Chapter 7

There had been…an incident.

One that was great enough to be on the lips of every citizen of Konoha. Be it the civilians to the jonin. It was such a big deal that the academy's had even closed down temporarily. Not only were there whispers and rumors, but there was crying. Wails in the streets could be heard just about every other hour.

The people were calling it the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

In the span of one night, the entire clan had been annihilated. All except two, that is. Not only that, but the rumors circulating pointed fingers at one person in particular being the cause.

Itachi Uchiha.

You…had never met him personally. Only knowing him from reputation or second hand knowledge. The idea that someone like him was hiding in your midst was…enraging. Of course, that was only if the rumors were true.

But considering that people weren't even considering it a rumor at this point was…sad. Kushina didn't show much in the way of emotion except for wearing a constant tight lipped frown. Your teammate Rin on the other hand, she seemed a lot more devastated by the event.

You and Megumi took turns in trying to make her feel better. Something that only seemed to work after you both had taken her to the Memorial Stone, and then the cemetery. In the cemetery she seemed taken to a specific grave. One that seemed to have her father over it as well, if the way she clung to him was any indication.

She cried her father's name while hugging him tight. Kakashi huh? His name sounded somewhat familiar, but you couldn't place where you've heard it.

You quickly retreated from the Konoha cemetery. It made you feel…rather uneasy. Your arms would start to get a certain itch that couldn't be scratched. It was harmless enough, but the further in the cemetery you went, or the longer you stayed the worse it would become.

You disliked the cemetery primarily for that reason. Megumi seemed equally uneasy in it. So at least there was that.

After you and your clan received the news of the Uchiha Clan Massacre you…all visited. To not only give your condolences, but to help…uh…clean up the compound. You worked and constructed a lot of graves, and in doing so saw a lot of grieving individuals.

There was one lady who had been engaged to one of the Uchiha you were burying. You had spelled his name slightly wrong on the gravestone, and for some reason she just couldn't stop laughing. Not even when her tears started to flow.

There wasn't much of a service to each individual Uchiha. There was simply too many bodies. So what had to be done was just one massive service for all involved. You hadn't ever seen such a large coalition of individuals ever get together for one thing. It would seem the entire village had chosen to mourn the fallen clan.

The survivors…they hadn't taken things very well. The massacre had left its marks rather deep, literally and metaphorically. Satsuki Uchiha, the sister of Itachi had survived. Physically unscathed, but apparently she had been put through a genjutsu by her brother to relieve the entire massacre and her parent's being killed in front of her.

It had…changed her. Despite her putting in the effort, she needed Kushina's help in order to get her clan's affair's straighten up. Something that had been rather difficult to achieve.

Satsuki's mother, Mikoto Uchiha was the other survivor.

While Satsuki had been mentally effected, Mikoto Uchiha had been much more physical. She had been cut down the length of her back, cutting into her spinal column. Somehow she had survived, but she would never walk again.

Not only that, but she was missing her eyes. Which would mean she also no longer seemed to have the ability to see. Though Kushina seemed positive that there was a way to get an eye transplant and fix that. You were a bit…less positive of such an outcome.

Mikoto also seemed to be slowly recovering. Only being able to be awake for an hour before falling back into sleep once more. Her words would be mumbled, but occasionally she'd be able to say something coherent.

Which would usually be directed at her daughter who was almost always at her side.

Kushina had offered Satsuki and Mikoto to stay at their place but had been refused. Whether it was because of pride or lingering attachments you had no idea. But Kushina had respected her wishes.

Instead Kushina intended to make scheduled visits in order to help out. Mostly in order to help take care of Mikoto, that way Satsuki could focus more on her studies. It was a slow but sure process that saw Satsuki slowly detach herself from constantly being by her mothers side.

The experience left a rather bitter taste in your mouth. The fact that someone could kill and maim their parents, to kill their best friends…

Half of your memories of Shisui had him talking about Itachi. How much he respected him, how Itachi was the greatest of guys, the strongest. His best friend.

Shisui had reportedly died shortly before the massacre, and his death hadn't been publicly reported. Likely due to them finding his 'suicide' suspicious. It was made evident that Itachi must have taken care of him. And in by doing so, your memories of Shisui had become tainted.

Tainted by a stain known simply as Itachi.




