Of all the missions Hisako had been on, she wasn't expecting a mission to be as boring as this one. Then again, she should be grateful for the boredom. She had been assigned to go on a simple C-ranked mission with Sasuke. Usually, a four-man squad would be assigned to something like this, but with the Shinobi forces being thinned out due to Orochimaru's attack on the village, Lady Tsunade started cutting corners when needed.

Hisako gazed at Sasuke. He was walking at the front of the caravan while Hisako was protecting the rear. Their mission was to escort this caravan to a nearby town and then return to the village. They were about four hours away from the designated town and so far, they haven't met any resistance.

She just wished that Sasuke would have at least spoken to her. But ever since their encounter with Itachi, Sasuke became more distant. Hisako didn't like what she was seeing from her cousin. It seemed like ever since that day, his darkness had grown. Like it was fueled by seeing Itachi and it was going to completely consume him.

What concerned Hisako even more was Orochimaru's Cursemark. If Sasuke allowed his hatred to consume him, then the cursemark would consume his body as well. Hisako didn't believe that even she could save him if he allowed the mark to take control. But, she felt powerless as she watched him grow further and further away from her. Was there anything she could do to stop him?

Four hours later, they arrived at the town with no incident.

"Thank you so much! It's because of you two shinobi that we got here safely!" The younger gentleman with short black hair wearing a suit gratefully shook her and Sasuke's hands.

Sasuke scoffed, diverting his gaze. "It's not like you needed us. There wasn't any resistance. It was a total waste of time."

"S-Sasuke!" Hisako scolded before turning back to the gentleman who hired them, giving him an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry! I'm glad you got to the village safely. Be sure to reach out to us again if you're in need of our services!"

"Oh! But you two were needed! Why, just your presence alone was enough to scare away any potential robbers. You Genin from the Leaf are something else!"

Hisako bowed before walking away with Sasuke. The sun was setting, so they would have to camp out tonight before they returned to the Leaf Village. Hisako frowned as she stared at her cousin.

Missions seemed a lot more fun when she was with Team Guy. She let out a small sigh, her fingers grazing the compass that was in her kunai knife pouch. Neji was going on his first B-ranked solo mission. And while Hisako was super excited for him, she was still worried. They were both due back to the Leaf Village the same day and she only hoped that he would make it back in one piece.

"If you're worried about your boyfriend, I wouldn't be," Sasuke said, drawing Hisako from her thoughts.

Hisako's cheeks flushed bright red. "B-boyfriend?" she stammered.

"Yeah. Neji is the strongest in your graduating class. I heard stories of how he fought in the Chuunin Exams. He'll be fine."

Hisako sighed. "Yeah. I suppose you're right,"

"What I don't understand is why send the last two Uchiha on such a pointless mission like this," Sasuke continued, his gaze darting behind them to the town.

"The Leaf Village is short on capable Shinobi right now. We must all do our part so that the village can maintain its standing with the other nations. We get a good portion of our fortune from the missions that the Shinobi go on. These missions are important!" Hisako replied.

That was when they felt the earth rumble and heard a deafening boom from the town they just left.

"The town!" Sasuke yelled.

Both Hisako and Sasuke turned around, running back as quickly as they could. When they got there, they were met with pure chaos. A band of rogue shinobi were setting buildings on fire. Innocent victims were screaming as they fled their burning homes and shops.

"What's going on?" Hisako shouted as another explosion went off.

"I don't know, but we're stopping this!" Sasuke yelled.

He charged for the nearest rogue and threw a good kick in his direction. The rogue went flying into nearby crates.

Hisako stood back, her Sharingan activated as she counted how many rogues there were. "Five, six, seven…Ten! There are ten rogues!"

"Ten?" Sasuke shouted back. He let out a low growl, his dark eyes narrowing as he activated his Sharingan. "Hisako, evacuate the townspeople. Then come help me with the rogue."

"Understood!"

Hisako trusted Sasuke's judgment as she ran for the nearest building. She helped an elderly man to his feet.

"We're evacuating the town! Please, leave!" Hisako urged, pushing him towards the nearby forest.

It was a horrible sight, seeing all the innocent people fleeing from their homes. She found a woman with an infant in her arms standing terrified as she stared at a burning home.

"Please! You must leave!" Hisako shouted, running over to the lady.

Her hands grabbed onto the lady's shoulders as she turned big teary eyes to Hisako.

"My husband, he's—he's in there," she sobbed, gazing at the burning house.

Hisako gasped and took a few steps towards the burning home. With her Sharingan, she was able to see through the flames and smoke. Sure enough, there was a man with a piece of cloth over his mouth, struggling to get through the fire. He collapsed to a knee. Hisako was running out of time.

