Hey everyone, sorry for the wait! I've been struggling to get all the desired information and character progress into small chunks like this without waffling, but hopefully I've done a little bit of justice to them.

A quick head's up as well, before we get into this chapter:

Warning: My usual language, but also warnings of exclusive behaviour(I'm not gonna use the word racism here, as that's a term I will never use lightly, and doesn't aptly apply to this situation. I'd be more inclined to use definitions of paranoia a prejudice stemming from trauma of wars and being a shin obi country), as well as mentions of emotional and physical manipulation. If you're uncomfortable with any of these scenarios, I beg your pardon, but they are necessary for the story to progress.

I dub this segment, Before everything falls to shit:

Tsunade's arrival to Konoha heralded a distinct change in the village's previously devastated atmosphere, majority of the people overjoyed to have their princess back and rightfully in charge. The hospital flourished under her attention, with Shizune dedicated to taking charge of the establishment personally as Tsunade's protégé. Even construction work progressed at a faster rate, Tsunade more willing than the mistrustful council elders to reach out to long-established connections for aid.

However, her brisk and dynamic manner of leading created bountiful friction with the more traditional members of the council. One issue in particular was cause of much protest by the elders.

Despite having lived in Konoha for many months now, Alice was still registered as an unknown immigrant. While her surveillance level had been lowered due to time, low threat levels and lack of resources, she was still a more untrustworthy character than other immigrants due to her unknown language and origins. Luckily for her, Shinigami's existence was restricted to Hokage-level and a need-to-know basis, which was restricted to a handful of trustworthy ANBU, Team 7, Jiraiya, and now Tsunade and Shizune.

(Anko had her suspicions, but didn't pry into the state of Alice's mottled arms. Instead, she taught Alice how to wrap her arms better, and how to hold extended genjutsu or henge in order to further conceal or deflect people from looking at her sharp purple nails.)

In the time taken for Tsunade and her retrieval team to get back to Konoha, she had learnt a lot about Alice – including her actions during the invasion by Oto, embellished by Jiraiya and an excitable Naruto who exaggerated the information previously given to him by Alice. The woman saw someone loyal to her friends and found family, even if not fully to Konoha. Despite the darkness lingering in the girls' eyes at times, and the subtle warnings from Jiraiya about her occasionally manipulative nature, Tsunade saw no reason for the girl to be continued to be ostracised from Konoha's society and taskforce.

Konoha needed all of the soldiers it had, and that included Alice.

So, ignoring the warnings and protests from the council elders of how they couldn't trust Alice – "what if she's a spy?" "Then we'll deal with that when it comes, now please leave my office I have fuckloads of work to do" – Tsunade appointed the girl as probationary-genin. She had the clearance-level of a genin, but could only currently perform missions within Konoha unless she had a jounin supervising her in missions outside of Konoha.

Alice was ecstatic.

It hadn't taken Alice too long to realise her crush on Sasuke. It took even less time to crush it.

However, Sasuke seemed to return the feelings, if only slightly; he was emotionally stunted from his traumatic past, but the overwhelming amount of positive relationships he had gained in the past year were helping him confront and understand his emotions better. Including the feelings he had for Alice that were so different from how he felt to his teammates.

Alice could see this conflict of emotions within Sasuke, and she was quick to take advantage of his emotional vulnerability, as uncomfortable as she was about manipulating a minor like that. However, Sasuke needed stronger ties to Konoha, and if one of those ties were her, so be it.

She makes up with Sasuke in the weeks leading up to that last awful mission, and the two seem closer than ever – no one is sure what happened between them, but majority of the contents of Sasuke's kitchen ended up all over the house, Akemi would only hiss at Sasuke for the next two weeks, and Sasuke ended up with a black eye that lasted a week due to Sakura refusing to heal it.

After much deliberation, Alice decides to combine the less severe seduction techniques Anko taught her with reverse psychology in order to make Sasuke more open to the idea of being emotional vulnerable to others, with majority of that vulnerability being shown to her.

Using light seduction jutsu geared towards placing the target at ease rather than seducing them, body language and psychological tactics, Alice makes Sasuke associate her with safety and home, which wasn't too hard as she already lived at his.

She additionally becomes softer and open towards him, with their previously snapped insults being replaced for more hospitable conversations. In return, Sasuke begins to open up slightly as well, motivated by Alice's veiled assurances that his ugly emotions resulting from the massacre were justified, and he was right to want power to resolve such a horrible situation; it was the first time someone had agreed, and Alice knew that Sasuke was desperate for any kind of validation, even if he didn't show it.

