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Chapter 8

Signatures

"Said she, smiling coyly as she plucked from the vine,

Passionflower fruits, then sprigs of blue vervain,

'Were it as bitter as the medicine from purpled gentian,

would you bear it all once more to be with me on the mountain?'"

~The Second Book of Akash, Verse VIII

The twin shadows materialized into two cats. "You are quite loud, Naruto-kuuuuun," one purred.

"Sasuke-boy, it's been quite a while," mewed the other.

"Thank goodness!" Naruto sighed in relief as he recognized the two felines.

Sakura punched him in the shoulder. "Baka. Your girly-ass scream just busted one of my eardrums." Yuki silently rolled her eyes, as if to say, 'Really, Hokage-sama? You were scared half to death by a bunch of cats? Tch.'

"Denka, Hina. I brought you something." Sasuke, ignoring the bickering of his compatriots, took out a bottle of what was the equivalent of kitty sake; Denka snatched it greedily with his agile paws. "Right this way, Sasuke-boy!" they called as they moved like fluid shadows down the dark hallway. One of them purred, "Nekobaa will be happy to see you again, Sasuke-boy."

"Hn," Sasuke replied, masking the nervousness in his voice while playing with the hem of his garment. Sakura was the only one to notice Sasuke's loss of his iconic cool and grinned. I wonder what's eating him...

They finally made their way out of the dark hallway and into a more brightly lit room; Sakura blinked owlishly. It looks just like it did when we were twelve... The gray, dusty room was piled high with scrolls and weapons, all arranged in an idiosyncratic fashion. Some weapons, like kunai and katana, were familiar; others, like the miniature knives shaped like claws, were strange objects that she assumed were meant to be used by nin cats. In the center of it all was Nekobaa, sitting regally on an embroidered cushion and inhaling thoughtfully on her pipe.

"Sasuke-boy. Welcome back." She exhaled, a thin wisp of blue smoke curling around her gray hair; she squinted at her guests. "And these must be your old teammates, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan. But this one..." Her eyes traveled over to the towering, lean figure of Yuki, who met the old woman's steely gaze without flinching.

"This is my daughter, Uchiha Yuki." Sasuke introduced his daughter, who bowed politely.

"My, my." The ancient Granny Cat took another slow drag of her pipe as she contemplated the girl standing before her. "She looks just like you, Sasuke-boy." Nekobaa thought to herself, I wasn't expecting her to be so tall and serious looking...after all, my information tells me that Yuki-chan is only ten. Well, well, I wouldn't expect anything less of Sasuke's eldest kitten. Nekobaa mused with humor that most girls would be offended to hear they looked "just like" their fathers, and yet Yuki seemed to beam after hearing the remark. The elderly woman smiled softly.

"Hey, Old Cat Lady, is Tamaki-chan still here with you?" Naruto asked with his usual amount of suave.

Nekobaa chuckled at Naruto's inelegant phrasing; as if on cue, her granddaughter Tamaki emerged from the the back storage room. "Hello! Sasuke-kun! Naruto-kun! Sakura-chan! And..." Tamaki looked questioningly at their fourth guest.

"Yuki," the girl offered with a polite bow to the younger storekeeper.

"Ah! Yuki-chan! You must be Sasuke and Sakura's eldest daughter— I've heard so much about you!" Tamaki cried, a friendly grin plastered on her face.

Sakura knew the dreaded 'chan' honorific would throw Yuki into a dither; she nudged her daughter with her elbow, as if to say, 'We are guests here and you will remain polite. Not everyone is aware of your unconventional tastes in honorifics.' Yuki shot her mother an irritated glare before arranging her features to remain smooth.

Tamaki, noticing the scowl, misattributed its cause and began backpedaling, "Ah, I've only heard very good things! Um, that you graduated at the top of your class, and that you excel at fire jutsu..." The girl trailed off in uncertainty, but at Sakura's poking, Yuki smiled politely and responded, "Thank you."