"Stay here, I'll get him," Hisako ordered.

She brought out a piece of cloth she had in her pocket, wrapping it around her mouth and nose as she ran into the burning building. The fire creaked and crackled and the hot flames kissed her skin. Timber fell just inches from her. After focusing, It didn't take her long to reach the man. She got to him right as the base of a support beam broke, collapsing a portion of the roof directly above them. Hisako grabbed his arm and threw themselves out of the way of the falling roof.

There was a loud boom as it crashed down next to them. Hisako's lungs burned. Not even the cloth was enough to fully protect her from the smoke. She grimaced as she got to her feet, carrying most of the man's weight as she managed to pull them both out of the burning house.

The woman with the infant was sobbing in relief when she saw them finally emerge from the fire. She rushed over, her hand resting on the man's burned cheek.

"Oh Riku!" the woman cried, concerned eyes darting to Hisako.

"He'll be okay, he's got some burns and he inhaled some smoke, but I don't think anything is fatal," Hisako told her, trying to give her a confident smile.

The woman looked relieved before her expression turned to terror and she let out a scream. Hisako turned just in time to see one of the rogues lunging for them, a sword in his hand. Hisako froze. With the man having already closed the distance, she wasn't going to be quick enough to block his attack!

But, Sasuke was there. There was a clank as he blocked the sword with a kunai, the metal groaning as they struggled to overpower the other.

"Sasuke!" Hisako shouted.

"Go Hisako, now!" Sasuke ordered.

Hisako nodded and ushered the family away from the fight. She found another fleeing man and handed Riku, who was barely conscious, over to the other man.

"Please, get his family out of the town. See that Riku gets medical attention," Hisako said gently.

She turned back to the chaos that was happening in the town as the family evacuated. Her Sharingan saw that four enemies remained. Sasuke was making quick work of them but now it was time for Hisako to help. She ran for the town, drawing out some kunai knives herself. She threw them toward one rogue who was trying to sneak up on Sasuke from his rear, about ready to throw knives into Sasuke's back. Hisako's knives hit their target first.

The rogue screamed as he fell to the ground the knives she threw embedded into his back. Hisako landed right beside her cousin, turning so their backs were facing each other.

"Let's take on these last three back to back, shall we?" Hisako asked, a grin on her face.

Even though she wasn't looking at Sasuke, she could sense his smile.

"Good, I'm getting sick of these losers."

Together, as one team, they took on the last three rogues who remained. They blocked and lunged together as one. They made up for each other's weaknesses, when Hisako's foot slipped Sasuke was there to compensate. Taking her place to deliver the final blow to their enemy and Hisako protected Sasuke's back ensuring no one got through their defenses. It was like they had done this a million times. A perfect dance of fists and kicks and blades as they fought the rogue.

"It's time we wrap this up!" Hisako shouted, throwing her hands to the ground. "Ice floor!"

Two of the three rogues got trapped up to their ankles in ice and Sasuke, already knowing this attack, jumped up into the air. The two rogues struggled with the thick ice around their ankles but their struggles were in vain.

"Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled and a massive fireball engulfed the two rogues.

They screamed and Hisako couldn't bring herself to watch the effect of such an attack. But, that was the life of a shinobi. If these rogues wanted to attack this town, then, that was the consequence. Tears burned her eyes at the smell of burning flesh and the burned bodies fell to the ground with a thump.

"We have one more left," Sasuke observed, coming to stand beside Hisako as the ice melted and hissed on the hot ground.

"Two Genin from the Leaf did all this to my gang?" the remaining rogue said, his brown eyes taking in the sight of his gang.

Bodies of their enemies littered the town, and Sasuke and Hisako were completely unscathed. Hisako hadn't realized it until now, but Sasuke didn't show these men any mercy. As she took a moment to take in the scene herself, she realized the mangled bodies that scattered the town. And with a small sting of horror, realized that her cousin was the one who did this.

"And we're about to do the same with you," Hisako replied, stepping towards him.

The rogue charged the two Genin. Hisako raised her hands, forming a circle in front of her as a bright ball of chakra formed there.

"Ice Cannon Ball Jutsu!" she shouted.

A large ball of ice and chakra flew towards the man and a wave of satisfaction went through Hisako as the attack hit him dead on.

"It's a substitution!" Sasuke yelled the moment their opponent turned into a wooden log with a hole through it.

Hisako gasped, her Sharingan darting to a nearby rooftop where she saw movement. Sasuke saw him before she did and he lunged for that rooftop. She gave chase too, jumping from roof to roof as the man fled into the nearby woods. They finally caught up to him in a clearing where there was a river running through it.

