a/n Hi friends! Welcome back to this fic! Well, today has been a really lovely and mellow birthday; I slept in late, had breakfast with friends, and played in the snow. And now, le fanfic. Good times, good times:)

Things have been busy for both me and my beta, so it looks like I'll be updating about every two weeks. I worked really hard on this chapter (I think I've gone through it about ten times, no joke) and I'm really pleased with how it came out. I do hope you will enjoy it!

Special thanks to Uchiha.S who is my awesome beta! Thanks also to my wonderful readers and reviewers for their PM's and reviews; you guys make my day.

I've been getting some really great constructive criticism about this fic, which is thrilling. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you think this story could be improved! I want to make this fic enjoyable for all my wonderful readers!

Anyways, enjoy! And sorry for the false update; ff net was being lame T-T

Published to "Your Long Journey" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant

Chapter 24: Gifts

So the lady and I, we traveled south,

To the Mountains of the Aether;

And there we build a home,

Among the wild roses and the heather.

~The First Book of Akash, Verse XI

Yuki struck a defensive position and waited for Tadashi to attack. He hesitated at first, then flew at her like a rabid bird—not that she had a problem defending herself against the jerk. No, she would never admit to that. She might say that he gave her a run for her money, but overall, she was still extremely confident, even as the match wore on.

Yuki wished she could have spared a look at Cho, but she had to trust that her teammate was preparing her part of the plan. She dared not look away from Tadashi, whose furious fists increased in ferocity as the match wore on.

According to the plan, Yuki was supposed to stick to defense. But when Yuki started thinking about what Tadashi had said about Ryuu-kun—about how the Ryuu had been a bad influence on her—Yuki began to lose her patience. Yuki did not take kindly to affronts on her own person, but when they were combined with insults about her dead teammate? That was unforgivable.

Some might have said that Yuki was overreacting, but Yuki would have told anyone who stated this to go fuck themselves. How dare a new, supposed teammate look down the bridge of his aristocratic nose upon Ryuu? Ryuu-kun saved my life...he's a million times the ninja this punk will ever be... And with that thought, Yuki delivered a particularly devastating kick to Tadashi's abdomen.

Startled, Tadashi grunted and jumped back, clutching his stomach. Konohamaru was about to call off the match, but Tadashi waved his hand. "I'm—ah—fine," he managed between gulping breaths. "Let's keep—ah—going."

Yuki smiled—not a polite grin, but a feral showing of teeth. "Sure," she murmured.

Their sensei hesitated a moment before nodding.

Yuki went back to playing defense—after all, it wouldn't do any good to hit Tadashi with another rib-cracking kick before their plan had come to fruition. Just as Yuki was losing her cool, she heard the ringing screech of a hawk swooping down over their heads. Yuki whipped out her ninja wire while Tadashi was distracted by the bird and bound the poor boy with ease. Now that was too easy. Guess graduating early from the academy wasn't the best idea, was it Tadashi-kuuuun?

Tadashi hit the earth with a loud thud. Before he had time to register what had happened, the bird swooped down, perched on his head, and took a decidedly large shit all over his perfectly groomed hair before alighting again. There was a moment of stunned silence.

Tadashi blinked.

Then, Tadashi—genius of the Hyuga clan—began to cry like a little girl.

Yuki noted out of the corner of her eye that Cho was leaning up against a tree and smiling broadly; Cho caught her gaze and gave her a weary thumbs up. That mind-body transfer jutsu sure comes in handy. Well, I guess that's Team Kunoichi one, Tadashi a big, fat zero.

Afterwards, Cho would tell Yuki that she felt kind of bad about the whole thing—especially after their sensei's lecture, when Konohamaru had figured out what they had been up to—but right then, as Yuki watched Tadashi bawl his eyes out...

It was a priceless moment.

Sasuke was panting heavily. Perhaps he wasn't in the best of shape, or maybe the cat summons were stronger than he remembered; in any event, he was growing weary of the fight. Naruto, on the other hand, had barely broken a sweat. But then again, Naruto's opponent, the young cat Tama, seemed to be going easy on him. Shit...

