Listen to the Medic-nin

"So… did Inochi say anything incriminating?" I ask the interrogator in front of me and he continues to say absolutely nothing. Is he trying to make me impatient and blurt something out? He's been like this for like ten minutes already. This guy and his mind games, I swear!

"Come on, don't leave me to overthink things here! You're giving me anxiety and shit, you know." I glance at the interrogation room. It is probably one of the 'better' ones, focused on detaining defectors from other villages or nobles from other countries. That's awfully sweet of them to put me in one of those. I guess I'm off the hook for now.

"Inochi Yamanaka finished performing a mind-walk, and gave a detailed report stating that you were a victim in the Uchiha massacre." The guy grits out. Woah, why did he sound disappointed because of that? Did I piss him off before or something? "You will be observed for suspicious activity for the foreseeable future. You will not be detained or restricted on where you go."

"Huh, that's surprisingly generous. What's the catch?" I ask, because it's a bloody ninja village, of course it's going to be a catch.

"You will convince Sasuke Uchiha to join the Ninja Academy." Ah, called it! Seriously though, that barely inconveniences me. He's a ninja in canon anyways, so I probably won't need to push him too much for it to happen again here. "That is all, you are dismissed." The guy drones out. "The paperwork will be taken care of by yours truly." Ah, that's why he looked disappointed earlier that I won't get jailed or something! Seriously, the paperwork here is no joke. So many columns, so many numbers! 

Well, better him than me! Sucks to suck, am I right or am I right?

"Alrighty then, I'll be leaving, if there's no more need for me to be here?" He nods, and the locked door opens with a long clang. Geez, finally! I'll rate this overall experience three stars, out of like a hundred. Won't ever come here again, hopefully.

I walk out of the T&I building as a free woman with a craving for burgers. Too bad the closest thing I have to decent food here are the BBQ and the ramen. Sushi as always are overpriced as fuck, and the only desert that I kind of tolerate is dango. It is pretty neat, but I seriously don't get how that snake girl in the show likes them that much. What was her name again, Anko?

"Uchiha." An ANBU addresses me respectfully, even bowing a little. I have to get used to this soon, or I might just grimace every time someone treats me like royalty in the future. One of the two only loyal surviving Uchiha and all.

One of three, actually, but people don't know that, and I have no intention of clearing that fuckwit's name. Fuck Itachi Uchiha. All my homies hate Itachi Uchiha. Motherfucker didn't have the balls to give me a fair fight, which I guess is in character for him. Still, it makes me want to bash his perfectly symmetrical face in.

That watch he has looks horrible, but he won't need to worry about that since his face will be looking infinitely worse after I'm done with him. And yes, that's a Jojo reference.

The agent escorts me to where I will be living for a while, unless I want to go back to the Uchiha district. I get to pick where to live between the place I died at and have barely contained trauma of, or a relatively protected house in the center of the village. Three guesses to which one I picked, first two don't count.

I glance over my shoulders. There's a lot of people eyeing me with a mix of pity, shock and curiosity. Looks like the cats out of the bag now, gossip really is a quick source of information in this place. But then again, I suppose it's hard to not notice an entire clan which operates as the police all going poof.

Weirdly enough, no one asked me about the blinded eye yet, but I'm fully expecting that to happen anytime soon. After all, eyes are kind of a big thing if you are an Uchiha.

Wetness begins to form in my eye. Ah shit, thinking about the massacre isn't going to do me any good now, gotta find a way to distract myself that doesn't lead to me bawling my eyes out in public. I know! No time better than the present at which I just recovered from a stab in the heart and an interrogation session to plan for my future!

I should probably schedule a visit to the hospital to get my mental state checked soon, or I might crash out otherwise. Even if I want to just lay down and give up, I still have a lot of people that care about me and depend on me. I'd at least owe it to my friends to recover mentally and physically. Oh, and I can't forget about Sasuke. True, I never was too close to the kid before all this, but he's still young, and I can't help but feel responsible for him and his cute little smile.

After I've dealt with everything, I'll probably get a house. Not the temporary one the village provided me with, but one to my own liking. One preferably with a large garden at the back of it so I can lay there all day, cloud gazing or something. The Naras probably have some tips on that front.

The ANBU in front of me stops and gestures to the place I'm going to live at for the time being. I go inside and have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's already furnished with a kitchen, and it has some pretty standard stuff. A lot of rooms too. Huh, what do I need three bedrooms for? The only downside is that the living room and bedrooms aren't furnished, but I can fix that easily enough with a trip to any general store around here.

"Sasuke Uchiha will be living with you per his request, and ANBU will be living here in one of the bedrooms for both of your protection." Ah, so that's what the bedrooms are for. I do understand and sympathize with Sasuke right now, the boy probably has separation anxiety, and the protection part is reasonable, but ANBU living with me is…

Fair enough, I guess.

