Chapter 17: Insanity

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Kishimoto-sensei in any way, shape or form, and I do not own the few Latin quotes that will pop out here and there. I however own the plot and the Ocs, as well as the description of some places and the characterization of some less-known characters in the original anime/manga.

Warning: There will be a bit of madness as the title might have told you (1379 words on a total of 7555, that's not bad right?), and… cannibalism, if you could call it that, and only barely, in the Getsumei section, but if it disturbs you you've been warned!

-Himei-

They appeared again in an empty corridor full of doors, some wooden, some obviously newer and reinforced with metal.

Himei shifted. She tapped silently a few bricks on the walls to her left then did the same to the door in front of her, and the air twisted, almost unnoticeably, and suddenly they were inside.

The room was small, with just the bare minimum a person would need. The walls were painted a dusty white and the furniture was made of black wood, with some shelves directly set into the walls. A small bed sat in the corner, trapped between the wall and a small desk littered with papers and scrolls. An open closet, full of black and white uniforms as well as extra sets of weapons, sat nearby.

Himei sighed and reached behind her head to remove the threads keeping her mask in place. It was then dropped carelessly on the recently acquired couch, the porcelain landing with a small dull sound that no one took notice of.

She tugged on her hair, freeing it of its tight ponytail, and left crimson bangs to hang over her left eye, then sat down on the empty bed. It was free of covers and blankets, as if no one had ever slept on it.

"Sasuke. What is it?" it came out, tired and raspy, and the raven tilted her head questioningly.

"Namikaze-san?"

"Aa," Naruto replied almost too carefully. "He's hard to handle, that man. Too perceptive for his own good."

Sasuke nodded and sat down beside her teammate. Her shoulders were still tense, but Naruto can see the relief in them, the remains of stress and something dangerous slowly leaking out, melting away. Her lips twitched upward, slightly, to form an indulging smile.

"You know, when it's only the two of us you don't have to be Getsumei, 'ke-chan."

A long silence was her answer. Finally tentative hands reached to remove the ever present mask. Naruto saw the slight trembling of Sasuke's arms, unnoticeable to most, and concern grew in her heart. What was troubling her friend?

Finally dark eyes met her own, dull and tired, but shining with something Naruto can't quite explain, and had seen only too often. It was thrill, to battle, to revenge; only that now there was a battle to fight with the mind, and a revenge that will be served only too cold.

"You know I hate it when you call me that, Hokage-sama."

Naruto bit her lips, not knowing what to say. Sasuke rarely addressed her so formally. It was always no more than idiot, dobe, because it just meant so much more than titles and fame and what they had become. It was a constancy that they had kept alive in the war-torn wasteland, for the sake of old times and fond memories, and Naruto didn't know what to do, not when Sasuke was serious but distressed, not when Sasuke chose to turn to her for help.

"…Report."

"I met him. My commander for this mission."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow, silently asking Sasuke to continue.

"General Hatake will be my commander for the next year. He's a busy man, but very powerful."

And Naruto froze, because she didn't know what to do. She'd seen pictures, in the Hokage tower, before Konoha was gone. She'd seen Kakashi's files, dug out of the ground, torn and dirtied after Pein's attack, and the one time she had been allowed into her old sensei's house she'd seen a picture, of a silver-haired man and a petite, pretty blond woman, standing together happily. Like father like son, and Kakashi was in all and everything similar to his father.

Another pause and Sasuke sighed in a rare display of frustration. "He looks like sensei."

And of course, for them, it will never be Kakashi who looked like someone, because he was unique, because no one can be like that man, live like him and die like him, refusing to go down without bringing a quarter of the Zetsu army with him.

She had seen the man, on her last mission. Knocked out at first, under a tree, and the unmasked face had almost made her cry because she had thought, hoped for all but a second, that Kakashi was back. But then he woke up, and helped them with Minato. And she had discovered that indeed, Sakumo wasn't and will never be Kakashi, because he was just that, different. Even if they both had been ANBU, even if they both had carried the code name Kiba, they weren't the same. And she held respect for the man, not because of Kakashi but because she was awed, at his ability to balance war and personality, to never change despite what goes on around him, and in that aspect he was very much like Kakashi. But Kakashi had already been changed, wounded forever by a war seen too early by the eyes of a child of barely eleven years old.

"Hatake-sama is troubled. Kaka – his son had been injured in the attack. He's restless. We will be deployed in two days, and… he fears for his son. The child has not awakened yet."

Naruto frowned. That was troubling news indeed.