She then began to subtly combine this newly encouraged self-assurance of Sasuke's with associations to friendship and teamwork, bringing Team 7 together for more casual time together; with Sakura not a fangirl and Naruto somewhat a competent human and ninja, Sasuke was more willing to associate with them, and they he. Their friendship was stronger for it, and it showed.

Days go by and the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke solidifies into what can be called a close friendship, even if neither party will say it. There are only a few occasions when Sasuke's Cursed Mark becomes strong enough to sour this bond with whispers of inadequacy and a thirst for power.

Then, Sakura steps in. Her relationship with Sasuke is another clear friendship, tied tight and steady with mutual respect, trust and gentle affections. Their relationship is stronger and less poisonous than the feeble threads of comradeship and unrequited love seen in the series, with the two often spending quiet moments together in between the usual lunacy of Team 7. Where Naruto motivates and inspires Sasuke, the other teammate is there to soothe over the rough patches, or is quick to beat sense into the both of them metaphorically and literally.

Kakashi watches over them all with a closer and more caring eye than what should have occurred at the time. His hand is heavy in splitting arguments and directing loose limbs into strong positions to kill, but they are gentle in picking them back up and supporting their shaky steps.

Between it all, Alice does her best to keep it all together.

Sometimes, her attempts at solidifying Team 7's relationships backfire. Words come out too clunky and quick, resulting in flaring tempers and tense silences between all members of the team. Other times, her casual touches and attempts to 'comfort' Sasuke are met with rejection from the boy and jealousy from the others; she wants to explain that she's doing this for them, to keep Sasuke close to Konoha, but that would raise too many questions.

Most of the time, though, her attempts succeed.

Sleepovers at Sakura become common, the two girls bonding over frustration at the male gender, as well as a recently awakened interest in the human body and its' failings.

Being an only child, Sakura retains at her core a desperation for an older sibling to provide her guidance, and while Kakashi is more adept and guiding his students now, he still isn't a source of emotional support than a pubescent girl like Sakura needs. Alice steps up to the plate with only a few fumbles, the few additional years of experience and Anko's experienced tuleage aiding her in answering queries on bodily and emotional changes.

Also, due to her guidance under Anko, Alice provided an opposing base of views and knowledge on the human body. Alice knew how to maim and destroy the body through her own limbs or the intricate work of poison, while Sakura was swiftly learning how to mend any injury, her natural ability even gaining the attention of Shizune; they were happy to teach each other their skills, and Alice's first-aid skills expanded while Sakura's ability to kill a person through a targeted strike at a vital organ with a developing chakra scalpel flourished.

The flinching and surprise Naruto displayed at any friendly touches is near non-existent under the continued patience of his friends. Sasuke's hand reaches out more and more to help him up or give him congratulatory fist bumps, his face now lifted in actual smiles rather than condescending smirks. The derogatory names once spat between them now slip exasperatedly from their lips, rolled eyes usually indicating the beginning of sharing information to aid the other, rather than oncoming fistfights.

The soothing sensation of Sakura's healing touch becomes common, and the two share between them supporting arms and bright grins. There is no more of the furious punches and dramatic confessions of love that once persisted – Ino sees them jokingly swinging linked hands between them on the main road, attempting to simultaneously tease and convince Sasuke to play along, and she nearly has a heart attack there and then.

The negligence that Kakashi once gave to them is long since gone. Instead, a strict but supportive teacher has taken the slacker's place for many months now. Any outsider can see how much he cares for each of his students, a distinct lack of favouritism creating a strong bond between all members of the team; each student listens to Kakashi without question, having full faith in his capabilities as both a shinobi and as a person. The man in question finds it easier and easier to face his demons with each days' passing, and thinks privately, and to the Memorial Stone, that his old team would be very proud.

In the face of the consequences of the Tsunade retrieval mission – Sasuke traumatised by his brother once more, Naruto clinging tighter to his teammates in fear of losing them, the dark circles expanding under Sakura's eyes from late nights pouring over anything that could help save her loved ones, and both of Alice's arms now inhumane in their pallor and abilities – Kakashi finally snaps the last of his restraints from his dark past and sees his team for who they truly are, rather than the ghosts of past mistakes.