Amaya noted Sasuke's fatigue and ventured, "Are you ready to turn back yet, Sasuke-chan?"

That got his blood boiling. "What?" he spat. "I won't be finished until I show you who is the master and who is the pet!"

Amaya's eyes narrowed. "Pet, eh?" If cats could crack their knuckles, Sasuke swore that was precisely what Amaya did with her paws. "Neko arts—ghostly fire jutsu!"

"Fire release—fire ball jutsu!"

Sasuke's nostrils were filled with the stench of burning hair, but whether it was solely human or feline, he was not certain. Sasuke coughed, and waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, it revealed the form of a partially singed panther. Up until this point, the two had only been using taijutsu moves; Sasuke supposed that he and Amaya were now officially finished with going easy on each other.

Amaya grimaced, and suddenly the world lurched; Amaya's form disappeared, and instead, a flock of crows flapped wildly about his head.

Genjutsu... It had been quite some time since he had been placed under a visual genjutsu; still, Sasuke had been one of the best genjutsu users in his day. He hoped his skill with illusion hadn't decayed too much with old age and a decade of blindness.

"Kai!" Sasuke shouted. However, the illusion remained.

A voice called, seemingly coming from all directions at once, "Turn back, Sasuke-kun." The velvety cool tones sounded all too familiar; he recognized it as his brother's own voice, even if Itachi himself was nowhere in sight.

"Amaya! How dare you use Itachi's voice in your damned genjutsu!"

The repugnance of the situation came over Sasuke then. Didn't Amaya see that it was imperative for them to gather more information on Ryuu's killer, Yuki's potential abductor? Who the fuck was controlling the summons? And to add insult to injury, he was stuck inside a genjutsu with the voice of his long dead brother ringing in his ears—the brother he had killed with his own two hands to gain newfound sight, all those many years ago.

Perhaps it was desperation, or rage, or indignation, or simply madness—perhaps all three. All Sasuke knew was that a roar left his lips as he gathered chakra into his system. If he managed to disrupt the flow of chakra in his body with a huge surge, the illusion would be broken. And so he collected all the power in his body he could muster—

Except that as his chakra network became flooded with energy, the vessels leading up to his eyes suddenly lit up like a match torching dry tinder.

His roar of defiance became a howl of pain, as his ocular circuitry became overwhelmed—his nerves burned and he sank to his knees, clutching at his eyes. He dimly noted that blood was trickling down his face before he blacked out completely.

Sasuke awoke with a groan. He tried to blink, but there were bandages over his eyes; he was bathed in darkness, and he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that his throat was parched.

He molded sensory chakra and searched, but his reserves were too low; all he received in his mind's eye was a fuzzy picture of his surroundings. He raised a shaky arm and blindly cast about for any clue as to where he was when suddenly, a warm hand caught his own.

"Thank goodness," a weary voice breathed.

"Naruto?"

"None other. How are you feeling?"

"Water."

Naruto rolled his eyes and handed the Uchiha a plastic cup of water. "Idiot, what kind of answer is that? You can't be feeling water."

Sasuke ignored him and chugged the water. After finishing the cup with a satisfied, "ah," he raised a hand up to his face, realizing it was still sticky with sweat and dried blood. "Where—"

"Konoha hospital."

"What—"

"You started hemorrhaging out of your eye sockets."

"Oh." Sasuke placed the cup down on what he assumed was a nightstand and sank back into his pillows. "The mission?"

Naruto shook his head. "Aborted for now. Though I'll probably send Shino and company out tomorrow..."

Sasuke winced. "Shit. I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." Naruto placed a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay."

There was a long pause before Naruto continued, "Also…I hirashined to the old Uchiha warehouse—I wanted to ask Nekobaa some questions. I hope you're not mad…"

"What did she say?" Normally, Sasuke would have been irate if Naruto had gone to the Uchiha warehouse without his permission; but, things being what they were, Sasuke didn't care about formalities. He just wanted answers.

"The Nekobaa—she wasn't there. The whole warehouse was…gone," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke exhaled sharply. He could have figured as much: the cat summons had had plenty of time to warn the Nekobaa to make a run for it. She had obviously been in cahoots with the summons. If Sasuke hadn't been so weak, if he had been able to win against Amaya, they wouldn't be in this position.

