We had an exam to end all exams because Naruto just had to stir up trouble. Granted, it was amusing, but I didn't want to sit through a five hour Saturday exam because of it. The event didn't do anything to endear him to the other students, though Sasuke seemed glad of it.

"Things have been weird around the compound, it's a relief to have an excuse to get out."

Naruto looked appalled,

"Then why don't you just go to our apartments?"

Sasuke kicked some dirt sheepishly,

"Well, I wasn't invited, and my mom always said-"

Naruto stopped walking to step in front of his friend, grab his shoulders, and lightly shake him.

"Get this through your thick head, bastard, you're always welcome there, okay? Drop by, use the window for all we care. Stay the night, stay three, our home is yours too you know."

Mi casa es su casa. I'd taught him that. Friends were always welcome. I'd sort of raised him to have a very open door policy, and it was showing. Sasuke of course blushed fiery colors and launched into protesting that he wasn't a bastard. It was their usual trading of the names so I ignored it, walking along beside them and herding the storm cloud they soon became so that none of the civilians too slow to dodge got maimed.

Sasuke was allowed to spend that night with us, since there was no school the next morning. Like many of the other times he'd slept over there was no ANBU waiting outside the window, at first. Unlike the other times, ANBU arrived later on. This made me uneasy. I fidgeted, hoping to hell that the massacre hadn't happened. Indeed it had not. The next day when we escorted him home after lunch the place was filled with life, pissed off life, but life all the same. A bit of eavesdropping around town later that day while grocery shopping informed me that there had been an intruder at some point, caught by the patrols. So they were protecting Naruto that night, not Sasuke. I had been worried, Itachi hadn't been with them, so I had assumed the worst.

Our grades came in from the exams, with mine being the highest score. I'd missed a single question apparently, which honestly pissed me off. What sort of question aimed at six year olds had I missed? None apparently. When they were going over the answers to it later the examiner noticed that it had been graded erroneously for everyone and gave the points back. Still, the incident made me realize something. I got snippy, over one fucking point. And it wasn't even an important one like the difference between failing and passing, or between an acceptable grade or a meh one. I was pissy about a score that wasn't perfect. I needed to be dragged down to Earth, and quickly. I was smart compared to six year olds, granted. I was not going to be hot shit whenever everyone else caught up on their education. I was going to be average, if slightly above due to experience and adult reasoning. So, in order to deflate my swelled head I found the perfect opponent. At lunch one evening Naruto was off causing mischief, Sasuke was hiding from girls, and I was reading under a tree like usual when I heard him.

"-such a drag, I mean why did she decide to have dinner over there today, now I'll have to walk twice the distance after school. It's your move, Choji."

There was a shogi game happening over to my right. Perfect.

I got my ass handed to me, and walked away grinning. Oh, I put up more of a fight than he was expecting from a six year old, but strategy games had never been my forte. So I lost a game to a six year old and was able to go on with my life, head hopefully less swollen.

The next day at lunch a similar scene was upon us. It became a pattern. Why Naruto and Sasuke were off Shikamaru and Choji swanned into my area under the tree. I started carrying extra treats in my bento for them, which served as bonding time with Choji. After almost three weeks he invited me to his clan compound in the middle of a story about food.

"-you should come over sometime and try it, you know."

Shikamaru snorted,

"Hah, like she'd survive a trip to your compound. She skinnier than some of the homeless refugees we get wandering in, they'd feed her to death."

I tried to take offence to that, but couldn't quite manage it.

"I'd love to visit your compound Choji, but you see, I don't really go anywhere without those two."

'Those two' were at that moment having fistucuffs in the middle of the area, shouting obscenities for the world to hear. I winced,

"It should be a little while longer before I have them house trained."

Shikamaru lost it, and Choji looked like he was sizing up how much damage they could actually do.

That evening Naruto questioned me about the two of them, falling into step on my right while Sasuke was on my left.