Wait a second, if Sasuke gets attached to me, Itachi might kill me in front of him to awaken his Mangekyou sharingan. I could probably pull off a trick playing dead one more time, but Itachi might make sure I'm extra dead this time around, with my track record.

"Home, sweet home." I open the door for the ANBU outside. The place definitely needs a do over, with dust covering everything. "Someone hasn't cleaned this place in ages, I wonder how long this place was empty for? Fuck this, I'm cleaning this up, want to help?" I hand him a brush from a random cupboard in the house. He stares at me and I stare back, unimpressed.

A staring competition, with an Uchiha. How cute.

He begrudgingly takes the brush from my outstretched hands and comes into the house. We begin cleaning up the place, throwing out some rusty and broken furniture. After that's over, I decide to go and buy some new clothes and seals, since someone insisted on taking those away for evidence. I then change out of the bland clothes from my old house to something much better looking. Much more comfortable, too, the ones I was wearing barely fitted me.

I stop by a mirror and try to fix my hair up, but the mirror cracks because why not? Might as well make a black cat appear in front of me at this point, since the world decided when I was born that my innate luck stat is going to be an E.

Welp, I was planning to shop for some new furniture anyway, I'll pick up a mirror when I'm there too. Might as well get it over with, I suppose…

____________________________________________________________________________

I spot my teammates and my teacher at the T&I building on my way to buy stuff, seemingly questioning a guard. I feel a lump in my throat and quickly walk in the other direction. I'm not dealing with them now, no way. I'll have to find another way to the furniture shop I frequent, but it is what it is.

I half-heartedly put up a Genjutsu, passing-by the area my Genin team is in. I then buy some storage seals in a store. Awfully convenient, those things, that's why they're so expensive normally. Hopefully won't be a problem, since I assume most of the Uchiha's riches are now split between me and Sasuke.

Of course, after the Konohagakure government gets their share of the pie. Nothing is certain but taxes, not even death. Trust me, I should know.

I sprint back to my house after buying some chairs, tables and decent beds, thankfully with no one recognizing me. I can already feel some tears coming out, and I would prefer to cry myself to sleep in a comfortable bed and not in the open, thank you very much.

Opening the door, I unseal all the furniture and just dump most of them in a corner. I'm just going to set the beds up, and take care of the rest tomorrow. Just going to take a shower first, since I smell a bit.

I pass by the mirror and flinch at my own reflection. Damn, I really can't get used to only having a single eye.

I can tell myself all the optimistic and sappy shit I want, like it being a testament to my will to live, or it being a mark of bravery and strength, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still one-eyed, in a clan where our eyes are their symbols of power.

I retch into the sink, gagging out the horrible lunch the interrogator brought me. A warm hand rests on my shoulder, the warm chakra and presence grounding me in reality. Another hand rests on my wrist checking my pulse. Oh, that's the ANBU agent, how sweet of them.

"Thanks for that." I nod to the ANBU agent "I'm fine. Just a sudden wave of nausea and self-loathing, thanks for the help. Would you mind if I was left alone for a while to sort myself out?" He hesitates for a while, then leaves after roughly half a minute.

"Come on, you can work through this shit. You survived Itachi fucking Uchiha." I mutter to myself. "I can deal with this, I have to. Nothing's wrong, after all! Everything's fine and perfectly normal, it's not like any of those vultures in this damn place will care about my fucking feelings when they stab me in the back, will they?"

I walk into the bath and turn on the hot water. Damn, I'm having a mid life crisis at the tender and young age of thirteen. This is a new low, even for me.

I don't know how long I sat in the bath in a dazed state. By the time I snap myself out of whatever that was, steam's all over the place. There's just so much shit to sort out, and so little help for me to do it

I wash up and then leave the bath, feeling a bit lightheaded. Just how long have I stayed in there? Whatever, I'll just dry myself off and-

Great, I forgot the towel. I try to dry myself off with a few fire jutsus but finally cave in and just decide to make a mad dash to my room to wipe myself dry and change into new clothes. Oh, water's dripping onto the mattress, I'm already ruining this place, just great. At least no one's here to see this.

My life's a mess, it really is. I'll hope and pray everything gets better after a good night's rest. I think back to my conversation with Inochi. The guy's probably dealing with a lot of my shit, so I should be feeling a bit bad for him, but it really is hard to do that when I have been so focused on not breaking down ever since the massacre, so I'll only apologize when I get the urge to do things again.

I can't keep avoiding my friends and teachers forever, too. Judging from how quickly rumors spread, it won't be long until they come knocking. Shinya might even kick the door open if I refuse to answer it, the cunt.