"And… Hatake-sama is a very perceptive man. He may become troublesome in the future, just like Namikaze-san. We might have to take… drastic measures against him. Sandaime-sama will approve of a memory seal, I'm sure."

Naruto hesitated. A memory seal? Indeed that would be possible, but again if the older Hatake was anything like his son in the future… it might not be enough to hold him back. What to do? A man, any man like the White Fang is not one to be messed with, but what other choice do they have? Unless… a crazy idea entered Naruto's mind, clear as water yet with too many possibilities to count. But it would be more than helpful if they succeeded.

"Sasuke, instead what do you think of adding him to our plans?" Naruto asked, inspecting the raven's features closely.

The Uchiha frowned, a calculative glint in her eyes. "That will indeed make it easier… he will be a valuable asset for sure, but we cannot afford to tell him everything. Not yet. There is always the risk of him being captured in the war, and the knowledge of the future is something that we cannot diffuse, especially when Akatsuki is still an unknown. We don't know precisely when Yahiko had died before."

Naruto nodded. "Akatsuki can wait. Konan had already delivered my message by now, and I'm sure Nagato knows something. I will file in a request for an undercover mission in Ame with Sandaime-sama soon. Right now, as for General Hatake… One thing is for sure. His loyalty to Konoha is unquestionable. He will be a good informant in the war too, and if we have close ties with him we will by proxy gain the support of the Hatake clan, and gain more leverage against the Council. It'll undoubtedly be invaluable in the near future, if we plan on removing the old war hawk and Orochimaru."

Sasuke sat, pondering for a moment, before answering. "You're right, I could handle that. I will give him the details during the deployment, and it should be sufficient for him to be able to piece things together."

Naruto nodded. "Then be careful to not let things slip too much."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The redhead smiled again, a small, sad thing that Sasuke noticed and replied with one of her own rare smiles. "Now tell me about young Kakashi's injuries?"

Suddenly Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, a small twitch that Naruto was puzzled at, and confusion and dread made it on the raven's face before a blank mask was settled again.

"About that… Kakashi-sensei – sorry, Kakashi-san – has suffered severe blood loss from a puncture wound in his stomach and broken ribs that have pierced both his lungs… His left arm was dislocated and his left leg fractured."

Naruto winced in empathetic pain. Even for her, such intensive injuries would take more than one night of sleep to heal, not to mention how they hurt like a bitch. "Sasuke…"

The Uchiha nodded grimly. "Ahh... The medics said that he's stable for now. However, one stated that it was incredible for such a young child to survive after this. Apparently he should have died way before help reached him."

"Outside help then?" Naruto frowned. Indeed, even if Kakashi had always been a hard one to kill, he was still and only a child, a young soul in a sea of lost spirits. It was hard to admit but… with his current skills, as a Chuunin nonetheless, he should have died. The Konoha Hospital, with the sudden flood of patients within few hours and their limited staff, hadn't been much prepared at all and had only sent field-medics out toward the end of the invasion.

"Probably." Sasuke clenched her teeth in frustration. "Yet another unknown… We're starting to have too much to handle. First the war, then Namikaze, and Hatake too… And the Council as well. Then there's Ame, that thing that happened with Namikaze, and this Unknown… it's frustrating," she finished with the unexpected confession.

Naruto understood. Until now Sasuke had been the brain behind all their operations, yet it's been a month since they've been here and they haven't achieved anything. Sasuke… was probably angry at herself for not doing better. She carried the weight of the past already, and now, the future rested on her decisions as well, like a rock dragging her down into the depths of the ocean.

Perhaps it was time for Naruto to step in.

The redhead smirked. "I have an idea… but first."

Sasuke looked at the redhead questioningly, who replied with a smirk stretching her full, pale lips, wide enough to expose her sharp canines. Sasuke's gaze wandered to Naruto's eyes, and a shiver shook her as she unquestionably saw the darkened blue of her partner's eyes, turning into a deep, sharp shade of midnight cobalt.

Naruto, still staring into dark, obsidian orbs that were widened in surprise, caught the straps of her arm-guards and pulled, letting the porcelain land softly on the bed. She stretched her neck slowly, in a deliberate movement to seduce, and let her lips brush against the soft material of her black ANBU glove as she moved up her forearm. Finally she reached the tip of her fingers, biting into the artificial claws – that are more for decoration than anything else as her own claws are more than capable of tearing one's throat out – and pulled, the glove sliding smoothly off her arm.

The shock of white, slightly tanned skin against the black cloth was mesmerizing; and Sasuke was caught, staring at how strands of red hair like rivers of blood contrasted against the soft looking skin, how the black glove, taken off almost brutally, gave off a startling sensual glaze to the flesh it revealed.