*~o~*
When Kushina made her visits to Mikoto, you went along as well. Helping not only in menial tasks around the compound, but also spending time with Satsuki was well. Though the majority of time she seemed to want to be alone in her room.

In between missions you and Kushina would occasionally travel to the compound, checking everything out. Making sure everything was clean and in order. As well as checking in on Mikoto.

She had gotten well enough to be able to at least be awake for a good amount of time. She was at least able to attend to most of her…uh, well, private matters on her own now. Which mostly left just keeping her company. Something that she seemed to find rather valuable.

Afterwards you'd just hang around the Uchiha compound. Sometimes practicing, sometimes just…wandering around. Remembering the times where you'd just talk to Shisui. Another frown found itself onto your lips.

You weren't very surprised by the appearance of Satsuki. This was her home after all. You were surprised at her bowing in a 90 degree angle at the waist though.

"Please, teach me! Make me stronger!"

Well, you certainly didn't see a reason to say no. You showed her taijutsu tricks, as well as shurikenjutsu, and even kenjutsu. She seemed to be especially interested in the last one. Seeming to prefer using a straight sword.

You thought at first that she was doing this to become stronger. So that something like this could never happen again to her. But the way she started to talk to you, to open up…it seemed like perhaps that was simply an excuse to talk to someone. Namely you.

After your first night of progress, she was rather tired afterwards. You had put her through the ringer after all. If you were going to train might as well be all out right? Dirt matted parts of her face as sweat practically coated her body.

"H-hey, are you done?"

She panted out, attempting to get her breath back after practice. You looked down at her before suddenly feeling a light buzzing feeling near the back of your head. Your eyes immediately darting over to the uchiha compound wall. There was nothing on it of course, but it felt like…something was beyond it?

"Yeah, we're done for today."

You said, half your attention already focused on whatever your senses was picking up. As Satsuki was still panting and catching her breath bent over, she didn't see that you had already turned your entire body away from her.

"…It's uh…it's kind of late…"

You gave a noncommital hum as you felt the buzz lessen. Was it getting further away?

"C-can…can you maybe…sleep with me tonight? I don't want to be alone."

You blinked as you registered Satsuki's words. Looking back at her she seemed to be trying to meet your gaze while blushing furiously.

Well. You hadn't expected that.


*~o~*
Satsuki's room was a tad bit different from the last time you had gone in. Before it had been plain and clean, now it was just…plain and dirty. Sheets were scattered around the place. Trash was littered around the room as well as a bunch of crumpled paper. Probably writing attempts to get her clan affairs in order while her mom was out of it.

You had to shuffle in ankle deep discarded clothes, scraps of paper, and other such garbage in order to follow after her. You had assumed she'd have pulled out some sort of cot for you to sleep on next to her, but instead she simply motioned towards the bed.

It was by the wall, which meant the first person would have to slide over to the wall and become entrapped. Which meant it'd suck to suddenly have to pee. Despite this you acquiesced to Satsuki's demands.

Sliding on top of the bed and turning your back to her and facing the wall. Of course you had already slipped into your pajamas at this point, who wouldn't? Which meant all that was left was to pull the sheets over you and go to bed.

"Good night."

You offered as you felt Satsuki's weight come down on the bed beside you. There was a brief pause before Satsuki seemed to adjust her position, getting closer to you. Then she wrapping her arms around you in a hug.

"Good night."

…The silence and time to simply attempt to fall asleep made something incredibly clear to you. It was becoming increasingly hard to ignore with every movement you made and every rustle of the sheets.

The Uchiha's…

Had some really fucking good beds. You were quite certain there was nothing like this in the Uzumaki compound. Was it a Uchiha trade secret, or simply something they splurged on?

Hmm. Perhaps you should merge the two clans then…

An idea ran through your head. An idea to simply use Satsuki's vulnerable state in order to gain everything from the Uchiha clan. To integrate them into your own clan through blood.

You immediately felt bad upon having such a thought. That was…simply way too much. There was going all out for your clan, and of course you'd always put them first but…

You were certain that wasn't the way you wanted to go about things. Besides, you owed it to Shisui to help out as much as possible. Not that you particularly cared, or anything. He had just been a...good friend…

Sleep was quick to find you.