"So why are you spending so much time with those losers, huh?"

I rolled my eyes,

"Come on Naruto, don't be that way. I'm just being friendly."

"But you have friends, us!"

I shot him an exasperated look,

"I didn't say I was replacing you, I said nothing near that. You know you two are my best friends, family even, so don't do that."

He was silent for a little while for some reason, Sasuke as well. I was starting to think I'd done something wrong when he got his hyper back, dragging Sasuke into it as well, bouncing the way to the training field we would use that day. Kado had started us on sparring, how to do so safely while we were still this small and inexperienced, and that's what we did for most of the day. When we had done different match ups until we had trouble standing we collapsed in a heap and went over what was said in class, mostly lapsing into a gossip fest.

Naruto and I dropped our school things off in our apartments, staying for longer in mine to have something to drink and a bite to eat. After a while though it really was dark and we had to escort Sasuke home. He was complaining once again on not needing it.

"I'm not a baby, and it's not as if anything's going to happen!"

I was debating whether or not to make an ominous comment when I heard it, or rather, didn't. We were right at the gates, but it was silent. Dread filled me and I dragged my feet forwards, finally stopping and throwing my arms out to stop the other two.

"One of you run to get help. Now."

Sasuke made to step forwards and I grabbed his shoulder, shaking my head.

"From outside the compound. I have a bad feeling about this."

He seemed to realize that there was trouble inside but I stopped him again, more forcefully,

"Sasuke, I need you to listen to me."

Naruto was looking behind us as if debating getting help like I asked. I shooed him on, hoping that someone would listen to him rather than ignore his cries because of the Kyuubi. I shook Sasuke slightly to get rid of that wide-eyed look and get him to focus.

"Sasuke! Does your clan ever have meetings, all in one place, away from the main compound?"

He nodded at first then did a sort of half shrug.

"I mean, kind of. The shinobi and the elders meet at the shrine to discuss clan business, but not everyone."

I scowled,

"There goes that then. Is there a festival elsewhere in town?"

He thought for a moment before shaking his head, panic starting to set in.

"What's going on, let me find them, I need to find my brother."

I clamped down muscles straining now,

"Listen to me. If something were wrong, what could we do? We'd be hurt. Right now, it seems like we're the only one's who knows what's going on. We're first year academy students. We'd get hurt, or caught up in the trouble, and then no one could help, got it? Don't just rush in there without a plan. We need a plan."

He finally started actually listening to me, calming his breathing and closing his eyes to think,

"Better?"

He nodded absently,

"Better."

His eyes snapped open,

"What's wrong? Why are you acting this way?"

He wasn't panicked anymore, just searching for information, so hesitantly, I gave it to him.

"I feel four-two. I feel two people besides us. One...now there's just one. They're...I think they're coming this way, we have to leave!"

I was internally panicking and trying not to let it show. Itachi was headed our way and we needed to vacate. The odds of us getting away were getting slimmer the more Sasuke dug his heels in, determined to help his family. A dark figure appeared to our left, closer to me than to Sasuke. Dread ran down my spine, pooling in my stomach, I had to force my legs to stop shaking as I turned so I was standing in between the two brothers. The sound of approaching footsteps reached us and I didn't let the relief show, Naruto. He'd found someone willing to listen to him. I wanted to say something, to tell to stay away from Sasuke, but I couldn't find the words. Adult mind or not, I was scared of this teenager. I knew he was a good person, that he had good reasons for all that he did, that he was a victim of circumstance. But that wouldn't stop him from killing me for getting in his way. Finally, after a split second I found something to say,

"Sasuke, go see what's keeping Naruto."

He wasn't listening to me anymore, he was trying to get around me, towards his brother.

"Aniki, what's going on?"