"I'm a bit..."

Naruto reached out to Sasuke, her clawed fingers stroking gently the other's chin. She tilted the raven's head upward and guided her closer still, until they were pressed against each other and their chest plates gave a small clink as they collided. Still staring into Sasuke's eyes, Naruto let her hand glide downwards to a graceful neck; she let her fingers tangle themselves into inky hair, and pulling forward, she brought Sasuke into her embrace, burying her face in the crook where neck met shoulder.

"Sas'ke…" She breathed, and the Uchiha, as if startled out of a dream, shook violently.

"Just a bit… hungry…" And without further ado, Naruto bit down in the supple flesh.

She slid off the bed with a sigh.

After making sure that Sasuke was still slumbering deeply, Naruto picked up her gloves from the ground and pulled them back on, securing them with white bandages on her arms. She made sure to cover her left shoulder as well, where she knew her ANBU tattoo to reside, all black flames instead of the usual burning red, both carrying the same weight but all too different from each other. Her bare feet touched the wooden floor, exceedingly cold for a summer day but Naruto couldn't care less, too occupied by her own thoughts.

She absentmindedly clicked her forearm protectors back into place, shining a dull, bone white under the setting sun, and a part of her longed for the other uniform carefully sealed away in her wrist, because it would be so much easier to hide behind a false name and identity, and so much heavier of a burden to carry, but Naruto is used to such things and the lightness of the white armor seemed strangely out of place on her body.

Earlier she had received a summon from the Hokage, a minuscule scroll left in her pouch a fraction of second before the Sandaime had left to tend to his duties at the end of her shinobi assessment.

It wasn't much, a simple order to a meeting with full-gear and nothing else, but Naruto had learned to be wary of such things.

Already she was reaching for her mask left on her couch, and deft fingers tied the strings tightly behind her head, her red hair previously pulled back in a long plait thrown over her right shoulder. As usual she was armed to the teeth, fully able to take on anything even if there was no need to do so, but Naruto had learned early on that there was no such things as overly prepared.

With a last glance to her sleeping teammate, she turned back to throw a blanket over the curled body, earning a few grumbles, and silently slipped out of the window.

A small tap and the sizzle of a seal put into place was all she needed to seal off the shinobi-exclusive entrance, and in that same movement she left Naruto behind and Himei was born again.

-Minato-

After his newly acquired teammate had left with yet another unknown character, Minato slumped into his chair with a defeated sigh.

"Damn, and I thought I had it…"

A chuckle behind him almost made him jump out of his seat.

"What is it, Namikaze? Already unable to handle that new teammate of yours?"

The overly familiar and boisterous voice only aggravated Minato's mood, and with a grumble he turned away from the newcomer, a childish pout firmly in place.

"Get lost. I don't want to deal with you right now."

He was answered with the screech of a chair being dragged on the floor, and too soon for his taste the ANBU seated herself firmly across the table.

"What happened?" Because of course she had to see through him in a second. Minato stubbornly refused to answer her, and she sighed heavily before leaning forward, snitching his last piece of fried pork and munching on it gleefully.

She unceremoniously detached her mask and all but threw it on the table with a loud clang, but everyone else in the cafeteria ignored it, far too used to her antics.

"Come on, Namikaze. I know you enough by now to know when something's not right, and right now something's definitely wrong because I'm certainly not going blind-ttebane." That annoying verbal tick again, and Minato turned his raging eyes on her.

"What's wrong? You know what wrong? Goddamn everything! Because I just had to go on that stupid mission and gotten my team almost killed, and I can't even remember who the hell had saved me, and now I'm stuck with a teammate who's just so-so-argh!" By then Minato was nearly screaming and ready to tear his hairs out, loud enough to turn a few heads, his muscles tense and eyes blazing, but it didn't even faze Tsuki who just whistled, impressed at his outburst.

"Wow, Namikaze, didn't know you had it in you. But seriously, what's so wrong with that new ANBU? She looked pretty fine to me, if not a bit uptight-ttebane."

Tsuki, or rather one Uzumaki Kushina, was probably the only one able to talk like that to Namikaze Minato without having said man holding a kunai to her jugular. Because for all the composed attitude the blonde seemed to radiate he was very much like his mentor, a bit impulsive and cocky like Jiraiya but also very patient and gentle.

So Kushina had been very, very surprised to be greeted by the sight of a disappearing, unknown pair of ANBU and a Minato who looked like a deer in headlights upon her return to the Headquarters. She's been stuck in the hospital for a good two weeks now, only released an hour ago, and even if her best friend who also happened to be on Minato's team, Nekomata, had told her a highly lengthened and entertaining 'summary' of the rumored shinobi assessment that happened mere hours ago, Kushina was still curious about the new duo.