Nekobaa snorted before exhaling slowly; the smoke billowed around her in a heavy cloud, and Naruto, who was standing nearby, coughed a bit from irritation. "So, Sasuke-boy...what brings you to the warehouse today?"

Sasuke bowed. "Yuki just graduated the academy; I thought it was time," he remarked evenly. But Sakura narrowed her eyes in thought as she looked at her husband: was it just her, or was he nervous? His body seemed more tense than usual, as if it took a concerted effort to retain his usual, apathetic demeanor.

"Are you sure that's wise? After all..." Nekobaa remarked cryptically, quizzically raising a gray eyebrow.

Sasuke exhaled sharply before replying, "I know. But it's tradition to sign the summoning contract after graduation. I'm hoping..." he trailed off uncertainly, and now it did not take Sakura's trained eyes to see that the Uchiha was uncomfortable with the situation.

The old woman smiled wryly and murmured, "This should be highly entertaining, Sasuke-boy. Tamaki-chan, be a dear and retrieve Sasuke's summoning scroll."

Tamaki gave the old lady a look that was somewhere between horror and dread. "Um...are you sure?" Nekobaa gave a sardonic chuckle before urging her granddaughter to go with a wave of her hand. With a tense bow, the girl squeaked, "Of course, grandmother!" before scurrying off to find the scroll.

Once Tamaki exited the room, Naruto and Sakura shared a meaningful look. Sakura could tell from the blond's tense, tight smile that he was not going to touch this situation with a proverbial ten foot pole. Naruto nodded his head, insinuating that Sakura should find out what was going on; with a resigned sigh, she turned her attention to Sasuke, whose posture radiated anxiety. "So...Sasuke," Sakura began haltingly, "That was a bit...um...esoteric."

Sasuke winced at Sakura's words. He took a moment to consider his options."You'll find out soon enough..." he finally muttered, opting to let her find out for herself. Why, oh why, did I ever agree to do this? Sasuke thought mournfully as Tamaki approached with his impending doom, otherwise known as the summoning scroll. Well, here goes...

Tamaki cleared off a nearby table and unrolled the scroll, revealing Sasuke's neat signature in blood, immediately preceded by Itachi's name in equally tidy handwriting. "Well, Sasuke-boy, maybe you should give Yuki a demonstration before she signs?" Nekobaa purred. Tamaki blanched and backed away slowly. Sasuke, reading underneath the underneath, understood what the old crone was trying to say: Ain't no way your daughter can sign this contract until you face the music.

With a reluctant sigh, Sasuke bit his thumb, made the appropriate hand-signs, and smacked his bloody hand down on the floor. Black scrolling runes spread out from his hand: suddenly there was a great puff of smoke, accompanied by an ominous growl. Sakura subconsciously placed herself in front of her daughter, as if to protect her. Yuki, impassive as always, seemed nonplussed at the startling turn of events.

"YOU HAVE A LOT OF NERVE SUMMONING ME, YOU DOG, YOU UNGRATEFUL GUTTER CUR!" The smoke cleared to reveal the towering figure of a dark feline who was nearly as tall as the rafters. Sakura paled, and some part of her mind idly thought, I suppose those are harsh insults, coming from a giant cat...

"Whoah, Sasuke must have done something really dumb to piss that cat off..." Naruto whispered as he and Sakura exchanged worried looks.

Sasuke gave a pained smile and began, "So... Um... Yeah..."

He was promptly swatted by a giant paw; thankfully, Sasuke had excellent reflexes and avoided the furry harbinger of death with one graceful leap.

"Amaya, please, calm down. I don't want you to destroy my warehouse," Nekobaa called serenely from her spot on the cushion, where she had calmly remained throughout all the excitement; judging from her wide grin, Sakura mused that Nekobaa was evidently enjoying the show.