He either didn't see the blood all over his brothers ANBU outfit, or he was ignoring it. I couldn't keep him behind me, he was taller than me, bigger than me, and determined to get closer to his brother. Itachi was talking to him, but the words were familiar. Hate, weakness, yada yada, I ignored it, trying to stay between the two. Then I made the mistake of looking at Itachi. There was something there in his expression that I couldn't quite gauge. But then his eyes spun red and I was falling. The last thing I heard was Sasuke yelling my name.

It's one thing to watch the murder of an entire clan, it's another to see it happen over and over and over and over. I don't know why Itachi would show me that. The murders beneath a red sky, behavior that didn't match with how shinobi should react to an attack, to the fact that there's no way all this fit into the time he would have had realistically-wait. Did he want someone to notice? To put it together? Surely he would know that I would tell Sasuke, or someone of importance. But he gave me the perfect excuse to be suspicious, so I would thank him, but there's bound to be some psychological trauma. The only way to get through endless hours of it was to pretend it was a B rated horror movie, usually I would make fun of the mechanics, but they seemed mostly genuine. Probably because most of them were genuine, and as a lifelong Ninja he most likely knew how shit like this was supposed to down. In the end I had to detach. Pretend my friend the film student had sent it to me and I was supposed to critique it. This might work for someone who grew up with Hollywood, but anyone from Konoha couldn't dream of special effects like this.

I don't know how long it stretched in there. I know that there can be days squeezed into hours, theoretically. But it wasn't like I was counting. I didn't count the deaths. I didn't count the number of times I watched each one. I counted flaws. I reinforced what was flawed, and I moved on. So what if I woke up with tears in my eyes. I'm six years old, I can get away with that. When I opened my eyes it was light outside. It was daytime, then. I didn't know the time that passed in the real world. I couldn't really focus on that though. I was too confused with the color quality. The red was gone, the sky was so blue, everything was so sharp now, rather than all fuzzy. Then my chakra sense came back to me. Then my hearing.

Sasuke was in the next room, and he wasn't happy. With a bit of effort I was able to get my legs over the side of the bed, taking note of the ANBU surrounding his room. The usual crowd that hung around when the three of us were together, protecting the other two. I ignored them, stumbling over to the door, thoroughly pissed with how my body didn't want to respond. All that fucking work, gone. We were going to be doing some major fucking running.

I had to hang onto the door frame for a little bit, breathing a bit hard, but finally I was able to push through, opening the door. I had to hold onto the wall, ignoring the people looking at me funny. Fuck them. I was a small child in a hospital gown, not a foreign sight in a fucking hospital. I pushed the door open without knocking, the abrupt motion of it causing Sasuke to freeze, his expression fading from fury to shock when he saw me. I gave a half wave sort of thing, my hand twitching and refusing to go through with the entire motion. It didn't matter anyway. I was tackled into a sobbing hug before I could try again. Well that answers one thing. Being alone did something to his initial reaction to the event. Not being alone, affected it in some way. His words were mostly unintelligible but I got the gist of it. He had thought I was dead, and the nurses had apparently done nothing to assuage this fear. I glared at the nurse that was present over Sasuke's shoulder, but her reaction to my presence said that perhaps they hadn't been sure about my recovery. Well then, I suppose they didn't have much experience with Tsukuyomi. So I returned the hug to the best of my ability, making rather obvious gestures behind his back until the nurse got the picture and left.

When Sasuke had finally recovered enough to speak we both sat on the bed that was in the room, with him helping me get up there seeing as my limbs still weren't cooperating. He was talking even before I had settled.

"Where have you been? They wouldn't tell me about you, or let me leave. It's been two weeks…"

Well then, that is indeed a fucking long time. I had almost been expecting the good month that Kakashi had been stuck in during the first series. He spoke again before I could find my voice.

"It was Itachi."

The hate there caused me to wince.

"He killed them. All of them. I'm going to kill him, avenge all of them. He told me I didn't have enough hate-"

Before he could go into the entire spiel I found my voice, croaky and cringe worthy thing that it was at this point. Jeez I hadn't even found a glass of water there when I woke up.

