Three days. It's been three days since her friends died. Kanami Hisakawa was an ANBU without a team, a lion without a pride. The hospital was cold. Stark whiteness attacked her from every angle. The generic sheets seemed to grate against her skin, leaving wounds unseen. The ANBU ward was silent. Nothing to distract her from Homare's chest caving in or Setsuka's abrupt silence when her throat was suddenly not as whole as it should have been. Those moments were forever engraved into her mind, by a dojutsu that should not have existed. Kanami Hisakawa developed her Sharingan at the age of twenty-four.

It's been three days.

Her friends are dead.

The knock that came on the fourth day was expected, if unwelcome. The man that entered however, was unexpected. There at Kamani's door stood the God of Shinobi. The third Hokage. He graced her with a smile that was more grimace than anything else and closed the door behind him. The brunette stifled a laugh, she'd probably start crying, the illusion of privacy had no hold over her. No less than three people in the room were ANBU and visible persons weren't counted.

"I thought it best if you gave your mission report to me in person Hisakawa-san." Kanami nodded and froze as even that small motion made her want to kill every person in the room. Sarutobi-sama simply sighed and sat next to her bed. His hands lay folded on his lap, unassuming, deadly. With one stroke of his hand he killed all she ever cared about. Homare and Setsuka. Tiger and Panther. This man had their blood on his hands. But so did she.

She started her report.

"Six days ago, ANBU team Ko, commonly referred to as Team Neko, departed from Konoha to infiltrate the fire country's capitol. Our mission objective was to ensure that the Daimyo's nephew could not attempt a rebellion in effort to achieve political power." The Hokage leaned forward, adjusting himself in the uncomfortable wooden chair.

"Yes, your team's messenger hawks relayed that you had successfully entered the capitol and that you were going to eliminate your target early that morning. That is all we know of it Hisakawa-san. What changed?" Kanami's hands were still. She inhaled deeply, shivering.

"Nothing. Panther took out the guard while Homare cast a mid-level Genjutsu over the corridor. I killed the target and we extracted from the palace without incident. It was only as we were returning that we were intercepted." The third's brow furrowed as he frowned.

"By whom?" Her nails pierced the flesh of her palms.

"The snake." She stated, calmly. The disgust inside of her was sharp, carving out her heart, carving out everything she loved. "Orochimaru. He caught us off guard. Tiger was hit first," collapsing lungs, his spine never stood a chance, "then Panther," her scream almost makes it louder than a whisper, "I couldn't manage to avoid that damn sword!" Kanami freezes. The room is too bright. She can see the dust on the window sill. She covers her face with her hands. Tears don't come.

Sarutobi places a hand on her shoulder. She hunches further into herself, trying to disappear.

"May I see them, Hisakawa-san?" Such a nice way for a murderer to phrase an order. The brunette opens her eyes. As she lowers her hands the kunoichi turns toward her Hokage.

There the man sat in perfect detail. Every wrinkle, every dust mote, even the oils leaking out of his skin. She could see everything. Kanami could predict the shift in each muscle as the third Hokage's eyes widened just so. She already knew what he saw. She remembered it perfectly from the reflection when Orochimaru plunged his sword into her chest. Blood red irises, three tomoe in each eye. Somewhere along the line, an Uchiha was missed. Somehow, it didn't mature until she was twenty-four.

"Are you able to deactivate them?" Kanami shivered. Imagined closing her eyes without physically doing so. The world became dull. Her real eyes were back, the other ones didn't count.

"What's going to happen Hokage-sama?" She knew. It's what she expected. Kanami would be wed off to the highest bidder and the expectation of children would be shoved so far down her throat there would be no other option. Just because she was in the hospital doesn't mean she can't hear people without enough sense to whisper. She was gutted, not deaf.

"The doctors expect you to fully heal in about two weeks so bedrest until then, but after that…" Kanami barely held back a wince as he stood. Here he is, about to sign her death sentence. "After that I imagine you will do as you please. Whether that means active duty, retirement, or whatever you so choose." The kunoichi's head snapped up. Wonder was obvious on her face.

"Really?" The third smiled down at her.

"Really."

A week and a half passed in a blur. Physical therapy, nutrient shakes, and staring out her window mostly. The third had come by and talked to Kanami twice since she was left in her medically necessary prison. Once to check how her healing was going, the other to inform her of the legal position she now held. Since she was a full blooded Uchiha and the eldest of any Uchiha left alive, clan matters would fall to her. Even though there wasn't even a clan anymore. Just that academy kid and the traitor who massacred the rest.

As one of the founding clans of Konoha the Uchiha automatically held a seat in the Clan Council but seeing as no one even knew of her until now, records and reputation would have to be put into play. Kanami already had two problems. First, she didn't even know if any records of her birth existed. She was an orphan, raised in the Konoha Family Home like every other orphan out there. Second, she had been in ANBU for the past decade, her only friends died seventeen days ago. The kunoichi looked up from the cloth she was rubbing against her face and into the mirror.

She tosses the cloth aside in frustration at the lack of answers her reflection provides and turns back to her adjoined room. Pausing when she sees a man by her window. He was taller than her by half a foot, sandy brown hair was close cut to his head, and his clothes were standard ANBU tactical gear. Breath hitching, Kanami touched his arm. Urging him to turn around. He did.

Homare stared back at the brunette, smile wide. The blue gray eyes he shared with his father spoke of a secret only he was privy to. Kanami shivered. The image fell. In its place stood the reality. His chest full of the debris that was once his body. Blood leaking from his mouth. Blue gray eyes. The hand on her shoulder was pale. Small and deceptively thin. Scarred from years of messing around with kunai. Her team. Her Setsuka.

Don'tturnarounddont'tdoityouknowwhat'sthereDON'T!

She turns.

Wakes up.

It's been eighteen days since her friends died.