*~o~*




You woke up in a tangle of limbs. Satsuki and you seemingly having moved around in sleep and settled in a strange position. Satsuki had completely reversed her position in which her head was now located near the bottom of the bed and was currently a few inches below your feet.

Which meant you were about face to face with her hips. Her pajama shirt having ridden up a bit in her sleep giving you a good look at her midriff. As well as the rising and fall of her stomach.

For some reason this made you feel strange. You weren't quite sure why, but it just did. Perhaps you had caught something? You were reluctant to wake fully and disturb Satsuki's sleep, so you simply waited for her to awake herself.

Which meant you simply looked at things till she woke up. As the main thing in your vision was Satsuki's body, you tended to focus on that. You found yourself focused on her pants. Perhaps it was because they had a myriad of Uchiha clan symbols going in every which direction.

Perception of time was lost until Satsuki started to shift once more. It wasn't long before the both of you climbed out of bed and started to get ready for your respective mornings.

"Thank you."

Satsuki offered, as well as giving once last hug before you left. You found your hand coming to the top of her head unbidden.

Hmm.

She seemed to be growing on you.

The smell of breakfast lead you to the kitchen in which Kushina seemed to be making food for everyone. Naruko was even here, for whatever reason. When Kushina saw you she made sure to give you a devilish look.

"Had a good night, Aoki?"

You nodded.

"It was pleasant enough. The Uchiha definitely have the best beds."

Kushina seemed lightly shocked before coughing into her hands.

"Oh. I see."

She didn't really seem to comment much after that. You didn't think too much about it anyway. Your mind was on todays mission with your team. It would be your fourth C Rank Mission this month. More experience and training would be nice for when the Chunin exams came up.

It would only be a matter of time.

*~o~*

It had taken awhile but thankfully Mikoto's eye surgery was finally coming up. Kushina had found a few available donor eyes in great condition. They were extremely pricey to you personally, but Kushina seemed to pay for them with ease.

Perhaps Kushina has a lot of money saved up? You did hear that jonin were paid pretty well by their village, and Kushina has been one for some time.

Though Mikoto was able to schedule her eye surgery with a rather well known doctor, there was a problem. Problem was that said doctor had their own rather tight schedule. Said schedule having to be while Kushina was out of the village on a mission, and Satsuki would be in the academy.

Satsuki offered to skipped but was admonished by her mother. Who seemed to not want Satsuki to make sacrifices in order to help her mom. Kushina didn't seem to even consider offering such an option.

Seeing as both Satsuki and Naruko were attending the academy, that left only you. Funnily enough you didn't actually have anything important going on. So it was something you might as well attend.

Mikoto seemed to not only recognize your voice, but also your footsteps. Addressing you by name as you came into the room and waited with her for the doctor. You made small talk as you both waited for him to arrive. Mostly about Satsuki and what little you knew about her actions at the academy through Naruko.

Finally the doctor had arrived. You and Mikoto greeted him as he entered. He seemed to be a pretty open and casual person. Personally when you thought of professional you thought of some more methodical and cold. So it was interesting to see a contrast.

Mikoto denied the need the need for any anesthetics that would knock her out completely. Wanting to be awake for it as much as possible. Which meant there wasn't going to be much in the way of pain relief.

You watched as Mikoto's eyelids were opened and the doctor got to work. It was a tad bit gruesome to see such work being performed, but you simply couldn't look away. Though you did feel like cringing slightly as the eyeball was slowly inserted into her eye.

Mikoto gripped your hand rather tightly and squeezing on occasion. But she never seemed to so much as grimace in pain. Simply enduring everything with a fixed look on her face. Though the grip on your hand told a slightly different story.

After awhile he had finished up. Apparently Mikoto could already see a bit, but it was extremely blurry. the doctor warned that it would take time for her to get used to them and to not strain herself. After a month her vision should return a bit, if not fully. Permanent damage to vision was common.

You decided to help see him off.

"Thank you, doctor Yakushi."

He waved off your thanks with a small smile. Adjusting his glasses as he regarded you coolly.

"Don't mention it. I was just doing my job. Nothing more and nothing less."

You gave a nod before seeing him out before coming back to Mikoto. A small stream of tears running down her face as she gripped you into a vice like hug. She seemed rather emotionally for getting her sight back. You said nothing and endured being squeezed by the woman.

…It took a few hours before she released you and let you finally leave.