"Impossible."

He stopped, giving me a funny look.

"What are you talking about?"

"He couldn't have. Did he show you the same illusions he showed me?"

He nodded, apparently picking up that that is where I had been this entire time.

"Please, several hundred Shinobi on their home turf, most of them older and more experienced than him? I know he was a genius or something, but even the best start to falter a bit at a hundred to one. Add civilians into that and you get a big pile of nope. There's no fucking way. We aren't getting the whole story."

Before he could interject I held a hand up.

"You and Naruto always want to know my opinion, it seems a bit counterproductive to not take it now that the stakes are a bit higher."

So he sat back on his pillows, willing to listen.

"What do you think is really going on then, you saw it, you know what happened."

I snorted, "Yes, there were also several days worth of illusions where I was tortured and killed. It isn't all memory. None of it has to be actually."

He winced eyes wide, and I realized something. His brother hadn't had the heart to torture him as well.

"Oh. Just me then. Okay, good to know. Anyway, certain reactions of both civilians and Shinobi made no sense. Fubiki-san begged for her life. I know for a fact that she'd be more likely to try and shank him with her knitting needles than to try and prolong her own life by demeaning herself."

He nodded reluctantly, giving me a point for that one. It said so much about this society that the two of us were able to speak about the deaths of those sort of close to us, having seen it, as if it were the price of pocky.

"Some of them had no faces. The light of the moon surged to cover exactly how they died. Do you know why he would do that?"

When he shook his head I rolled my eyes,

"He didn't kill them himself! He didn't know how it happened, so he needed to cover his ass in case we checked. If he said person one was impaled and persons two, three, and four were turned into crispy critters but in reality they were all beheaded then the remains are evidence in and of themselves. He wasn't alone, that much is obvious just from the sheer numbers coupled with the size of the compound and the time restraint. It wasn't all him. That, just that one factor, invalidates all other theories. The why, being the most important. Why he did it no longer makes sense. The whole thing is a cluster fuck actually. But one thing I know for sure, the only thing Itachi has to do with all of this, is scapegoat."

Sasuke didn't look like he wanted to accept,

"But he said-

"We are alive. The two of us. Out of all of those in the compound. With me, granted, makes no sense other than being your friend. But you, you're his little brother. You said he was having arguments with your parents, that he wasn't agreeing with sneaky little things the clan was up to. But you, you're still here. It wouldn't fit with his image as scapegoat if he just gave you a hug and said sorry before he fucked off. No, he needed to give you a bullshit reason for 'sparing' your life. Did he give you one for sparing mine?"

He shook his head.

"He actually told me that you were dead."

I raised an eyebrow at that, making a rather obvious and sarcastic event out of checking my own pulse at my wrist.

"No, no, I think I'm good."

I glanced towards the door, taking note of the chakra signatures around us. Just some rather flustered ANBU, also thinking through what I'd indirectly told them.

"Let's get out of here. I need a nap. In my own bed. And chocolate. A fuck ton of chocolate. And my book, yeah that's nice."

I slipped down from the bed, stretching my now compliant arms for a bit. Chakra, oh how I love thee. I went through the little closet, grabbing a pair of shorts and a black shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back. I stepped into the bathroom, changing out of the hospital gown and leaving it on the sink. When I stepped out Sasuke looked exasperated.

"Well, come on, do you want to stay here?"

He shook his head vigorously so I closed my eyes focusing more on the chakra static around me.

"We've got a window coming up in a few seconds, unless one of the medics around here has hella chakra hiding abilities. That is, assuming all your little guards let us escape."

There was no answer, obviously, other than some of them trying to hide from me. I rolled my eyes, please. I'd been honing this since birth, practically. That natural aptitude I have, most likely inherited from my mystery parents, coupled with my experience in a world without it made me one bitchen sensor.

"I'll take that as a 'go for it'. Awesome. Thanks guys, love you too."