Amaya brought her large head down to glower at the old woman. "Why was I summoned here? You know our kind doesn't want to deal with this fool any longer!"

Nekobaa smiled a toothy grin. "His daughter just graduated. It's time for her to sign. But I thought it would be better if you and Sasuke kissed and made up first."

Amaya made a face— Sakura thought it looked an awful lot like a human wince—"I'll never forgive that snake handler! That hawk lover! That summoner of dirty stinking cat devourers! Never!" she spat, then turned to glare at the object of her ire. "This bastard signed a contract with the cats first, then he went and signed contracts with two of the worst, snake-EATERS and feathered-HUNTERS! The amount of times he's summoned the cats, I can count on one paw— but snakes and hawks! Oh! Oh! OH!" She swatted at Sasuke again, who neatly dodged. "Now no one has summoned me or my kind in over a decade, and why? Because the last Uchiha turned out to be a cat HATER! Insufferable!"

"Amaya-sama, if it makes you feel any better, I no longer have my snake summons," Sasuke answered with some hope. It was true; Sasuke had lost the ability to handle snakes when Itachi had sucked the Orochimaru out of him during their final battle.

Amaya growled low in her throat. "That's supposed to make me feel better? That you killed your brother, the only one who remained a faithful cat summoner! If it weren't for Itachi-san, you'd still be the slave of the slithering ones!"

Sasuke's face fell, and behind him, Yuki paled— it was not common knowledge that Itachi had died at Sasuke's hand, and Sasuke certainly hadn't revealed this piece to Yuki earlier. At the academy they were taught that Itachi died of natural causes, from some kind of terminal illness! But apparently, that had turned out to be bullshit. How much information did otousan omit when he was telling me the so-called truth? Yuki thought with no small amount of irritation. Furthermore, what did Amaya mean when she said that if it weren't for Itachi, Sasuke would still be the servant of snakes? But she quickly smoothed her features to remain emotionless, and filed the information away for later; after all, if Amaya was going to be her summons, she could ask all the questions she wanted once she was accepted. Yuki turned to focus on the looming cat summons currently tormenting her father.

Sakura spared a glance at her daughter—they were going to need to do some damage control later— before she rolled her eyes at Sasuke's maladaptive handling of the situation. Sakura, of all people, knew that Sasuke was terrible at apologizing, so she broke in, "Amaya-sama, did you just say no one has summoned the cat summons in over a decade?" The giant black cat sniffed, then turned to face the pink headed medic. She merely growled at her in response, so Sakura continued, "I know Sasuke has been an idiot—" here Amaya nodded wisely, recognizing that at least the pink headed human had common sense— "but if you're looking for another Uchiha to sign a contract with, I can vouch for his daughter." Yuki shook her head at her mother's antics and stepped forward to meet the giant panther. She bowed politely.

Amaya stalked over and sniffed the young Uchiha. "What's your name, kitten?"

Yuki stiffened at being called a 'kitten', of all things, but decided to maintain her civilized demeanor in the face of the giant-and-potentially-violent feline. "Uchiha Yuki, Amaya-sama."

"You're Sasuke's brat?"

Yuki twitched at this. "Y-Yes."

"Do you play with snakes or predatory birds?"

"N-No ma'am."

Amaya swished her tail thoughtfully. "And why, pray tell, do you want to sign the summoning contract?"

Gulping audibly but otherwise maintaining her cool, Yuki stated, "I want to become worthy of being the heir to the Uchiha clan."

The oversized cat made a funny purring sound at this, which Yuki assumed was a throaty feline laugh; Amaya shrank down a few sizes until she was about as tall as a tiger. "Hum..." Amaya circled around the eldest Uchiha daughter in an almost predatory fashion, then sniffed her again. "Do you plan on contracting with any other summons?"

"Not without your express permission, Neko-sama!" Yuki replied hastily.

Said Neko-sama purred at this. "I suppose there is only one more thing to prove then before you sign..."