Ah shit, thinking about my friends is definitely a bad idea. Abort, abort! Think about how satisfying kicking Danzo's fucking face in will be and you won't cry ugly tears. Go on, lass.

There's already tear stains on the bed, so it's too little too late. Seems like I couldn't banish my pesky emotions far enough into the deep abyss. It's probably healthier for me mentally if I cried my eyes out sooner rather than later, but it hurts like a bitch knowing that I'm still so weak.

"Ah, Akari?" I hear my door open and turn around, facing Sasuke. He looks at me with a worried expression, eyes downcast. "Are you alright?" He crawls on the bed and reaches out for me. "You're crying. You are sad, aren't you? Mom… used to say that it helps to talk about sad things with people." He comes closer. "The important people all said that I will be the clan heir until I'm older. I need to take care of my family then. So, don't be sad for too long, please?"

I try to blink away my tears and look down at him. His body overlaps with a smaller one, though they aren't as equally as precious to me yet. "You remind me of someone, you know?" I blurt out, seeing Sasuke's eyes narrow in confusion. "You haven't seen him before, of course." I lower my head on his small shoulders, leaning on him. "Both of you wriggled your way into my heart with little to no time, and both of you are so impossibly small!"

At that jest, he pouts. "I was being nice to you, why are you mean? I'm the clan heir now, so bow to me!" His face becomes unreadable, and I burst out in laughter. He soon gave up his dignity and dissolved into giggles. His mood quickly dips, however, "Are you worried about Itachi?" He asks quietly. "Don't worry, I will get stronger to protect you, Akari!"

I smile at him fondly. He really reminds me of someone who also tried to protect one stronger and older than himself, it's no wonder I got attached so quickly. Who wouldn't, with their pure beliefs and actions?

"I always do what I want, and I'm annoying. I'm kind of clumsy and a handful most of the time. I also whine and cry a lot, but you already know that, don't you?" I face him. "Will you accept me, even with those flaws?"

Sasuke looks into my eyes. "You're my only family now. Why wouldn't I? The ninja living here told me that we will be staying together, so we will see each other every day, won't we?" He looks away. "I want to look after you and protect you, Akari."

I observe him. Such a large burden, carried by someone with such a tiny body. "I'll be in your care then, clan heir." I flop on the bed, now facing the ceiling. "I hope you won't refuse if I take care of you too, right?" My posture finally relaxed, looser and much more vulnerable, silently handing Sasuke the keys to my heart.

"I'm your clan heir, it should be your duty to protect me." He whimpers, as tears start staining my shirt, at this point, he really is going to ruin everything I wear. "Everyone looks at me everywhere I go. I don't w-want their pity!" He looks at me with tearful eyes. "Only you can understand me, right? Everyone treats me differently and thinks that I need to be protected. It's not fair!" He sniffles. "Sorry, I wanted to help you, to make you stop crying, bu-but I'm the one crying now."

I flick his forehead. "Life's not fair, but thank you for doing this for me." I look out of the window, seeing countless stars in the sky. "Hey, how about an advice from yours truly? The sharingan is a powerful, and painful tool to have." Seeing his troubled face, I continue. "Everything you see with the sharingan will be remembered, and too many people just use them in times of battle and bloodshed." I hold Sasuke's hand. "Look at me, yea?"

He looks up, and the image is just too heartbreaking. "Hey, come here. I'll give you a hug." He stays still and doesn't move. Aww, is he embarrassed? Alright, I'll humor him. "Come here, I want a hug. You'll be doing me a favor."

"Someone told me this once, you know." I quote what was said to me before. "Don't use my eye to only look at the miserable parts of life. Well, that needs context, but don't just use your sharingan to only look at depressing things, alright?" I ask. Seeing him nod, I keep talking. "I won't force my ideals on you, but try not to focus too much on revenge? It will probably make your life miserable."

He makes a face. "I… can't." His face scrunches up and he quickly adds. "Sorry…"

I rub his back gently and wipe his face with my shirt. "That's fine, just do whatever you want. By the way, do you mind if you sleep here tonight? It might be good for both of us."

He grumbles, but closes his eyes quickly. I move him a bit to the left so he isn't lying on top of me anymore, and sit up. I reach over to get some new clothes, and just throw the dirty ones on the floor. That's much better, I have to say.

It feels embarrassing to be comforted by a child, but it also feels good, man. In the stillness and silence of the night, beside a snoring child, I slowly sort out my thoughts. It can't be good for me to forever stay in a state of constant self-hatred and loathing, and after that crying session I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. For the first time, this rusty place feels like a home. 

After all, home is where the heart is.