The favouritism Alice believed he had shown towards Sasuke had long-since clearly been understood by the girl to be a form of repentance, with Sasuke a reminder of the mistakes Kakashi had made in his dark youth. However, under Alice's previous interference and encouragements in turn, Kakashi's focus had steadily expanded to the entirety of the team and their progress.

Compared to the Kakashi of canon, this Kakashi was more emotionally stable and was definitely more open with his admiration and protectiveness of his pupils. He was still as aloof as ever, but his eyes were sharp as he pushed his kids through endless katas, and hands soft as he showed how to make traps from the natural objects around them.

Additionally, the man took each of his students aside to hone their specialist fields. The years of experience Kakashi had, as well as the sharingan, granted him a wide variety of skills he was only too happy to pass on.

The prodigal-level of success Sakura had with studying to be an iryo-nin was whole-heartedly encouraged by Kakashi. His position as a famous, and thus influential, Konoha-nin meant that Kakashi had many connections, and he was more than happy to use them to land Sakura an internship under an iryo-nin at the hospital.

(The hug Sakura gave him lasted for nearly a minute, and Kakashi swears he could feel his ribs creaking under her joy – he also swears he wasn't tearing up, but the tears of joy dripping down his students' ecstatic face were too much to take.)

Working with Naruto was a bit more difficult, as the boy had no speciality. Naruto was a hot mess of cobbled together jutsu and skill sets poorly copied from older shinobi he had spied on in his youth. His taijutsu was one of the first things Kakashi had worked on, and the boy's own genius instincts had allowed him to quickly catch up and hone his fighting skills. Now, Kakashi could safely say, the boy's unpredictable freestyle of movement was as terrifying as Sakura's raw strength and Sasuke's refined technique.

However, it was clear that Naruto had an easy grasp on ninjutsu with his ridiculous chakra reserves, and thus Kakashi was quick to test for his teams' elemental chakra affinity.

The shredded paper Naruto offered wasn't much of a surprise, what with his unpredictable and easily adaptable nature, as well as who his father was – Kushina possessed the strong water affinity common of Uzushiogakure, but Minato's intense work ethic meant that his futon jutsu were near-legendary. It wasn't long before Kakashi had the boy settled down with piles of leaves, and not long after that did those piles turn to a whole blanket of shredded pieces of greenery.

(The first gust of wind Naruto spewed from his lips was met with a fond eye-smile and a head pat from Kakashi, making the boy light up from the inside.)

It wasn't too much of a surprise either that Sakura's paper became a soggy mess before crumbling away; the girl was the foundations of the team, unwavering and powerful, but much like water, she was able to find a way around any obstacle.

The girl delighted in being taught the beginnings of doton jutsu, her powerful punches now able to create defensive walls or crumbling ravines with only a touch of her perfect chakra control. Suiton jutsu were a bit trickier, with Sakura often seen by Konoha citizens perched around any natural waterflow, trying to redirect the channels of water.

To be perfectly honest, Kakashi didn't even bother with testing Sasuke. The boy obviously had the Uchiha affinity for katon jutsu, and his proficiency with chidori indicated his additional strength in raiton. For Kakashi, it was a simple matter of showing Sasuke how his lightning could be easily conducted through metal with a bit of control, before he let the boy go wild.

(He'd come to regret that in short time, with many brawls between the kids being started by Sasuke discreetly zapping the other two and Alice's headbands and metal gear with painful results – despite his aloof front, Sasuke was even more petty than Naruto ever could be, and they all knew it intimately.)

With Team Seven so excited about their blossoming nature affinities, it wasn't too long before Alice began to harass Kakashi to allow her to test out her abilities as well. The jounin was only too happy to string her along for a couple of days, willing to put up with her whining for the sheer satisfaction of her grumpiness.

Eventually, though, he relented. The paper was quick to shred and turn to ash in her hands, leading to Alice excitedly showing the other genin in an obnoxious manner.

"Look, look! I have wind and fire at my command! How cool is that!"

"Woah, Alice-nee, you're just like me, 'ttebayo! We're futon friends!"

"I love the sound of that! But, Sasuke-chan, you look a little put-out. You mad that my affinities compliment each other so well? My flames are gonna be bigger than yours~!"

"Tch. I'm more worried you're gonna burn the house down around us."

"Aw, fuck you, asshole."

"Keep fighting you two and I'll kick both your asses—"

"Sorry Sakura!"

"—Anyways, everyone knows doton and suiton are way better."