Hisako gasped when she realized what hand signs their opponent was performing.

"It's the Water Dragon!" Hisako yelled.

She stepped in front of Sasuke, throwing her hand down as she concentrated her chakra into the palm of her hand. The power in her hand chirped like a thousand birds and she felt the power singe her skin as she charged the Water Dragon that was flying towards them. She jumped into the air, hitting the dragon dead on as water exploded around her.

The man dodged her Chidori, but Sasuke was already standing right where he was landing. In perfect timing Sasuke threw a punch, hitting him square in the jaw, sending him flying headlong into a tree.

Hisako stood up, a smile on her face. "Good! Now we can turn him in to the authorities,"

Hisako paused as she saw Sasuke stalk towards the man. His aura cold, unapproachable, deadly. She wanted to believe that Sasuke wouldn't be capable of this. There was something dark about Sasuke. His hand grew bright with the Chidori as Hisako stood up.

"Sasuke? What are you doing?" Hisako shouted, rushing for her cousin.

The man slowly regained consciousness, his expression panicked as he saw Sasuke looming over him like a tiger about the strike down his prey. Hisako got to him right before he could kill the man with the Chidori, her hands grabbing onto Sasuke's arm.

"Sasuke! Stop this! He doesn't deserve death, not like this!"

Sasuke's body tensed, and he turned his hard glare onto Hisako. "Yes, he does! Didn't you see what he did to that town? He was going to kill everyone there! Men like him deserve only one thing."

His muscles tensed in his arms and he pushed Hisako off of him. She fell into the dirt with a thump, her eyes widened in panic as she got to her feet again. Something had changed with Sasuke. This wasn't like him at all. He would never try to kill someone like this!

"Sasuke, stop this!" Hisako yelled.

She charged him again, this time she grabbed his arm that held the Chidori. She felt his chakra sear her skin as she used her body weight to divert his blow away from the man. His Chidori collided with the tree and Hisako screamed as she was pelted by shards of bark. The shards bit into her skin, drawing blood. She tried to close her eyes but felt something stabbing her left eye.

She stumbled back colliding with Sasuke as her hands went up to cover her left eye. Blood seeped down her face and from multiple other wounds from the bark.

"Hisako! Why would you do that? What the Hell were you thinking?" Sasuke shouted.

She felt his hands grabbing her shoulders, but that caused a whole new level of pain as his fingers brushed the hundreds of splinters sticking out from her skin. She screamed, pushing Sasuke off her. She was trembling. Her remaining eye noticed the man trying to escape. She let out a low growl and brought her fist up. There was no way in Hell she was letting him escape now. Not after what she just did to save his damned life!

She threw her fist forward, making contact with his gut. The man fell to the ground unconscious.

She turned her undilated rage back to her cousin. "What the Hell was I thinking? What were you thinking?"

Hisako motioned to the man at her feet. "Kill him? You seriously wanted to kill him?"

"Hisako! You're bleeding, we need to—"

"Oh, screw you! I'm only a pincushion right now because I had to save a man's life! From you!" she interrupted. "What the Hell has gotten into you? Have you seriously lost your mind? You're such a jerk!"

"He was trying to kill everyone, Hisako! You're really defending him when he wanted to kill everyone in the town?" Sasuke yelled back, stepping closer to her.

Hisako didn't back down, "That doesn't give us the right to play executioner! Now that we have him, he can pay for his crimes through justice. Sure, if he was really a threat to us and he ended up dead for self-defense, that's one thing. But, he wasn't even able to continue fighting!

"You know what? Ugh! This is a conversation for later. We're taking him to the town's authorities and I'm dealing with my wounds and then I'll deal with what splinters your arm has."

Hisako's hand still covered her left eye. Her eye was throbbing. She wasn't sure what she could do about it. Her medical field training didn't cover eye injuries too much. But, she had to make due until they got to the Leaf Village. And then from there, she'd have to pray that Lady Tsunade could heal her eye and that she wouldn't lose her vision.

An hour later, Hisako was given a small corner in a tent by one of the towns people so she could deal with her wounds. It felt near torturous to have to pull out the splinters herself. Especially when she had to dig one out. After about an hour of pulling the splinters from her body and wrapping up her wounds, including her eye, she tended to Sasuke's wounds as well even if he was the one who caused the whole thing.

"How's your eye?" Sasuke asked, his voice quiet.

Hisako's good eye narrowed in rage, irritating her injured eye that still ached and burned. She let out a low growl before replying.

