DISCLAIMER: No jutsu, character or any part of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto has been hurt in the making of this fanfic. All rights for Naruto belong to its legendary mangaka.

Any OOCs come from the author, who still has yet to find her literary wings.

Once I had a Sister

Chapter 10

Of pieces set moving

"My, my Naruto" Haruna sighed as she lifted the soiled sheets off the bed and scrunched them into the laundry basket. The bed, stripped off its sheeted glory had a tell-tale, territorial mark in the middle where the old mattress sunk in. The stuff of childhood nightmares, lack of bladder control, or at times, extreme night-time laziness. "I thought you were old enough to stop having nightmares!"

"S'rry n'chan." The boy looked down at his feet but even as his elder sister put a new sheet on the bed he did not leave her side, his fingers clutching the dark fabric of her shirt. "Sorry," he repeated again, knowing this was the third time in two weeks that Haruna had come to find him sleeping on the floor instead of his wet bed.

"It's all right. You're still a kid anyway." Haruna plopped a plump pillow on the bed and turned to the small boy at her side. He was still as silent as he was when she found him, when he hadn't come to greet her but stayed huddled in his wet blanket until she came close enough for him to grab and cling to like a limpet to a rock. "Are you finally going to tell me what scared you Naruto? You've been so quiet I'm starting to think you're an imposter." She felt his small head leaning on her side and then nodding. "Good. You get out of those clothes and I'll make you a drink. Even though that might not actually be a good idea, now that I think about it."

"M'kay."

Back in bed, Naruto was still quiet but his eyes were no longer pools of fear. Haruna took a blanket with her too, to make it seem as if she too was to spend the night although she was going to do a sweep over the city and a check on Sasuke soon. The hot tea in her hand was beginning to cool, the oil from the leaves beginning to linger on the surface. She closed her eyes. "Come on Naruto. Tell Haru-ne what happened in your dream."

"…It was dark." the boy finally said. Haruna nodded, while her eyes continued to probe for tell-tale signs of PTSD, raised heart-levels, blood pressure or the first signs of fever. There was nothing but terror in the boys expression, which had, thankfully faded since her arrival. "Go on." she encouraged. "It's dark, right?"

Naruto nodded. His voice grew stronger as he went on. "And there was water underneath me – I could feel it in my shoes. And it's really big. It's a really, really big place. And it's still really dark and I forget how to think…" his voice dwindled, fluttering down to the bottom of his toes. Then, just as Haruna thought he had finished, the jinchuuriki's head popped up, the terror flooding in again. "…Then something starts growling at me. Really loud and really angry. I think it knew my name. "

Sasuke woke up that morning with a cold. His eyes burned, his stomach ached and his head pounded with images that he would soon be cursing his good memory for. As he rolled his aching limbs out of his bed – a bed that did not feel like a home, no matter that he'd been in the place for months now – to a modest living establishment he still treated as if he were a reluctant guest, he allowed himself to picture his real home for a second, short enough not to get hurt by and long enough to get him ready for the day.

Because every day was a surprise now. Runa-senpai had taught him from the books for about two weeks before ditching them altogether and teaching him the way she had. All practical, no theory, save from the ones she told him and expected him to memorise.

Either way, he still missed home and he still hated Itachi. Somewhere, his murderer of a brother was out and running free. While he was stuck here, in Konoha, the village that hadn't been able to intervene when they were needed, with the task of growing strong. In his seven-year-old mind, plunged into the deep-end of maturity and floundering on its own, he would try to weigh his options about his tutor. That she had been an ally of Itachi was enough to make him recoil, but she too had been on par with his brother. At this moment she was his biggest chance in defeating his brother. Therefore, he had concluded, he would shut his mouth and do whatever she asked of him.

For now, and for the rest of his life, Sasuke lived to grow strong. He did not need to make friends, or bond with anyone.
And then, when it was all over - someday, somewhere, somehow – he would leave the village forever and live life roaming the wild. He'd been dreaming of leaving the village for quite some time now. The walls of the town seemed an enclosure instead of protection for him and soon, he promised his seven year old self, soon he would be able to go.

