insane looking nurse came, running and shouting, "Come back!"

Wow. Konoha was really a weird place.

Yuki tried his best not to think of the past. Especially his beloved mother's death. The lump in his throat got even bigger as he thought of his gentle, smiling mother, who was so unmercifully slaughtered for no reason.

Or his time with Father. He hated it. Especially the maze games. Father tried his best to rouse competition among the five siblings. The maze game was one of them. Nobody wanted to be last to get out of the maze because it meant a severe punishment. And it was usually Jooyeon.

Poor, poor Jooyeon. Yuki always felt a pang of sympathy whenever thinking about her. Jooyeon's mother never loved her. She always said that jealously whenever the others talked about their moms. Jooyeon was always starved for affection.

Yuki hated his life back then, the maze games, his mother's death, and the harmful training their father imposed. The only thing that got him through was his siblings. It was a comfort knowing there were other people suffering through the same agony.

Yuri did not talk. She never talked. She communicated through hand signs, writing, or mouthing words. (Sharingan could read mouths, so it was really easy for them to understand each other.) She showed them her scars, so they understood she had it worse than any of them. (Most of the time they were covered in plain white bandages.) But Yuri and Yuki were an inseparable pair. Even their names sounded alike.

Yuki felt a sharp pain. Oh no. Not now. He fell to the floor and started taking long deep breaths. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Just like the way Mother had taught him.

But he started gasping for breath, like a fish out of water. He tried to force his trembling hands to get his inhaler, but couldn't.

That was his major flaw. They all had one. Christo was fixated on revenge, Yuri didn't talk, Jooyeon became easily enraged, and Jongo hated to hurt people. But Yuki had the worst one, weak lungs.

And Yuki knew he would fade from consciousness soon if he didn't breathe correctly.

Suddenly, he felt his inhaler being jammed into his mouth. Yuki took two deep, greedy breaths before looking up at his savior. A pink haired teenage girl.

"Thanks." he whispered.

"Your welcome." the girl replied. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Yuki shook his head fiercely. Then he thought of something else. "No. I'm looking for someone, though. Can you help me find out where she is?"

Suddenly, an odd expression dawned on the girl's face. "My name is Sakura. What's yours?"

Yuki merely shrugged and ignored the question. "I'm looking for a girl the same age as me and who looks like me. Two girls and two other boys, to be exact. They're my brothers and sisters. We said we would meet up here. Do you know where to go to find out where they are?"

Sakura stared at the boy and then said. "You should come with me."

Yuki nodded and followed.

"Are the names of the girls Yuri and Jooyeon?" Sakura asked.

Yuki nodded again. "Then they're here?"

Sakura sighed. "You should come and see the hokage. Follow me."

Yup, the end of another chapter. Finally, Yuki comes out! And yes, I took Yuki's name from Yuki from Fruits Basket. (They both have asthma attacks, you see.) Jongo and a certain someone else hasn't come out yet. And Sai (he was mentioned earlier just once, but never seen) will come out, if you guys are wondering, but much later.

I'm trying to update as fast as possible. I usually get one chapter finished everyday. However, don't expect it to pop up daily. Especially if school starts.

One last thing. Thank you for the reviews!