Damn it all! He had just completely ruined their mission. Now the enemy (and whoever else was out there) knew about their activities via the treacherous cats. Any new expedition into the Akash mountain ranges would be doomed to meet with additional failure. Sasuke sent a silent conciliatory prayer to Ryuu's spirit; before he could further depress himself, he heard the door creak open.

"Sasuke! You're awake!"

"Sakura…"

Even without sight or using sensory chakra, he could tell that Sakura had her hands on her hips. "Damn it, Sasuke, you had me so worried!" She flung her arms around him. "Only your second mission and this is how you come home!"

Sasuke frowned. "I didn't do this on purpose, you know."

"Teme! The correct answer is, 'I'm sorry!'" Naruto chided with a strained chuckle.

Said Teme sighed. "Sorry?" He was unnerved by his teammate's forced lightness, given the situation; he wished they were mad at him, instead of being so forgiving. He clenched his hands and twisted the starched bedsheets.

Sakura shook her head, somewhat amused, but mostly just relieved. "It's okay, Sasuke. Don't worry about it. Let's get these bandages off of your face; I want to make sure the surgery went well."

"Surgery?" Sasuke asked. Kami, how badly had he injured himself? The truth was, Sasuke hardly remembered anything at all about what happened on their mission...

Sakura "tsk tsked" to herself as she began removing the bandages. "From what I can tell, you funneled chakra into your eyes, for crying out loud!"

Ah. Now he remembered. He had been caught in a particularly shitty genjutsu and had overloaded his circuits while trying to override his chakra network. Although to the best of his recollection, the chakra shooting up into his ocular nerves had been quite an accident.

"Oops..."

Sakura snorted. "Oops indeed, Sasuke-kun. You should have seen Naruto-kun—he practically wore a groove out in the hallway from his nervous pacing while you were unconscious." Sakura's voice lost a little of her forced mirth as she reiterated, "You really had me worried..."

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Naruto offered, "It's handy that you're married to the best medic in the village, eh Sasuke?"

Sasuke chewed the inside of his cheek but remained silent. Finally, the last bandage was removed.

"Okay silly, you can open your eyes now," Sakura called softly.

Slowly, slowly, he cracked open his eyes. Thank Kami, he could still see. He hadn't realized how attached he'd gotten to his newfound sight, and he caught himself releasing a breath that he had not realized he had been holding in. His trepidation dissolving in the dim hospital light, he blinked, carefully. He turned towards Sakura in time to see her worried face turn to an expression of shock. He blinked some more and spun to face Naruto, who was making choking sounds.

With a bird-like motion, Sasuke cocked his head to the side and regarded his friends with curiosity. "Um...is something wrong?" Because he could see just fine—he wasn't sure what the problem was.

"Sasuke..." Sakura whispered, her eyes wide.

"What? What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, his anxiety mounting.

"Whoa," Naruto mumbled, "that's totally awesome." Naruto shoved his face close to Sasuke's; his cerulean eyes darted to and fro, searching Sasuke's face. Unlike Sakura, Naruto looked excited, like a dog who had just found a new toy to play with.

Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep, even breath. "Could someone please tell me what is going on?"

"Your eyes," Sakura replied slowly, "They aren't blue anymore—they're white..."

Konohamaru had been in mid-lecture about how wrong it was to haze their new teammate, when the Black Ops member had shown up to take Yuki to her mother at the hospital. Yuki had been all too happy to leave the training grounds. However, when she reached the hospital and a red-eyed Saki had met her in front of the operating room, her cheerful mood quickly dissipated.

"What do you mean, Otousan could have died!"

Saki wiped a tear from her cheek and replied quietly, "That's what Shizune said. He injured his eyes—and there was blood—and mom was operating on him—"

Yuki reached out and placed an arm on the wall to steady herself. "Where is he now?"

Saki took a deep breath. "He just woke up..."