"What? I'll have you know futon is so much better—"

"No, katon—"

'Have a genin team, they said. They'll be super cute, they said. They'll give you no problems as they'll be in awe of you, they said.'

Needless to say, Alice was quick to pester Kakashi for the beginning steps to learning futon jutsu. Soon enough, she and Naruto were often seen running the streets, blowing gales of wind at each other and down the street to flip up any passing skirts.

(When Jiraiya caught wind of the latter, he was quick to congratulate the two with firm handshakes, tears glistening in his eyes.)

(Tsunade was…not so impressed.

The two genin were quick to stop their game when they received three days of D-rank manual labour on their own.

At least, they stopped getting caught doing it – Naruto had plenty of hidey-holes around Konoha from his rambunctious youth, and Alice's stealth and quick-draw henge were enough to cover up her tracks.)

In terms of katon jutsu, Alice turned to Anko for extra tutelage.

Their night classes were still in full force, with Anko cracking down hard on lessons surrounding kenjutsu and applications of poison. Alice wielded the henge as well as she could, able to layer illusionary and solid henge over each other with increasing swiftness and surety, and could only wait for experience in order to further her skills. That left Anko plenty of time to advance the girl's skills as an assassin and seductress, taking her on mock-missions to attack dummies posing as civilian targets, or trying to pick up people at local bars.

Aside from drilling Alice in Hebi style, Anko left physical strengthening to Gai, who was still happy to have the girl join the early morning sessions he held. With Lee well on his way to recovering by Tsunade's healing hands, the girl now had a partner aside from Gai to practice on. However, unlike Gai, Lee was encouraged to fight with no hesitations, and while Alice felt herself growing stronger, she was also collecting a healthy number of bruises across her body – thank kami for Sakura and her healing abilities.

Training in katon jutsu was worked between blocks of training in these skills, with the flames coming a little harder for Alice than her gusts of wind. Eventually though, the brunette was able to spit out cinders and small flames without burning her mouth anymore.

In celebration, Anko proceeded to get herself and Alice wasted that night, claiming raising alcohol tolerance as another part of training.

(Alice awoke the next morning at home with a horrible hangover, a stranger's oversized shirt on but no pants, lipstick marks down her throat, and an inked inscription of 'Mitsuko was here' across her breasts alongside a distinctive hickey.

Alice counted that as a win, even if Sasuke turned his nose up at the sight of her splayed across the kitchen table still in the shirt and her underwear.)

Despite the horrible events looming on the horizon, and her past failures nipping at her heels, Alice finally felt like she was getting somewhere. That she was getting stronger. That her skin fitted well.

Shinigami could only agree, feeling an emotion he tentatively defined as 'hope'.

As time goes on, the relationship between Alice and Sasuke deepens further, with girl going so much as to kiss him one night.

Sasuke is enraptured by the slick slide of her lips against his, the stars above his house spinning in hormone-induced haze as his hands fumble to find a place to rest.

Meanwhile, Alice's own hands roam across the expanse of Sasuke's back. They slide across a slim waist and slip under his shirt to graze his toned stomach, feeling the muscles there flutter in surprise. Her tongue keeps Sasuke focused solely on the delight in his mouth, and distracts him from the numerous pressure points Alice was tactfully pressing against to heighten the pleasure he felt.

The practice Alice had gained through quiet nights at Anko's training, or more intense moments in hidden alleyways and dark corners of bars she had visited under the prompting of Anko and Jiraiya, allowed her to overcome any of Sasuke's hesitance with these touches. The seduction arts were hard to learn and harder to use subtly, but with the right hands they could cause any target to worship the seducer as their master.

Alice didn't need Sasuke to see her as a master, so she kept her touches light. What she needed was for Sasuke to have strong connections to Konoha to keep him sane, and for her to have a reliable pawn in the tangle of Orochimaru's influence.

Sasuke may not love her, not truly, but on the cusp of puberty he felt blossoming lust for her, which tangled up with feelings of trust and comradeship to create the beginnings of deeper emotions.

The shy smile of Alice's glossy, swollen lips as she disengaged from Sasuke caused a tight sensation in the boy's chest, and he could only look after her helplessly as she stalked up the front steps to their home. Underneath her simple mesh shirt and tight black shorts, her body rolled and rocked with sensual ease, and Sasuke felt his inflamed lips part with a soundless gasp as she shot him one last flash of emerald eyes before ducking into the house's gloom.