"Oh, like you give a damn," she retorted standing up and shoving the gauze back in her bag.

She turned her back to Sasuke and walked out of the tent.

"Hisako! Of course I care," Sasuke yelled, running after her. "You're my cousin!"

"You know what, let's just get home. We can talk on the way or something," Hisako barked, jumping into the trees toward the Leaf Village.

The sun had fully set by the time they decided to make camp for the night. The campfire was crackling in front of them, providing warmth against the chilly night. It had been silent between the two cousins for hours. Neither one of them had anything to say to the other.

"How's your eye feeling?" Sasuke asked quietly.

He shot Hisako a worried glance which Hisako ignored, keeping her good eye locked on the fire.

"It's fine," she replied quietly.

It was a lie. It wasn't fine. Her left eye still hurt like Hell. It was some of the worst burning searing pain she's experienced in her life. And because of it, she had a killer migraine for the rest of the day.

"You should have let me kill him."

Hisako lifted her gaze to Sasuke, her eye narrowing on her cousin. "Like Hell I would. What has gotten into you? Have you really been allowing your hatred to fester like this? To this extent? We've had this conversation before."

"And my answer is still the same," Sasuke retorted.

Hisako bit the inside of her mouth to draw her attention away from the pain so she could concentrate on this conversation. She tasted the tangy taste of blood in her mouth and sighed.

"Do you remember the day we saw Itachi?"

Sasuke's gaze hardened on Hisako and his entire body tensed like just mentioning his brother would summon him here.

"What about that day?"

"I asked him why."

Hisako's voice was quiet, but Sasuke heard her. His posture shifted towards her. He didn't want to show it, but that interested him.

"And I know what he told you now. All those years ago. But, I also know now that we're not seeing the whole picture."

"What the Hell are you talking about? He destroyed the entire clan! What more is there?"

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe someone else is pulling the strings? Sasuke! You knew Itachi better than me. Has he ever done anything out of a desire for power? To get stronger? No! Itachi was never that way! What if we're looking at this the wrong way? What if Itachi isn't the enemy?"

"Stop it, Hisako! Just shut up! He is the enemy! I saw everything with my own eyes! And I will avenge my clan!"

"What if he's the wrong target? What if you're wrong? Have you ever thought about how it's possible for one person, no matter how talented, could destroy an entire clan full of powerful Shinobi with an even more powerful Kekkei Genkai? I don't think that feat is possible for even Itachi! I'm telling you, Sasuke, we're not seeing the whole picture!"

Sasuke's rage consumed him. Hisako saw the moment it took over. She knew this conversation would be risky, but she was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would have the ears to listen to his cousin. He lunged for Hisako and his rough hands grabbed her upper arms throwing her to the ground. She closed her remaining eye and shrieked, wincing in pain as he sat on top of her, seething in rage and hatred.

"I will kill Itachi. If you want to side with him, then you're my enemy too," Sasuke growled, just inches from her face.

Hisako's remaining eye went wide, and her heart clenched in fear as she stared up at her cousin. Tears streamed down her cheek, and her hurt eye stung.

"I am not your enemy Sasuke, but you need to get off me," Hisako replied, her voice quiet and calm despite the dangerous aura that seeped off of Sasuke.

He heard the hidden threat in Hisako's words and his hands loosened on her arms. He got off her and sat a few feet away not making eye contact. She got up on her knees, brushing herself off. Her entire body trembled from the adrenaline rushing through her from that encounter. She knew he was angry, knew that conversation would insight rage in him, but for him to go as far as to attack her?

"You're planning on going with Orochimaru, aren't you?" Hisako asked after a few moments of silence.

Sasuke didn't respond for a long while, and when Hisako thought he would,'t respond at all, he spoke, "I was hoping you'd come with me. Willingly."

Hisako gasped, her eye shooting in his direction in shock and she sat speechless. What did he just say? Her mind reeled over his words, panic coursed through her veins. Why does he want her to go with him? She wasn't expecting that.

Sasuke finally lifted his gaze to her again. "You're still a Uchiha. You're still my cousin. You need to become stronger, just like me. Orochimaru can provide that for both of us. And, I don't want to leave you alone."

It was Hisako's turn to rage as she stared at her cousin. She bared her teeth.

"You really think I would actually, willingly, go with you? Unlike you, Sasuke, after I lost everyone I ever loved, after I lost my entire village, I decided to move on! I found life again. Found people to love again! I rebuilt my entire life, everything I am in the Leaf Village! And I will not leave my home! I love the Leaf far too much to ever betray them like that! And just the fact that you're even considering betraying all of us, how could you? Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi Sensei—"

"I don't care about any of them! Don't you understand? The only reason I have to live now is to avenge my clan!"