I deadpanned it, shooting a thumbs up and the largest chakra signature before grabbing Sasuke's hand and opening the door. The signatures followed us discreetly, probably using genjutsu of some sort to remain invisible. It took forever to get to my apartment, and when we got there we found Naruto sitting at my kitchen table, just staring at the wooden surface dejectedly. When he saw us he lost his mind, crushing the both of us in a hug and sobbing his words out.

"I didn't know what happened, no one would tell me what was going on, everyone was saying that everybody in the compound was killed and and and, you guys and Kado and Kazuo, and Mikoto-san and Itachi-kun and-"

Sasuke's tensing cut him off pretty effectively so I sighed, struggling out of the group hug and going to make tea, my limbs weak and stomach feeling a bit funny. From the bandages on my arms and the slight sting that meant a needle used to be there, coupled with the pain in my throat even before I tried to use it, I had been on some form of life support, feeding tube and all. They'd not known what was going on and pulled the plug on me, recently, too. They'd either given up on me and left me to die, or they'd known I was going to wake up soon. That last theory wasn't supported by the face that nurse had made at me, but maybe she was just surprised to see me moving around.

I pulled some left overs out of the fridge to heat up, noting grimly that I was skinnier, smaller than before. A hospital stay generally didn't do good things for ones weight. Sasuke did a pretty good job telling the story, his account as well as my theories, while I puttered about providing food like always. I sat down finally, feeling the strain I was putting on myself. The only thing keeping me moving was chakra and caffeine from the tea I was sipping. I kept out of the debate, right up until Naruto asked what we were going to do, and Sasuke started to get that broody look that belonged on a different version of him. I smacked the back of his head, not as strongly as I would like, but my strength was mostly going towards keeping me upright and breathing at the moment.

"Try again. We are six years old, there is one option. We are going to wait patiently. We are going to plan, train, and discreetly investigate. But for now, we are going to go to sleep, because honestly I'm kind of surprised I'm still breathing at this point. Where did the nurses say you were going to stay?"

Sasuke shrugged, looking at the floor,

"The Hokage said the council ruled that none of the clans were allowed to take me in, politics he said. They ruled that I could take care of myself, live in my old house."

I snorted,

"That is a psychological breakdown in the making. We'll fix that bullshit in the morning, it's a fort kind of night."

They didn't need to be told twice. Naruto was the most enthusiastic of the two of course, Sasuke was quiet, broody, of course he would be. But he had smiled a few times already, and I could hear him bantering with his friend almost like before. He would recover. I think the shock of finding me alive after all did something to right a few things in him. I put my tea down, eyeing where I knew the ANBU to be, hiding in my kitchen for once, rather than outside like usual. This was one of the lower chakra levels, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. When I was sure the boys couldn't hear me over their own banter I looked right to where I was pretty sure his eyes were based on the size of the chakra and height of the average male in Konoha.

"You know, you guys could be helpful instead of playing strong silent type."

When I got no reaction I continued.

"We might get ourselves hurt bumbling around in this, you know."

Still nothing. I shrugged, sighing.

"Let it not be said that I didn't try to get adults involved. Fine, be that way. But I really do think you should look into the why a bit more. Just...accepting that one of your own cracked and killed everyone...doesn't fit. Then again, if someone had enough influence to make sure that story was accepted...perhaps this goes further up the food chain than we'd like to think."

I caught a whiff of reaction from the guy, but not enough to tell what it was. I could only hope he wasn't angry with me for sticking my nose into things. Nothing for it. The boys were silent now, from their chakra I could tell that they had passed out. I put the dishes in the sink before stumbling into the living room catching myself onto the doorframe, rubbing at my neck where he'd liked to slit my throat every now and then. I caught myself, forcing my hand down as I proceeded to the little nest they'd left for me. It was probably unhealthy to go back to sleep so soon after a coma, but I couldn't help myself, descending into oblivion.

~TimeLordOfPie