"Yes, Amaya-sama?"

"Let's spar." And with that, Yuki and the giant cat were gone in a poof of smoke.

"Sasuke! Where has that psycho cat taken my baby?" Sakura shouted indignantly.

Naruto grinned nervously and backed even further away from his pink headed friend with the anger management problem, who was currently focusing her frustration on her husband; her hand glowed with chakra, and she was aiming it towards Sasuke.

Nekobaa spoke up before Sakura had time to commit any acts of bodily harm, "No worries, Sakura-chan. This is standard procedure for the summoning cats. Your daughter will probably come back in one piece. Probably."

This did not reassure Sakura.

The pink-headed ninja exhaled slowly before turning to eye her husband once more. "You're going to have to tell her..."

"About Itachi..." Naruto finished for her.

Sasuke rubbed his temples in consternation. "I know. You two don't have to gang up on me," he snapped waspishly.

Nekobaa snorted. "You mean, she doesn't know? What do you teach your children in Konoha?" The old woman shook her head from side to side in disapproval before drawing on her pipe. When she breathed out, the smoke tickled Naruto's nose again, causing him to sneeze wildly. The Hokage was beginning to suspect that there was more than just tobacco in her pipe; he had never had such reactions to normal second hand smoke...

Sasuke sensed that Sakura was going to break into the conversation, and so he offered hurriedly, "It's not as simple as all that..."

"They know he was a double agent at the very least?" Nekobaa murmured.

"Yes," Sasuke replied, "but that's not the really troublesome part..."

Naruto wheezed from the other side of the room, "We didn't really want to teach kids...where the mangekyo sharingan comes from..."

Nekobaa nodded shrewdly, exhaling a long plume of smoke before softly saying, "You know...Sasuke-boy, you're the only Uchiha who has achieved the mangekyo without killing anyone, per se."

"What?" Sasuke asked sharply. He could feel his pulse racing at the old woman's insinuation. "What do you mean, per se?"

Languidly, Nekobaa explained, "Itachi wanted you to kill him for different objectives: he hoped that afterwards, you would return to Konoha as a hero..." She paused to breath in smoke, and when she spoke, the fumes billowed out over her words, "I'm sure he also wanted to finally come to justice for...what he did." She paused again, letting the meaning of her words sink in— and Sasuke paled, remembering his brother's bloody, smiling face after Sasuke had slain him, happy that finally, he could be released from his terrible, earthly burdens through death... Leaving Sasuke, once again, with the entire burden to bear.

"But," Nekobaa resumed after a pregnant pause, "You didn't actually receive the mangekyo through murder. Itachi implanted it in your forehead just before he died...it was a gift. And it wasn't his death that actually activated the doujutsu. It was your grief over his death, later on, that truly awakened it..."

Sasuke balled his hands into fists and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands, scoring red crescent marks into his skin. "You seem to have awfully good information, Nekobaa...but I...don't understand..."

Speaking slowly, Nekobaa reiterated, "Itachi gave you the mangekyo sharingan; and it was your grief that later activated it. I often think... I often think that Itachi planned for your mangekyo to awaken much later, perhaps when you were once again fighting for Konoha, and one of your friends inevitably fell in battle, the fate of any shinobi... And that death would lead you back, in your mind, to all the other deaths, and perhaps that would trigger..." Nekobaa trailed off, like the smoke on the end of her pipe. She cleared her throat and continued, "But who can say, really... In any event, when you tell Yuki about Itachi, you can simply tell her he died giving you a gift..." She blew out a plume of smoke and concluded, "And then there wouldn't be any need to tell her the...traditional methods of acquiring the mangekyo."

Sasuke's mind was reeling. He had never considered looking at his mangekyo from this perspective: was Nekobaa speaking the truth? But before Sasuke could think circles around himself, Naruto spoke up, "You know, Kakashi-sensei also activated a mangekyo sharingan... I wonder how...? He never talks about it..."