Runa-senpai tapped his nose. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun." she greeted, from the window. Because it wasn't weird at all to enter the house without knocking on the front door. Before Sasuke could react to his interrupted reverie, Haruna landed lightly on the tatami carpet, her shoes in her hands instead of on her feet in his apartment, thankfully. The boy closed his eyes as another headache tremor reverberated through his skull and told himself to bear it. No need for grinning anyway.

"Runa-senpai." He answered by way of greeting, before turning towards the bathroom so that he could ready for the day.

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"Sasuke," Haruna asked out of the blue, "You don't like being around people, do you?"

The question was blunt and not even made with eye contact in his direction but because Sasuke did not sense any hint of judgment or condescension in her tone, he did not refuse an answer. "I don't." He answered, stiffening.

"It's alright. I was just wondering…" Haruna smiled to herself and went back to making the omelettes for their lunch. Sasuke, feeling a tad guilty for his prolonged silence that morning due to his cold, made an effort to talk, albeit interrogatively.

"Are you going to make me work around other people?"

"Nope."

Sasuke scowled at the short answer. "Then why'd you ask?" Haruna gave him a look. "…Runa-senpai…"

"I was wondering if you'd like to get away from the village for a while and go to the place where I used to be trained. Kind of like being an exchange student. It's just an idea though, nothing final or anything. Still, I would have liked to know what you thought about it. Village life gets a bit too closed in after a while."

Interested in spite of himself, Sasuke leaned in closer. Haruna could see he wasn't displeased at the idea, nor waving it aside. "Outside the village? Away from Konoha?"

"I have wolf summons, did you know that? They don't like the village. The only time I get to see them is when I'm out on missions." Haruna turned the stove off, flipped the omelette onto a plate; sprinkled the salt. "I think it'd do you good to get out of the village for a while. Too many people trying to help - and not enough people who actually can. Besides," she turned to her student, who was now looking at her with new eyes, "then I can teach you more things. There'll actually be forest that you can practice in, for starters... But as I said before, it's just an idea that came into my head. If you aren't keen, I won't bring it up again."

As she was speaking, Haruna was whisking the plates to the table with expert surety and spinning the pate of omelettes in the manner of a waitress. She had quite successfully ignored Sasuke's existence as she spoke, an existence that had metamorphosed from indifferent to unexpected interest. The lack of watchfulness for an answer gave the young Uchiha time and absence of surveillance to make his decisions. When she went back into the kitchen for the cups, Sasuke caught her arm. "I might be keen," he told her, keeping his eyes firmly ahead. He still hadn't quiet lost his refusal to acknowledge people. "I think I wouldn't mind."

"I thought you wouldn't. Take a seat, Sasuke, and we'll talk some more about it after lunch. You're having a nap after this, mind you. You're running a cough and I promised I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. "

- Shinobi Headquarter, Lobby

What paperwork had to do with saving lives Haruna had yet to find out. She stood at the shiny countertop dusted within an inch of its oak wood life and stared at the clock, the window, the shiny clip on the secretary's fringe and at the clock again. It had only been five minutes but even super-efficiency had its downsides because every stationary second was a second wasted.

"Isn't Beaver in?" She asked at length. The air-conditioned silence was suffocating. "She's usually on isn't she?"

"ANBU Beaver is in management now, ANBU-san." The receptionist spoke in clipped tones of authorised courtesy. "I've taken up her place up front."

"Ah." A newbie. No wonder she bothered to add a clip to her hair. Give or take a fortnight and a ponytail was the best you could get in the force. (Unless you were Kurenai but that woman was always an exception.) Haruna sighed, stretched, yawned. "So… is everyone important occupied today?"

"It would appear so, but you would know the procedures already anyway ANBU-san…"

"Wolf."

"I'm sorry?"