She couldn't understand how someone could be so ungrateful. How someone could disregard everything and everyone. Just cast them aside so easily. She understood the pain of losing everything. But, she couldn't understand this.

"Why!? Tell me why!? You have the chance to move on! To be happy! You have an amazing team and an amazing village! You have an amazing opportunity to—"

"It's not good enough! And nothing will be good enough until he is dead!"

There was another long pause between them and Hisako stood up, tears welling in her eyes. "I see."

Her voice was so quiet she didn't know if he heard her. She didn't care. She turned her back on her cousin, walking to the other side of the clearing. She curled up under one of the large trees and tried to get some sleep.

The next day, they made it back to the Leaf Village. Again, neither one of them spoke to the other. But, they returned to the village at the same time that Neji did. Hisako felt relief wash through her as she saw Neji casually walking down the path to the Leaf Village just a few hundred meters ahead of them. From this distance, he looked completely unharmed. It looked like his mission went a lot more smoothly than Hisako's and Sasuke's.

"Neji!" Hisako called out in excitement.

She rushed over to him, breaking away from where Sasuke was. Neji stopped and turned around, his eyes grew soft as he saw Hisako approach, but then his gaze became hard when he noticed the bandages on her.

"Hisako! What happened?" Neji asked, his hand gently resting on her upper arm.

They waited for Sasuke to catch up to them and Hisako gave Neji a weak smile. "I'm alright. Was your mission okay?"

Neji scoffed, turning his attention away from them. "It was an A ranked but there wasn't a single enemy to fight."

"While ours was a B ranked turned A," Hisako grumbled, looking over her shoulder at Sasuke.

He stood with his arms crossed, looking at everything but Neji and Hisako.

"Your eye," Neji began, his fingers grazing the gauze that covered her injured eye.

Hisako's gaze dropped and she shrugged. "I don't know. I'm hoping Lady Tsunade can tell me more."

"Then let's get to the Leaf Village." Neji rested his hand on the small of Hisako's back as they made their way back to the village.

Once back, they all reported to Lady Tsunade's office. Lady Tsunade's first reaction was to gawk at Hisako.

"What on Earth-"

Hisako cut Lady Tsunade off and walked to her desk. "I was turned into a human pincushion when a tree exploded. Please tell me you can fix my eye."

She pointed to her wrapped-up eye before placing both hands down on the Hokage's desk.

Lady Tsunade raised an eyebrow and stood up from her chair eyeing Hisako and Sasuke. "Alright. How about we all go to the hospital so I can look at your eye and you kids can give me your mission reports there?"

On the way there, Sasuke and Hisako gave Lady Tsunade the rundown of their mission, avoiding any exact details of how the tree exploded and why Sasuke's arm was the only thing caught in the explosion while Hisako's entire upper half of her body was turned into a pincushion. But, Hisako wasn't sure if any of them there bought their story completely. Everyone knew the two Uchiha were withholding information about that incident.

But, Hisako wasn't sure how to tell them about what Sasuke did. She didn't know if she could rat on her cousin like that. She stopped him, and that's all that mattered, right?

"Well, you're lucky," Lady Tsunade began as she looked at Hisako's reddened swollen eye, "the cornea was ripped, but there wasn't any significant damage. I got all of the debris out of your eye, so now just put these drops in your eye for a few days and you'll need to wear an eyepatch for a few days. You'll make a full recovery."

Neji's mission report was a lot more boring than Hisako's and Sasuke's. Nothing happened on his mission and he was supposed to be the one who ran into trouble! After Lady Tsunade took a look at her other puncture wounds and Sasuke's wounds as well, they were re-wrapped and they were all free to leave the hospital.

Neji and Hisako sat in a meadow that they had come across in the forests surrounding the village that night. Hisako was safely nestled in Neji's arms, her head resting on his shoulder as his hand drew idle circles in her back.

"Hisako, something happened with Sasuke on your mission. The tree didn't just explode. And you didn't just protect him. What actually happened?"

Hisako let out a soft sigh but she didn't show any signs of moving. Her eyes were closed as she recounted the events to Neji. No use in lying to him at the very least.

"He tried to kill a defeated rogue on the mission with his Chidori. I stepped in… redirected his attack. It hit the tree and that's how I was hurt," Hisako explained quietly.

Neji stiffened under Hisako, his hand stilled on her back and she felt his gaze on her.

"Somethings wrong with the path Sasuke is on, Neji. He's going to do something horrible. Something he's going to regret… And I… I have to stop him."