Only a passing glance to the new ANBU had almost left her shivering, the air around them compressed into a nauseating ball of dangerousness and suffocating killing intent, but at the same time it had been so faint and the encounter so brief she almost wondered if she hadn't dreamt it up.

But another glance towards the Namikaze and all her worries had been erased, replaced by curiosity and delighted contemplation, because he'd always been a mystery and was uncharacteristically frowning, lines sketched deep into his skin as if pondering over some inexplicable matters.

"Himei, wasn't it? I heard she handled you your ass over a silver platter earlier. The ground shook all the way to the waiting room in the hospital. Are you perhaps upset it for finally being beaten into the ground by a girl?" The redhead asked again, and didn't even wince at her own lack of tact.

Minato didn't bother to turn his gaze away from her, and she could see that the blue of his eyes were clearer – still a bit unfocused as if far away, but he was definitely paying attention now, and had calmed down considerably during her internal monologue.

"No, no, that's not… No, we weren't even close to evenly matched. It was… brutal. Quick. And I hadn't had so much fun in a while." A wry smile made its way on Minato's features. "It was a plain old beating. With me on the losing side," he admitted, and Kushina watched him with widened eyes because, never, ever, had the man before her conceded to defeat without shouting for a rematch. Actually, she had never heard him losing even once, not even to Jiraiya whom he had beaten upon his Seal Mastery, so it wasn't hard to understand that she listened to the rest with rapt attention.

"Himei is… hard to follow. Not in the skill department, because that much was already clear after our spar. She's… puzzling, if I had to say. Incredibly dangerous. During our match she had been fierce, bloodthirsty. She had called me nestling. Could you believe that?" Minato chuckled. "It was infuriating. She led me on, never once overwhelming me but just out of reach enough to make me go mad. She succeeded rather well, too." Yet another reluctant admission, and Kushina was awed, already admiring whoever Himei was to be able to drive one of the calmest shinobi, like, ever, up a wall and make him jump down without lifting a finger.

"It was unfair. A triple jutsu combination and switching around with Kage bunshins, and I was done for. Couldn't have even seen it coming. She was toying with me, I'm sure of it."

Kushina didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent for once and let Minato continue.

"But the next minute she had me on the ground and her chakra in my system, and healing whatever injuries she had rained on me. All the way laughing and smiling and not a hint of sarcasm in her tone, and it's…"

"Unsettling." Kushina finished for him, and Minato nodded. "Yeah. Dangerous, like I said. But somehow I can't leave it alone. That other ANBU, Getsumei. Getsumei and Himei, they seem to have known each other for quite some time. But, for some reason they just seem so out of place."

"And you just had to be the good Samaritan as always, didn't you?" Minato ducked his head and scratched his cheek, flushing in embarrassment.

"I just… They looked so lonely, I had to do something. It's terrible to be like that when they couldn't be much older than we are."

Kushina smirked at that, playful with an undertone of teasing wickedness. "Seriously, Namikaze, if I hadn't known you for all those years I would have said that you're in love." She watched, satisfied, as the blonde ANBU spluttered, eyes wide and red coloring his cheeks all the way to his ears. It was gleefully pleasant to wrench such reactions from him, rare as they are.

Suddenly Minato tensed, a hand slapping over his left shoulder, and Kushina's fun ended right there. She sighed and leaned back into her chair as she stole another piece of meat from the other ANBU's plate. It seemed like he won't be eating the rest anyway.

"A summon? Then you better go. Seems urgent." She said after swallowing, and her answer was a stressed nod before wind picked up, chakra flaring and he disappeared.

"Sake night better be good," Kushina grumbled, now alone at the desk, "Or someone's going to pay for stealing my fun."

-Himei-

The trip to the Hokage tower had taken no more than five minutes.

Himei could have Shunshin-ed directly to the office, ran there in a span of thirty seconds, but she had opted for the slow, meaningless travel. To the untrained eye she was a passing blur, gone with the wind, but to many she was only a shinobi with a goal set in her mind, and both were right yet wrong because for Himei it wasn't anything more than a leisurely pace.

A soft wind blew past her, sweeping up her braid and loosening a few locks of crimson hair, and she let the air slide around her, swooping up leaves and dirt and the last bit of sunshine. It danced, adding a spring to her steps, and if she wanted she could have made it tangle with her feet and sweep her off the rooftops but she resisted the urge.