His mouth tasted the sweetness of dango and chai tea, but underneath was the salty taste of what couldn't be mistaken as anything else but purely Alice.

Sasuke gulped once before heading in. He would not get any sleep tonight.

Despite her best efforts, Alice isn't able to go on the disastrous Land of Tea escort mission, mainly due to the restrictions still placed on her as a prohibition-genin; Tsunade sees no need to post a replacement-jounin for Kakashi on such a simple mission, especially not for the blossoming powerhouse she knows Team 7 to be.

Due to her absence, Alice isn't privy to the changes within the mission, with the first change being Sakura's swift and political rejection of Morino Idate's flirting.

Rather than become insulted by someone flirting with Sakura, having long-since grown out of his dependent crush on the girl, Naruto uses his blossoming political and complimentary words, learnt from watching Jiraiya, to run circles around Idate until the latter isn't sure whether he's been insulted or flattered by the loud blond.

In the background, Sasuke watches with judging eyes, ready to clean up any messes caused by the stranger realising he's being insulted.

Desperate to escape the confusing conversations he unknowingly stumbled into, Idate attempts to scrape together his wits and escape. However, Team 7 are almost insulted by his efforts to trick them into paying his bill; they are used to Kakashi's vague and convoluted excuses, as well as his tricks that hide important lessons in situational awareness and political plays – this child had nothing on their sensei.

Instead, they figure out that this rude boy was their intended client to protect, and they are swift in meeting the Wasabi family to undertake their mission.

The Ame genin they face are familiar faces from the Chunin Exams, but are almost laughable easy to defeat with Team 7's swiftly developing skills. However, when Naruto reveals the rasengan against Aoi Rokusho to destroy the Sword of the Thunder God, a move on par with Sasuke's chidori, the latter still feels a wave of reproach, rage and jealousy.

The tension is quickly picked up by Sakura, but despite her best efforts and Naruto's own excited embellishments of how cool Sasuke's chidori was alongside Sakura's own monstrous taijutsu, Sasuke's mood is still foul when they return to Konoha.

The team's increased strength and Sakura's own medical skills mean that they don't end up on the hospital rooftop, but Naruto and Sasuke still fight as Sakura attempts to break them up.

Alice arrives after Kakashi breaks up the fight on their usual training ground, alerted by sensing the swell of familiar chakra tainted with ugly emotions.

The ground is torn by Sasuke's chidori, but a tree is completely felled by Naruto's rasengan. Sakura's not crying, but her expression is ugly as she yells at the two boys trussed up with Kakashi's rope, with the jounin keeping watch over the situation in order to prevent either idiot from leaving.

It's only when Sakura has exhausted her voice and turned to a silent Alice for comfort does Kakashi untie the two. Naruto is remorseful, apologising repeatedly to Sakura for making her worry, and to Alice as well as everyone present can sense the disappointment radiating off of her even without words.

Sasuke is completely silent, even as Kakashi leads him away with a firm hand on his shoulder. The genin's chin is tucked to his chest, shaggy fringe covering his eyes as a form of protection against the combined glare of the team's women.

He is particularly careful to avoid Alice's eyes, attempting to reject his building feeling of guilt at going against the brunette's constant comments of the importance of teamwork and friendship.

Sasuke can still feel Alice's judging stare, even as the trees swallow up him and Kakashi.

The house is silent when Sasuke arrives, the shadows steadily lengthening under the departing sun. Alice is waiting in her den that was once his living room, the couch long-since abandoned for a nest of pillows and blankets built upon an aged futon gifted by Sakura.

The girl almost looks small in the soft light of the fading sun, an oversized shirt most likely stolen from Anko slipping off of one shoulder. Her hair descends in tangled curls to nearly the small of her back now, and most of it pools into her lap as liquid bronze when she tilts her head at him.

"Sit," she instructs softly, nodding to a free patch on the futon beside her. Sasuke wants to resist, to tug back on his sandals and run out into the night, but he can't. Not to her.

Alice's eyes don't give away any emotions as he slides on his pair of house slippers and pad to towards her on worn floorboards. The futon dips as he settles onto the edge of it with clenched hands, and Alice's body can't help but tilt towards him.