"So he's okay, then?" Saki nodded. "Damn it, don't worry me like that, Saki!" Yuki exhaled sharply—from the way Saki had been going on about their father's close brush with death... Yuki shook her head to rid herself of morbid thoughts, and then gestured to the door. "So—he's in there?"

Saki nodded again.

"Well, let's go in then—" Yuki reached for the door knob, but Saki grabbed her hand.

"Shizune said to be prepared to see—"

But Saki couldn't finish her sentence; Yuki threw off her hand and wrenched the door open. "Otousan?" she called.

"Trolls, you really do care. You came to visit." Sasuke coughed after he said this, as if embarrassed; he did not wear a scarf over his eyes, but his eyes were closed all the same.

"You sound terrible," Yuki remarked.

"Thanks." Sasuke sighed and sank back down into the bed. Beside him, Sakura shot a worried glance between her husband and her children.

Saki ran forward and flung her arms around her father; Sasuke responded with an "Oooph," and hugged her back, carefully.

"Saki-chan! Careful with your father! I just fixed him," Sakura wailed.

"It's fine, Sakura-chan," Sasuke replied softly.

"Hey, otousan, why don't you open your eyes?" Saki asked, looking up into his face.

Yuki, who had been observing the scene from the doorway, tensed. Her eyes narrowed; if her father had done something to injure Ryuu's eyes, Yuki would never forgive him.

Sasuke grimaced. He was not looking forward to a repeat of what had transpired when he had opened his eyes the first time with Naruto and Sakura. However, it was only a matter of time before they found out on their own. And so, he opened his eyelids, one eye at a time, revealing his bleached, pupiless eyes.

"Dad—did you ruin Ryuu's eyes?" Yuki asked in an accusatory voice.

Sakura smiled sadly. "Actually, I think he activated them..."

Saki looked up at her father, her mouth shaped in a little 'o' of surprise as she met his gaze. "He did what now?" Saki breathed.

Yuki blinked in confusion. "Don't tell me he has the byakugan...?"

Sasuke waved his oldest daughter over, who contrary to his wishes stayed rooted to her spot in the doorway.

"Really guys—" Sasuke was about to tell them to calm down, but it was precisely during that awkward moment when Naruto and Hinata entered the hospital room.

"Oi, Sasuke-kun, I brought a byakugan expert!" Naruto called cheerfully from the threshold. Hinata stood behind him, her mouth hanging open in surprise as she activated her byakugan.

"Um...Naruto?" Hinata managed in a whisper.

"Yep?"

"That's not a byakugan..."

"What?" Sakura and Naruto chorused. Sasuke would have made a joke about their synchronized response if he hadn't been the butt of their curiosity in the first place.

"So then...what is it?" Sakura asked in a hushed tone.

Yuki looked at Saki, who shrugged in confusion; the two Uchiha children stood in silence, unnerved that the adults in the room did not have control of the situation.

"Um...everyone?" Sasuke called in a humorless voice. "Maybe you can poke and prod your latest science project here later. I need to get some rest—"

"Oh! Of course, sorry Sasuke, I just got excited!" Naruto called with his usual effusive tone. "We should all—"

Sasuke winced. "I hadn't finished yet. I need to get some rest after I talk to Yuki."

Shit. Has Otousan learned about the prank me and Cho pulled on Tadashi? Damn, word gets around here fast—

But Yuki had no time to muse—her father turned towards her and stated gravely, "Yuki. I forbid you from calling your summons anymore."

"WHAT?" If she had been expecting a lecture or even a punishment, it certainly wouldn't have been that. She continued in a loud voice, "I understand what I did was less than professional, but I hardly think it warrants such a harsh consequence, otousan!"

Sasuke eyed her askance; she found his bleached eyes disconcerting, but held his gaze with her own anyway, defiant.

Thankfully, Naruto broke in. "Yuki, dearest. We have reason to believe your summons are in league with the enemy. This isn't a punishment. This is an order from your Hokage—to protect you. You are, under no circumstances, allowed to call on any of your summons—including Tama."

It was silent for a moment. Yuki's eyes grew wide in disbelief, even as she fought to retain her cool exterior. "What...?"

Sasuke cleared his throat and muttered, "The ones who attacked us…were Amaya and Tama."