It was a rare chance for her, to really look at Konoha for the first time since her return to the past, and it was both heartwarming and a wrenching kind of pain that tore at her chest. The voices reaching her from the streets was something she was still accustomed to despite the years or fighting and running away, and it was slightly strange but also achingly familiar to spot children running between their parents' legs and vendors yelling the names of their merchandise. Black, red and brown tiles clacked under her feet as she ran past the market, crossing path with the occasional shinobi or patrolling ANBU, laughter ringing in her ears and cries in her chest.

A month into the past already, and Himei thought with a nostalgic smile that it hadn't done much for her state of mind.

Even if there was no one now threatening to break into her mind and to tear her apart from the inside, she was still the same broken person, the same lost soul with almost no one left at her side. Knowing they still had a second chance did make it better, but that was without counting all the familiar faces that were now exceedingly young and those who don't exist at all, not yet, perhaps never. Often Himei would find herself walking toward a place and find in its stead empty grounds and old buildings, or look at a street and remember another one too similar but older and much livelier.

Once she had gazed into the faces of a pair of Chuunin and been reminded of a small boy in her first graduating class, who had been third of their year and at the top of the casualty list after Madara's first raid.

Another time she had stumbled upon a small bakery with a scent she could never forget, not when the young woman at the door and the loaf of bread in her hands were the splitting image of the old lady who used to feed her when she had lived on the streets.

And every time she thought of the past – or a future that no longer exists – she would reminisce about when she had been Uzumaki Naruto, Genin and Hokage candidate, still very much male and oblivious to the affection of a Hinata who had only recently grown out of her timidity – and Himei would think of Hinata smiling, of Hinata dancing, of Hinata and Neji and their Juken, of Hinata and her strength and Hinata and rain and red laced with the scent of fading violets, of red and rain and tears and blood so much blood-

Himei stopped, a millisecond shy of stepping right through a roof.

It probably wasn't healthy to be so obsessed, the redhead mused, but at the same time she wouldn't ever want this cold rage to leave.

Or she wouldn't have anything to run on.

There wouldn't be anything left to reign in the hate, the emptiness, or the kunai she held in her sleep more for herself than for defense.

But there was no more time to think as her feet grazed a newly painted wall and her chakra lashed out, sticking to the vertical surface as she ran up and spotted the time-worn windowsill. It wasn't long before her sandals brushed the weathered wood, and with a flare of chakra deactivated the seals inscribed into the walls.

She slid into the room fluidly, slightly careless with the Hokage already aware of her presence, and flipped over a pile of paperwork before landing right before the Sandaime's desk. The Chuunin beside her almost jumped out of his skin, and Himei noted with a small grin that the wide-eyed man was the same one she had terrorized over a week ago.

Sarutobi barely glanced up from his scroll. "Himei."

"Reporting, Hokage-sama," she replied with a bow, crouching down and a knee on the floor.

The older man nodded and waved his hand at his assistant, dismissing him with a gentle smile in place. The Chuunin hurried out of the room and closed the door with a loud clang, and Himei smiled under her mask at the thoughtless show of panic.

The Hokage shook his head, amused, and brought his pipe to his lips. "The poor boy, he's been terrified of you since last time."

"Wouldn't do much harm to him anyway, it's always good to have a healthy dose of fear for those stronger than you. He would live longer that way," the redhead explained, bitterness in her tone but also very much entertained.

Sarutobi took a long drag of his pipe and exhaled, repeating the motion several times before placing it back on its holder. At the same time four luminescent walls rose from the ground and met at the ceiling in a rounded dome, encasing the room in a silencing barrier.

Himei didn't even tense at the sudden movement, having already sensed the chakra before the activation of the seals.

"Now, please understand that under no circumstances shall I inquire about the future. However," the Hokage began, "I am curious as to how you will handle matters from now on. I need a full report if I am to offer my support."

A gleam in his eyes told Himei what she needed to know. For his old age Sarutobi Hiruzen was no fool, never one to rush blindly into things as she had done once, and he wasn't about to begin now. He was careful and calculating, wise despite what his smiles may tell, and Himei wasn't stupid enough to fall under his spell.

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." She'll play along for now, because she needed the help and the Hokage had slim chances of double crossing her.

"Our plans start with the Third Shinobi War. It is quite unfortunate that the Council has separated Getsumei from me, but it wouldn't hinder us. On the contrary, it would be much easier for us to work separately. I cannot tell you much right now, but be aware that the disasters of the future take their roots both inside and outside Konoha."