Nekobaa smiled and replied, "An astute observation. As I said before, Sasuke is the only Uchiha to have received the mangekyo without murder. I suspect that Kakashi somehow managed to trigger the mangekyo mechanism via reliving delayed grief, to the point where it became real, and present. But Kakashi's jutsu is weak for two reasons: one, he wasn't very close to Obito, genetically speaking, and two, because he didn't receive a fully developed sharingan in the first place."

"Whereas in Sasuke's case," Sakura breathed, her analytical mind picking up the thread of logic, "Itachi placed the potential for a highly developed mangekyo directly into Sasuke's optical nerves..." After working medically with Sasuke's nerves for years, Sakura could clearly see how this might be possible.

"Moreover," Nekobaa countered, "I believe that since Sasuke's mangekyo was a gift— in other words, the jutsu was given willingly— the sharingan was made even more powerful. After all, Sasuke-boy was able to use the jutsu many more times than Itachi ever could have..."

Sasuke had the strange sensation of vertigo at hearing this, and grabbed a nearby table for support.

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook himself out of his discomposure, and with effort regained his expressionless appearance. "Yes. I had just never thought about it...that way." Sakura placed her hands on his shoulders, but his muscles remained tightly compressed. She looked over at Naruto worriedly, who simply shrugged.

It was quiet in the warehouse, but all Sasuke could think about was his long dead brother, and the twin senses of dull grief, and the feeling that while one burden had been lifted, another had been set into place. So...that jutsu wasn't a direct result of Itachi's murder...but instead, his death served as a catalyst for awakening the potential of a highly developed mangekyo...which at this point, is really only splitting hairs. No, there was no absolution of his guilt here... But at least he could tell Yuki the truth about Itachi and circumvent the particulars of the mangekyo with more ease... However, this was not the only thing troubling him.

Sasuke had not been prepared to tell Yuki about how he had killed his older brother. It was something he felt overwhelming guilt over, even after all these years; even despite the fact that Itachi had wanted Sasuke to kill him. He, Uchiha Sasuke had murdered the last remaining member of his family: Sasuke was a murderer. Sasuke noted grimly that this made him less than an ideal parental role model, and he had no idea how to explain it to his daughter, in a way that she might understand... or at the very least, in a way so that she would not run away from him screaming.

"Sasuke?" Sakura prodded, after a long pause.

"Hn." Sasuke rose and pretended to be engrossed in exploring a piece of weaponry with his fingers, lost in thought.

Sakura looked over at Naruto, who motioned for her to let Sasuke be. She sighed; the atmosphere in the room was absolutely stifling. She let her eyes wander, and they fell onto the open summoning scroll, where Sasuke and Itachi's bloody signatures lay, side by side, like two fallen soldiers on a field of snow. She let out another sigh and spared a thought for Yuki, whose name would be the next to come after Sasuke's; Yuki, who was so eager to assert herself as the future of the Uchiha. Sakura only hoped that the girl could avoid carrying the heavy burdens of her father, that she could carve out a new future for the Uchiha that wasn't twisted with lies and trauma, but instead a reclamation, a rebirth...

Sakura looked over at Sasuke, whose back was turned towards them, and wondered what Sasuke was thinking. They had been married ten years, but sometimes, Sakura felt like she still didn't know him at all; that the man she knew as Sasuke was, at times, a pale transparent film overlaid with shadows and sheets of aged skin, that no light could ever shine through. A single tear ran down her cheek and fell onto her clasped hands resting in her lap. Because no one should have to bear a burden like that alone... And yet, Sasuke wouldn't allow anyone to help him...not even Sakura. In all their ten years of marriage, the subject of Itachi had been taboo; Sakura couldn't help but think that this was an unhealthy way of dealing with the past...

Sakura shook her head; she rose from the floor and began pacing, wondering when Yuki would return...

a/n

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