"No! That's impossible..." Yuki trailed off lamely. Her mind was suddenly flooded with memories—she remembered the night after Ryuu's death, when the adults had been too depressed and the younger ninja had all had red eyes. That night, only Tama understood her; only Tama sat with her in shared, somber silence. Tama, who had trained tirelessly with her during the nights when she couldn't sleep—Tama, who had fought alongside her, risking her life for Yuki. Tama was her comrade—no, not just a comrade, but her very best friend!

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, I refuse to believe that Tama and Amaya had any hand in this!" Yuki all but spat.

Naruto sighed. "I know you find this hard to believe, but regardless, an order is an order. Furthermore, I'd like to put a hiraishin seal on you tonight; not only will it help me to locate you in case of a crisis, but I'm going to modify it so that I'll know instantly if your summons show up."

Yuki's normally stoic facade cracked. "NO!"

"Yuki!" Sakura called, shooting her a harsh look.

The eldest Uchiha child made a pained choking sound, then bowed her head. "Please forgive me, Hokage-sama." From the corner of her eye, Yuki could see that Saki was shooting her a pitying glance. Yuki flicked her eyes away from her sister and focused them on a scuff on the floor.

Naruto reached out and placed a large hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, Yuki-chan. Let's leave your father to rest; we'll put that seal on you in the other room."

"Yes sir—Hokage-sama," Yuki ground out between clenched teeth.

Yuki closed her eyes and hung her head, bewildered. She knew, if she opened her eyes, hot tears might spill out, so she kept her eyes closed. Why was this happening? How could any of this be true? As in response to her question, fragments of a reoccurring dream surfaced in her consciousness:

They swooped down like a pair of hawks, landing gracefully on the edges of a small village. Aya turned towards Yuki and spoke, "You need to come here as quickly as possible. Remember my words. Before one month passes, you must leave your village— you and your grandmother. Walk with your back to the rising sun for one day, then march due south for another. When you first lay eyes on the Akash mountain range, summon Tama and ride. She knows the way." Aya smiled again, but then winced. "I don't have any more time to explain, and I won't be able to come to you again. I know you must have many questions, but you just have to trust me. Okay?"

Yuki looked at the woman with trepidation. "But I—"

Aya shook her head sadly. "I have to go. Remember. It's unbelievably important that you come before the month is out. Otherwise, both of our villages will be destroyed. You will come, won't you?"

Yuki's mouth opened of its own accord. "Y-Yes!"

The small woman gave Yuki another sad, soft smile. "Good."

Yuki blinked profusely. She had never been able to recall the dream in such precise detail before. She had wondered, initially, why the strange woman in the dream had told her to walk for two days before summoning Tama: it all became clear in light of recent events. Did Aya know that the adults would come to distrust the summons? Was the dream really a message from the mysterious ninja who had saved her life, or was it merely a passing fancy, a figment induced by stress? Aya...why wasn't I able to remember her name until now? Strange images of mountains and flying filled her head—

"Yuki, are you all right?"

Yuki shook her head and brought herself back to present time. "I'm fine," she snapped. She raised her head and schooled her features to remain impassive. "Sorry, I'm just...surprised at the recent developments."

Sakura took her daughter's arm. "Well, let's leave Sasuke-kun in peace. There's an empty room at the end of the hall that will do for the sealing. I'll assist you, Naruto-kun."

"Sounds good, Sakura-chan." Naruto shot a worried glance at Sasuke, who merely shrugged in return. The assembled family members filed out of the small hospital room, while Yuki fought to maintain her composure, trying not to see the mountain ranges on the insides of her eyelids.

Sasuke came home from the hospital that night, feeling weak but mostly intact. Sakura had hired a civilian girl to look after the children that evening, so he felt no pressure to cook diner or do any of his usual tasks. Instead, he washed the smell of hospital, blood, and general griminess from his body in the shower. As he toweled off, he caught a glance of himself in the bathroom mirror. A stranger's eyes met his own; they were not black, as had been the eyes of his birth or his brother; nor were they the blue, cheerful eyes he had so recently received from Ryuu-kun—Ryuu-kun, who theoretically did not have the Byakugan, or any ocular jutsu to speak of.