The Hokage rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back, taking a few steps behind his table. He did not take his eyes off Himei, all seriousness and an undertone of pressuring that comes with experience.

"You mean to tell me that we have rats in our den?"

Himei bit her lower lip, feeling the heavy gaze on her but refusing to submit. "Perhaps not… now, but soon. I'd rather get rid of them in the next year before it could develop into anything."

She had the presentiment this questioning meant more than the Hokage let on, but for her life she couldn't begin to guess what it was.

"I see," Sarutobi agreed, "then I give you full permission to… clean them. Smoke them out. Leave no signs behind."

"Understood." Himei relaxed a little as the Sandaime's eyes wandered to the opened windows, watching the busy streets below as the sun descended behind the horizon.

"I assume Getsumei will be working on outside matters?" He asked, and Himei nodded, unsure as to where this conversation was leading.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We discussed this earlier and decided to bring General Hatake into our… plans. With your permission of course." She felt sweat at her brow, and frowned. The ambiance was tense, unlike a simple reporting but not quite an interrogation, and it made her uneasy.

The Sandaime paced around the room, deep in thought, gaze flickering back to her once in a while. The silence seemed to stretch on for minutes before Sarutobi finally answered. "Permission granted."

Himei released a breath she didn't know she was holding, the tension bleeding out like a river.

"I thank you for your kindness, Hokage-sama." The mood between them suddenly shifted, no longer strained, as if the Hokage got what he wanted and was satisfied enough to let her off easy.

"No need," Sarutobi said as he waved his hand, "It is my duty to help a fellow comrade." He sat back down into his chair and urged Himei to stand up. "Besides, all that was for my own convenience. I've already given you full authority as my second in command."

Himei gasped, surprised at the choice of words. "Hokage-sama!"

The older man laughed and pulled back his sleeve, revealing an intricate seal on his left wrist. It was brown with the shades of the Earth and the pale blue of water, and Himei marveled at the sight.

"This, I had received it from Tobirama-sensei upon my nomination as Third Hokage. You understand, don't you? As someone who bears the same burden, I mean." Himei gaped at the blatant admission, hand reaching for her own wrist where she knew a similar seal to reside. But hers was of blood red and green curling vines, and a touch of wind engraved in silver.

"I might not have officially named you the Fourth, but it doesn't hold any less meaning." Because while the seal was usually applied to an ANBU commander it was also the unnamed requirement to being Hokage candidate, and Himei thought she may faint as her feet refused to obey her, holding on the nearest chair to not fall on the floor.

"Bu-but…"

The Sandaime only laughed at her expense. "Use that power well, Himei. Don't make me regret my decision."

The redhead only stared, dumbfounded, and heard distantly a booming laughter in her mind.

'The old geezer got you good, kit.'

'Shu-shut up, Kurama! I'm trying to think.'

The Kyubi only chuckled, and Himei grumbled under her breath.

A few deep breaths later and she was back on her feet, still wobbling a little, and her mind in pandemonium as she tried to make sense of what just happened. The Hokage had changed her seal once she'd revealed her identity, but at that time she had thought it was only to make sure of her loyalty and to keep track of her movements, because it is always safer to keep your enemies closer, and she never thought it was, it was…

This, and just as she was giddy she was pained, because the last time she had accepted such responsibility it had been among corpses and battles with no time to adjust. But this time she had a second change to right the wrongs, taken in the process what was rightfully Namikaze Minato's, and Himei didn't know what to think.

A part of her wanted to refuse, to keep things as close as they had been in her reality, but… Himei couldn't, and deeply she knew that this job was hers.

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

She will do it right.

Suddenly a chakra flared seconds away, and Himei didn't even have the time to protest before the blue barrier was taken down and a figure appeared at the center of the room, ANBU mask in place.

"C-captain?"

Hummingbird seemed just as startled as she was, and unbeknown to each other they both turned raging stares to the Hokage. The small smile on Sarutobi's face indicated he was as unrepentant as ever.

"Ahh, Hachidori. Right on time."

Himei seethed under her mask, baring her fangs and hissing in outrage.

'He planned for this?'

"Hokage-sama," Hummingbird acknowledged, "And… Himei-san."

'The brat seems eager to see you.'

'Eager? Are you blind? He paused! He paused before my name! He totally hates me now!'

'Say what you will. You're too young to understand half the things I see.'

Himei twitched angrily. 'What's that even supposed to mean!'

However, her inner discussion was interrupted by the Hokage, who handed a scroll to both of them.

"I have a mission for you."

Himei blinked, surprised. "Already? But I thought we were on leave until Friday."