"ANBU Wolf," Haruna repeated. "Nevermind," she added hastily, when the name did not register. The female receptionist smiled unnaturally and quickly finished noting Haruna's visit and request on a yellow post-it note. Uzumaki Naruto's files were not to be located as of the moment –property of the management and of importance to the state among other reasons - and viewing was prohibited unless permission granted it, she told the kunoichi with a sympathetic smile. The past five years of the Uzumaki jinchuuriki had been a chaotic series of foster parents, orphanages and brushes with the civilians. A mess, in other words, of jumbled orders and complaints that were unsurprisingly unanimous in their reluctance to house the child. The circumstances being the way they were, Haruna duly noted with a swallow of chagrin that finding permission to put Naruto in her care was a legal nightmare. In Konoha, the justice system was precise on all matters and nothing was unaccounted. Shinobi did not interfere with children who were bonded by blood or promise to themselves. Haruna was neither, and even the shinobi agreed with the civilians in doubting their ability to raise a child, be he a six year old capable of basic care for himself or not. And among other factors – why would she care?

The receptionist (the two kunais up her sleeve, Haruna perceived, were blunt but did not look unused) was of a slight frame and her ever-moving hands looked scrubbed too harshly. Her mouth had straightened into a thin line ever since Haruna had mentioned Naruto's name in her inquiry.

"Please refresh my memory, I have been out of town for a while," Haruna began slowly, feigning detachment to minimise risk of being remembered later on. "The Uzumaki," (she refrained from mentioning his first name because that implied affiliation here) "was taken out of the orphanage when he was four years old, before moving in with a few unsuccessful foster family plans." She had asked around to know that much but even so she was certain she had only scratched the surface of the matter. "I'm interested to know who got the child out of the orphanage, since it appears the institution was secondary in the removal." The woman agreed – the orphanage had merely assented to releasing the child from their care. Haruna drummed her fingernails on the desk while she pored over the chain of events thoroughly. Naruto was far too young to complain outwardly of his circumstances but if someone had taken him out of the custody of the civilians who evidently made their dislike clear and that someone was not the Hokage; then there was someone else who clearly thought the same way she did. "Then did the boy complain or does he have another legal guardian who isn't the Sandaime?" she asked.

"No, the Uzumaki is registered as a ward of the Hokage. But…" the receptionist looked up and studied the face of the woman behind the desk for the first time. Haruna's eyes were steady, the hazel tint ever so slightly darkened. The eyes were both open and distant, like an interior motive was no doubt driving the unusual request. "if you are wondering who was responsible for speaking for the boy to leave the orphanage, it's the same person who's spoken for him in all the other encounters. The fellow won't stop."

"Fellow?" Haruna repeated. "A man?"

"Of course," the receptionist shifted the pen holder to the other side of the desk, silently pointing out the end of the discussion. "You know Umino Iruka, don't you?"

xXx

There was a letter waiting for him at his apartment when Iruka walked home from school just as the sun had disappeared and the gates of the village had closed. He studied the neat script that spelt his name on the envelope, curiosity brimming. He placed the letter on the table while he changed into a fresh set of clothes and went about his small kitchen to decide what he could cook for dinner. There was half an onion, an egg, lots of rice, soy sauce. He prepared as nice a meal as he could make with the remnants of last week's groceries then brought the steaming bowl of barely-egged-but-generously-salted fried rice to the table, picking up the letter at the same time. He opened the envelope.

'Iruka', the letter read; the characters uniform and crisp but devoid of any clues as to whom the author was – a ninja's untraceable penmanship. The comment on the long lapse of time was formal. He read on. 'I've heard some interesting news and would be interested in talking with you soon. Care to meet tomorrow, at around noon? I'll be at the library. You'll be free then, I know.' The note ended there. Iruka frowned, turned the paper over. On the bottom of the blank side of the page, a tiny wolf paw print shimmered as it caught the light.

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"I'm really glad you could make it," Haruna's voice was bright and cheerful, chirpier than the last time he'd seen her some months ago. Three months ago his brain reminded him, not that he was keeping track or anything. She was dressed casually again in civilian clothing, a loose black sweater, dark jounin pants, a ponytail with no hitae-ate pushing back fringes. "I know you're busy."