No, instead, pupiless eyes with pale lavender irises, ringed with a thin band of dark violet, met his gaze. He blinked at himself. He tried to stifle the voice inside of his head that asked him, and who is this and who is he; what is he seeing and who is seeing who, deciding that his weary brain could not handle any existential crises at the moment. However, despite himself and his delicate health, his curiosity got the better of him; he couldn't help but funnel a bit of chakra into his eyes—

It stung a little, but it didn't hurt, so Sasuke didn't stop. Surprisingly, the veins around his eyes didn't bulge, which confirmed Hinata's assessment that he did not, in fact, have the byakugan. Instead, his bleached irises seemed to pulse. The purple ring around the irises began to expand and bleed purple, until the entirety of his eye—whites included—were dyed a pale violet.

"What the fuck?" he muttered to the reflection in the mirror.

But despite himself, he continued to funnel chakra into his ocular nerves. His vision blurred, but not painfully so. When it cleared, the mirror displayed undulating orbs of purple, with two indigo colored concentric circles ringing his irises.

It looked like a freak version of the rinnegan, minus a few rings.

And before he could turn the damn thing off, the door to the bathroom opened. Sasuke shivered as the cool air intruded into the room, displacing the warm humidity from his shower. He turned, slowly, to meet Sakura. She had been holding a hairdryer, but when she met his gaze, she dropped it. The plastic appliance hit the floor with a dull thud; a chunk of it broke off and ricocheted off the wall to land on Sasuke's foot, its sharp edge drawing blood. He didn't notice.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. This must have been what Naruto felt like when he told everyone he had a freaky demon fox living in his guts, he mused wryly.

Just what the hell was going on?

Yuki did not cry. Ninja did not cry. It was one of the rules in the shinobi code of conduct. Even as a child, she never wept when she had scraped her knee or suffered any of the small injustices that usually set off temper tantrums in young ones. She hadn't even cried at Ryuu's funeral. Shinobi. Did. Not. Cry.

But no matter how many times she repeated this mantra, the fact remained that Uchiha Yuki lay on her bed, smothering her face with a pillow so that no one would hear her pathetic sobs. Maybe it was just the build up of intensity finally breaking; maybe the events of the past few weeks were catching up with her; perhaps Yuki was simply going crazy. All she knew for certain was that everything in her life seemed just plain wrong.

First her sensei had yelled at her (Her sensei—yelled at her, Yuki of the perfect grade point average!). Then, her father had been severely injured by her summons and had come home with a mysterious new doujutsu. Even the Hokage had ganged up against her. It was times like these that she would sneak out of the house and run along the moon-drenched streets of Konoha until she came to the training grounds, there to summon Tama.

Yuki sniffled and fingered the hiraishin tattoo on her bicep. For all intents and purposes, Yuki was now a prisoner. She gazed at the four walls of her bedroom, then proceeded to smoother her face in her pillow once more.

Shinobi don't cry...

The thought echoed dully in her head as she fell into a sea of deep, troubled dreams. There was a man who appeared in a field of crows; he looked like her otousan but older, the lines of his face more deeply etched. He smiled down at her and placed his finger on her forehead—she could see a dark crow with wings of black fire and a glowing, purple skull for a head fly into her brain from the man's touch. He had called her his niece and said that she would need to use this jutsu...

But what jutsu was he talking about? What did the crow have to do with anything? And didn't he know she just wanted to fly, like a hawk, up to the mountains? Why did her head hurt so much...?

When she woke up in the morning, the sun stung her eyes, and the words of a strange ninja rang in her ears. Before one month passes, you must leave your village...

It must have been two or three in the morning, but Sasuke couldn't sleep. Silently, he exited the bed and entered the bathroom, there to stare at his face in the mirror in the dim light. Despite the fact that he had stopped pushing chakra into his eyes, his irises remained two concentric circles of purple. It seemed as though his eyes did not turn off. Damn.