"That was the original plans, but one of the patrol teams scheduled for tonight was delayed on their mission and can't make it back in time. I trust that you already know the drill?"

Hachidori nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama." He glanced at Himei, and for a second the redhead thought she saw something flicker in Minato's eyes, but soon he turned back and it disappeared. He untied the chakra strings and opened the scroll with ease, scanned over the mission details before passing the paper to Himei.

She took the scroll, careful to keep her eyes down and not meeting the other's inquisitive stare, ignoring the brush of their fingers and how Hachidori's grip lingered longer than needed.

It was an easy mission, nothing more than a few hours of night patrol inside the village in the merchant district, and hopefully Hummingbird wouldn't have the time to question her too much.

But of course, when she gave back the scroll, the glint in his eyes crushed that hope mercilessly. An air of awkwardness hung between them and she turned back to the Hokage, trying to ignore than man beside her.

"Is that all, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, you may leave."

She was gone within the blink of an eye, not leaving enough time for Hachidori to even follow her trail, and the blonde slumped in defeat before leaving in a Shunshin. Sarutobi watched their interaction with a fond smile on his face before turning back to the piles of paperwork, ever-present on his desk.

-Getsumei-

When Sasuke woke up, it was to a dark room and the soft breeze flowing in from the window, yells in her mind and a scream at her throat.

She blinked, still sluggish, and stretched out her arms above her head, trying to get rid of the kinks in her muscles. The raven winced at the sharp thug on her shoulder, and kicked off the blanket. A glance around the room and she was up, bare feet against the cold floor yet not shivering, and ventured into the bathroom.

She reached the sink and twisted open the faucet, letting the cool water wet her fingers. The frigid liquid was a shock against her warm skin, but she kept her hands there, feeling her mind clearing up. After she deemed herself awake enough, she splashed the water on her face, making quick work of the sweat clinging to her skin. Raising her head to look at the mirror, her reflection stared back at her, ominous in the dark, sleepless rings under her eyes and hair disheveled, the skin on her neck pink and slightly raw where her high collar was rolled down.

Sasuke pressed down on that spot with a finger, feeling the cold calm a bit the ache. She frowned.

It was exceedingly warm.

She exited from the bathroom, thoughts clear and limbs finally responding correctly, and she spotted her ANBU mask on the nightstand beside the bed. The raven popped down on the couch, leaning back until her back was pressed against the soft cushions, an arm over her eyes and lips pressed into a thin line.

It wasn't rare for her to wake up from a nightmare, and today wasn't any different.

However it's been a long, long time since there hasn't been a blonde by her side, comforting her despite how much unneeded it was, and Sasuke isn't used to this anymore, waking up in cold sweat and pretending that everything is fine, grasping for her dreams without a hand to steady her.

It's… unsettling, even as Sasuke would deny it with all her might, because once she'd been used to cold nights and lonely hopes, but now there's Naruto and she may not be dependent but is still very much relying on the other.

Now that her Hokage isn't here, there's nothing stopping her from thinking back, from sinking once again into her mind, into the deep abysses and cracks in the scorched ground of her mindscape. They pull her down, with all the weight of twelve years of fighting and death and hatred, and suddenly the graves are crying out, calling her back, and Sasuke can't stop falling.

She now faced the double doors of her mindscape, badly scratched and barely hanging on its hinges, and she pushes forward, already knowing what awaits her at the other side. Inside is a borderless wasteland, uprooted trees and the stench of blood permeating the air, the sky a starless black and the moon glowing red.

Shadows seemed to linger, their bodiless forms dragging on the earth, mutilated faces frozen in expressions of sorrow and anger. They grabbed her, tore at her clothing, but Sasuke walked right past them, stubbornly keeping her gaze away. It wasn't long before the first grave greeted her, and then the muttering grew eightfold, before a low buzzing and now all but screeching in her ears. It would be impossible to ignore for one unused to such sceneries, but Sasuke had already lived far more to let it bother her, and not even once did she stop. She knew she would only find on the weathered stones blurred memories and names of people she had once called comrades, bordering on friends because of her efforts to keep them away, and it didn't cut as deep as they did to Naruto because Sasuke had distanced herself long before she even came to know them.

And abruptly she pauses, because hanging from a low branch is a black coat and pieces of white clouds, and it was a grumbling from the Earth, an unknown name but Sasuke knew, because only this tree had been marked with a swirling three-branched shuriken and the nest of an unseen crow.

Because this is Itachi, a man she loved for all she has hated him, and it's shredding her heart all over again even after all those years.