"Not at all," Iruka assured her equally warmly. "Your note interested me. First time you've ever done that."

Haruna murmured to apply assent without actually saying so and focused on the cooling hot chocolate before her. Not being in her nature to dance around a subject gingerly and exchange mild but irrelevant conversation when speaking she downed the entire drink before Iruka had taken a bite out of his sandwich. She had a class with Sasuke to get back to after this. "I'm not going to make you wait, okay? As you can already tell, this is about Naruto."

"I had the feeling it would be," the young man replied easily. "Have I done something wrong?"

"You know no one thinks you ever would." It was true – the chuunin radiated goodness and kindness and humility everywhere he walked. Iruka was still fixing his brown eyes on her face, not able to imagine what the ANBU agent had contacted him. Hauna returned his gaze as she shrugged. "No one told me you were the kid's saviour. I just found out."

"Saviour?"

Haruna leaned back in her chair – they were in a café just outside the library where business was slow enough to speak freely – and folded her arms. "Yes. Exactly so. You were the one who got the kid out of the orphanage and all those other foster families the kid won't talk about when I ask about his scars. You were the one who helped him move into his apartment. I thought I was the only who gave a damn about Naruto but no, it turns out that isn't the case here, is it?" She inched an eyebrow up ever so slightly. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Iruka, who had been turning pink as Haruna had heralded his exploits against the system, let a shoulder rise and fall. The first time he'd seen Naruto had caught him unawares. The kid had been a snivelling wreck sitting under the stairs when he'd gone back to the orphanage with a bag of groceries, a gift he had used his first paycheck for to give back to the kind matron who'd raised him there. Naruto was two years old - and skin and bones. That was the first time he had learnt that kindness was selective and he wasn't as unlucky as he had believed. He'd never forgotten it. "I just wanted to help the kid out. I thought… I thought it wasn't his fault the demon's sealed inside him."

"Is that why you didn't join a squad? To take care of him?"

Iruka shook his head, feeling that Haruna was speaking too highly for his comfort. As much as he enjoyed seeing the dark-haired ANBU every rare chance he got, Iruka was not any different from the villagers. Sometimes he would feel the grasp of guilt tugging away at him when even he had kept his own personal distance from konoha's jinchuuriki but that did not change the fact that he kept his distance from the child when he could. That did not change his unease at being his homeroom teacher. So before she could say anything else Iruka sat a little straighter in his seat and told her quietly, "The reason I am a teacher and not in a jounin team is because I wasn't allowed in a squad after my stint at the orphanage. No one's wanted me in the ranks ever since then. If not for the Sandaime I don't know where I'd be."

The table between them went silent. Iruka looked out the window. Haruna looked down at her empty chocolate cup. "I see." Haruna interjected, lamely. She cleared her throat. "Iruka, I –"

He put a hand up apologetically, as if to wave away any unwanted sympathy. "Forgive my bluntness at the question, but may I ask what this meeting was about?"

"Sure" Haruna replied. She felt a little guilty for pulling the bandage so roughly, so to speak, and was ready to get the conversation going in case she lost any chance of having his support. "At the moment I'm taking a long break from the ANBU. Or rather, I left the whole thing. Among other reasons of course," she added quickly as her mind went to her teammate somewhere in the wide world far away from his home village. "It's never been a plan of mine to join a jounin squad – not because of the people or anything, I just don't want to – and I had an idea…" She stole a look at Iruka to gauge his reaction. "What do you think about me pulling Naruto out of the Academy and training him myself? He's the perfect age for me to start teaching him all he needs to know."

"To be an ANBU?"

"To defend himself." she corrected, her fingertips running down the glassware top where a loud screech would follow had she not trimmed her fingernails. "To fight so nothing pushes him so far as to break the seal. To fight if people want to take the Kyuubi from him." Her tone shifted from argumentative to reproachful. "You know how much of a target he is for the other countries. And if anything, I'd be doing the rest of the village a favour."