He left the bathroom, stalked down the hallway, and hovered outside of Yuki's room. He knew the girl had been crying; damn his acute hearing. He didn't blame her, really. For such a young girl, she had gone through a lot in the past few weeks—too much. Although Sasuke had gone through much more at an even younger age...

With all the ninja stealth his body could muster, he opened the door and walked lightly until he stood over his eldest daughter. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, and her pale skin was streaked with tears, glimmering in the moonlight. The poetic part of Sasuke's mind thought about how it looked like her cheeks were covered in iridescent snail trails, and he shook his head.

Sasuke closed his eyes. A barrage of disparate images assailed him, striking him more painfully than any weapons made of steel. He remembered Itachi's bloodied smile and whispered words before he collapsed to his death. The next image came from his dreams, a flock of crows, warning him of impending doom; though whether these dreams presaged events, or was simply the delusions of his own anxiety, he was not sure.

There was more, he couldn't stop the memories: he remembered casting amaterasu at Naruto during the last war, the black fire burning holes in the cliffside—the never ending nightmare flames consuming the battlefield; susanoo aiming arrows at his sensei, at Sakura; a purple skull on fire and grinning wildly, like a mad man—like the Death God himself—

He shook his head. He was the last person on earth who should be trusted with yet another doujutsu. He didn't deserve these eyes, the third pair he had worn in his lifetime. His heart was a black box, and inside were crow feathers, a wilted red rose with bloody thorns, and a lock whose key had been destroyed in his childhood.

He smiled down fondly at his progeny, but the smile faded he began to worry. If anything should happen to her... Sasuke shuddered. What if he was the one who would harm Yuki? After all, he had managed to make attempts on the lives of most of the people he cared about, in the last war. He was not to be trusted—why didn't Naruto and Sakura see that? Why were they so happy about the nebulous new eyes in his head?

Sasuke tried in vain to stifle these thoughts. They pained him more than Ibiki's implements of torture, thoughts that hadn't run through his mind like this in years...

Unbidden, his thoughts turned towards the Nekobaa—about what she had said about the mangekyo sharingan, when Yuki had been busy fighting for the summoning contract. Sasuke's eyes glazed over, and he remembered everything clearly:

"Sasuke-kun," Nekobaa murmured, "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. "I...don't understand..."

Speaking slowly, Nekobaa reiterated, "Itachi gave you the mangekyo sharingan. It was your grief that later activated it. 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. That death would have 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, what might have happened. 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."

"Moreover," Nekobaa continued, "I believe that since Sasuke's mangekyo 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 Sasuke shrugged her off.

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.

Sasuke exhaled sharply, drawing himself out of his memories. It seemed like they had gone to see the Nekobaa lifetimes ago; who could have predicted that everything would have turned out so terribly? Who could have known that the Nekobaa and the cat summons had been plotting against them? Sasuke clenched his hands into fists.

He couldn't trust anyone: not his own summons, not his friends—and especially not himself.

As if his body had a mind of its own, his right hand rose and his index finger touched the place on Yuki's forehead right between her eyebrows. I don't know if this will work or not... After all, he had only seen this particular jutsu once, and he wasn't even sure if he had anything left to give to Yuki. In theory he had used up his sharingan by using izanagi twice in the last war—but maybe that didn't matter. Maybe he could give Yuki this gift…

As Yuki's father, it was his duty to make sure she was safe. With that thought, his resolved was strengthened, and he prayed to the soul of his departed brother to help him.

All at once, his chakra charged down his arm, shining with gold light as it funneled into Yuki's forehead—

"Otousan?" Yuki blinked up at him sleepily. "What...?"

He smoothed her hair down and replied, feigning nonchalance, "Just checking on you."

Yuki ran a hand up to her forehead and winced. "I had the strangest dream..." She shook her head. "I'm fine, outousan."

Sasuke blinked, and with his freakish eyes, he swore he saw a swirling, gold light flowing around Yuki's head like an electrified halo. Maybe it really did work...

"Good night then, Yuki-chan."

"Mmmm." She rolled over and fell right back to sleep. Sasuke smiled. I hope Itachi's gift can protect you, Yuki-chan. I hope you're smarter about using it than I was...

a/n plot twist no jutsu! Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know via your nice review:)