Sasuke blinks, taking in the hand on her ankle and the pull at her shirt, the disfigured corpses at her feet and their sharp teeth sinking into her flesh – just like Naruto, but so, so different – and she chuckles dryly, mockingly, before it blooms into a full laughter and resonates on unseen surfaces.

The moon winks at the raven, and it's no longer shining red but the red stars of Sasuke's Mangekyo, and she laughs, clutching at her stomach even as the undead of her mind pull her to the ground, devouring and tearing her apart and Sasuke couldn't care less. The moon swirls, the same pattern as her eyes; a tug and she comes apart, savagely taken and consumed, and she felt her senses fading even as fingers dug into her opened chest and her eyes and killing her in the most gruesome ways.

It took all but a second for her to reform again outside the double gates, and another for her to feel the sweat on her brow and the hands pulling at her hair and the screams dying from her throat.

It couldn't possibly be sane, Sasuke mused. It was dementia in its purest form and she knew, oh she knew, but she can't stop. Venturing into her mind late at night and being destroyed, devoured, pulled apart into so, so many pieces by the images of those she had once betrayed, and it hurt and scratched at her but it was small comfort to battle against her guilt.

Sasuke blinks, and it's back all over again, the hands at her throat and the fingers in her eyes and the hands tugging at her insides, squeezing her heart until it stopped and the teeth sinking into her limbs – and she wanted to scream again, to cry out and to yell from the exquisite pain and the meaninglessness of it all and Sasuke is falling, falling and falling and she's laughing and it's making an insane kind of sense.

Hands clawed at her face, and she doesn't know if they're a remnant of her visit or her own and she tastes blood on her tongue, tangy and coppery but deliciously sweet. Something yells in her ears and she's too dazed to understand, she's shaking and breaking and there's a hand around her and under and it took a second for her to be pressed against something soft and buried into a bundle of warm fur and sunlight.

It's closer this time, a yell that sounded angry and something Sasuke couldn't understand, and it's right beside her ear but she couldn't think because she's strangely warm. Someone is holding her, she realizes with a shiver, and she pushed and pushed but the grip wasn't loosening in the least.

"Sasuke!"

Again, and she blinks, as if startled.

"Sasuke! Calm down!"

She's met with brilliant red a shade darker than blood, but she frowns, because it smells of burnt leaves and summer breeze with the undertone of metal but it was also warm fur, and it was incredibly familiar if not of the wrong coloring.

A hand is stroking her back, small than she remembered it to be, with all the right callouses but softer, and it kneads her muscles in all the right ways until she sags into the waiting arms.

Something is muttered by her ear again, sounding like a warning or a promise but Sasuke has grown wary of such things, and long fingers tug at the collar of her shirt. She absentmindedly noted the soft brush of warm skin against her sweaty neck, nowhere close to strangling her, and she closed her eyes.

Only to open them again in pained surprise as sharp canines sank into her flesh, a gasp escaping her lips and her hands tangled into hair the tone of raging flames. And she was too dignified to yell but still tugged and tore at the other's clothing, trying to get away, but she was much too dizzy to cause much harm. Still Sasuke's nails dug into the other's clothed arms, hard enough to pierce skin and draw blood, but the other made no movement to back down. She felt the surge of blood into her cheeks, up her neck and down her arms, eyes blurry and a coldness on her face drying, and Sasuke noticed that she had been crying.

She looked down to the mess of red strands in her hands, a plait half undone and loose hairs between her fingers, and she almost jumps at the assault of memories.

Sasuke opened her mouth to talk, but only came out a croaky sound, and she frowned, clearing her throat before trying again. "Na-naruto." It was still inaudible at best but the jerk of the fangs in her shoulder indicated the redhead had heard.

"Naruto, w-what…?"

A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine as Naruto pulled out her canines, lips painted red with blood, and she stared into the Uchiha's eyes for a second before embracing the raven into a tight hug.

"Shhh… Sasuke, it's okay. It's okay, I'm here." It sounded somewhat cheesy and stupid but Sasuke could barely talk, only understanding the muttered words halfway, but what caught her attention was the tone a pitch too low and the overwhelming grief flowing from Naruto's entire being.

Somehow she could comprehend if only a little, even as it left her puzzled as to why the other would feel pain over Sasuke's own mess, but it was Naruto and perhaps that alone was enough of an explanation.

"I'm here, Sasuke, I'm here, so it's okay."

And maybe it wasn't what the redhead had meant, but Sasuke leans in and hugs back anyway as new tears rolled down her cheeks.

"It's okay."

A/N: Oh. My. God. This is finally done :D

It took me a long time to start, but really after I did I spent three afternoons on it and it's out!