"They'll never let you." Iruka replied. "Forgive me for sounding so pessimistic but the village is still reeling over the Uchiha massacre." At this moment, coincidentally, Haruna dropped her teaspoon and bent under the table to pick it up. He didn't comment. "The village might do their best to forget Naruto exists but they'll complain just as loudly if they don't know where he is. And besides, I thought you were tutoring Sasuke right now? Or is he ready to join the classes at the Academy now?"

"About that…" Haruna hesitated for a moment. About that… Her scarred fingers touched the paper in her pocket, the scrunched-up ball she had found Sasuke scribbling over while she'd marked his set of work that day that he'd done his utmost to prevent her from seeing. Only she did, of course. The picture was dark, red ink on black paper, and the tomoe of the sharingan. "Sasuke might look like he's coping with it all but he isn't. That kid doesn't sleep. Besides, I don't think letting him into a public environment would aid him in any way. He won't talk to anyone. He doesn't want to see anyone. And this is my conjecture, but I think he inwardly blames us all for not coming in to save his family. I'm not surprised."

Iruka nodded. "He did seem a little stoic, when I last saw him."

"He needs to learn how to make friends." Haruna went on. Itachi's little brother needed help but not in the same way that most traumatised people needed. The kid had seen his whole clan slaughtered by his big brother (who had no choice in the matter either, while the people who decided it were getting on with their lives anyway) and somehow she just knew that the order and the routine of school life no longer had any place or meaning in Sasuke's world. That had been turned upside down long ago. "The Academy won't help him though. It's not going to work, Iruka, I can tell. Therefore I propose the course of action where I take Naruto and Sasuke out of the village and train them myself until they're old enough to take the chuunin exams. Five years."

She watched as her companion from across the table inhaled then exhaled loudly. Granted, it was a lot to take in – and a lot more to ask. After clearing his throat and mixing the cool sludge of sugar and coffee in unnatural ratios in his cup, Iruka opened his mouth and told her simply, "I get your point… But now I don't know where I come in."

Right. The conversation back on safer ground, Haruna smiled, her earnest face now transitioning to its normal ease. "I need someone else to vouch for me. You were the only person I could think of."

Iruka reddened, his tan cheeks blooming a rosy hue. "Well uh, I'm flattered, really." His eyes darted around the vicinity quickly, searching for something to focus on till he started talking properly because compliments were rare in his life and the fact that it came from Haruna made more meaningful. "I'd be honoured to help you in this, Haruna. What do you intend to do?"

"I've already asked Sasuke if he would be fine with leaving the village for a while and he is - which did not come as any sort of surprise. Right now, I won't do anything for the time being. Most of this idea was actually riding on whether or not you'd say yes." She took a much-needed breath while Iruka tamped his pleasure down. "Next week though, I'll bring up the idea with the Sandaime. Will you be alright if you're called in then? Keep in mind that it would probably be involving the elders and hysterical civilians. The normal situation whenever Naruto's involved."

"I'll be fine," Iruka assured her. "I'll do my best. I wish you all the best with Sasuke as well." He smiled. Another thing to look forward to, he told himself. He didn't know just what he had gotten himself into here but he'd stay optimistic.

Haruna returned one of her own gratefully and held out her cup. "More hot chocolate?"

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- END OF CHAPTER TEN -

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Author's Note:

Apologies for the long hiatus! I hadn't forgotten this fanfic at all - although when I look back and compare it with other fanfiction writers I adore, it's hard not to get discouraged – and it just took a long time to get stuff written. I'd write a line every now and then and then finally, I was able to rustle up something from the many moments of inspiration that unfortunately popped up at the most inconvenient and computer/paper/pen-less times possible.

Anyway, yes! Something's happening in the story! Stay tuned (i.e. patient) for the next addition where I hope to add in more characters in the Naruto-verse. If I don't post something up in two weeks, you are free to complain because I am CLOSE to finishing the next chapter. I just need to think up a good reason for *whisper whisper spoiler*

That's enough from me folks, and a shout-out to all the people who dropped a hint that I should get off my bed and update. NoeticSky, thanks for everything. Please R&R!

Alatariele C.
- in collab. with NoeticSky