There is tension in the balmy air and lining Sasuke's shoulders, even as Alice places a warm, calloused hand lightly on his left knee. Her fingers are long and slim, but her palm is tiny in comparison, barely able to cover his patella. The nails are a dark purple, and he tries his best to look past the patches of sickly white and bruised purple, feeling faintly sick –

(you did that, you ruined her, it's all His fault, how could he do that to her, he needed more power, it couldn't happen again, he would do anything to ensure it won't happen again)

Sasuke stares intently at the contrast between her tanned and mottled skin and the washed-out pallor of his, focusing on how her original skin tone was unique in the soft gold and creams of Konoha. It still didn't distract him from the heavy presence of Alice next to him, her unusual silence speaking for her inner turmoil.

Eventually, her soft sigh breaks the tension between them, fingers scraping lightly against his skin as she clenches her fist. The night is warm enough for Alice to be wearing shorts with her top, and Sasuke is wearing his usual training outfit of blue shirt and shorts, but he suddenly feels cold as she speaks.

"Sometimes, I miss my family so much that it chokes me."

The tension in Sasuke's back melts under his surprise, the topic something he wasn't prepared for. Alice didn't speak much of her family aside from a few anecdotes generally spoken with wistful humour. She never seemed to miss her family much after a few weeks of homesickness and tears, and Sasuke was never particularly inclined to discuss matters of family with anyone, not even Alice.

Sasuke's legs nudge aside pillows as he tucks them into a cross, Alice hand sliding off to rest beside his thigh on the futon. "I'd assumed you weren't that close by how little you seemed to miss them," he said when it became clear Alice wasn't going to continue.

He can hear the slide of Alice's hair against the cotton of her shirt as she tilts her head into a hand propped up on her knee. Her head is tilted towards him, and a few errant locks stroke against his cheek. He shivers slightly.

"Of course I miss them," Alice murmurs, "but crying and dwelling on them isn't going to help me in life. I can never see them again, after all."

As far as anyone knew, Alice came from a small island off of the coast of the Elemental nations – a place whose foreign name stumbled off Sasuke's tongue. Due to reasons Alice wouldn't explain, she was estranged from her home and unable to return. Sasuke assumed that she was a refugee from civil unrest, or perhaps expelled as a form of punishment for a family crime, but Alice never confirmed or denied these hypotheses. For all they knew, Alice's family may be dead, and she would never know.

She was basically an orphan, just like Sasuke, but at least her memories weren't tainted by someone like Him.

Another adjustment to Alice's posture brought Sasuke's attention back to the girl as she began to speak again. "However, as much as it hurts not being able to see them, I still love them. That love drives me to live my best, and try to make a successful life for myself."

"Why are you telling me this," Sasuke said shortly, not particularly caring if it was rude.

A deep sigh escaped Alice, and she finally leant forward to catch his eyes. In the pale light of the rising moon, her eyes were still bright. Since coming back from the mission to receive Tsunade, along with her newly renovated right arm, in certain lights her eyes seemed to be lit from within. In times when darkness fell, that light seemed to take on an unearthly golden glow.

Try as he might, Sasuke can't look away. He is captive to her heated stare, and the firmness in which she speaks. "Motivations in life can be all manners of selfish or selfless; they are fuelled by all emotions and have various degrees of success. Life, itself, however, shouldn't be motivated by negative emotions." Her gaze isn't pitying, but Sasuke still tenses as she continues. "You shouldn't live just for revenge, Sasuke; it's a lonely road that will only lead you into emptiness."

Frustrated, Sasuke wrenches himself from the futon, fists clenched and body trembling lightly as he stands with his back to Alice. "Shut up! You sound just like Kakashi – I need to kill Him, so stop standing in my way! You idiots don't understand anything, so butt out!"

Silence reigns again, the house seeming to hold its breath lest it interrupt the tense conversation. Eventually, shoulders up around his ears, Sasuke hears Alice rustling in her sheets behind him. Something taps lightly against his calf, and Sasuke twitches away instinctively before glancing behind him.

A chopstick is pinched delicately between Alice's fingers, tip pointing at him accusingly. Sasuke recognises it as a chopstick from Ichiraku from experience, and glares down at it as if it was the sole cause of his anger. "What the fuck is this?"

"Break it," Alices commands.

"What?"

"I said, 'break it', or are you deaf?"

Grunting irritably at the change in topic, Sasuke is petty enough to snatch the chopstick and smack Alice's head with it before easily splintering it into her hair with a squeeze of his fingers.

Lips twisted in disdain at his childish actions, Alice brushes off the fragments with jagged movements, knocking them forwards so that they landed on the floor rather than in her sheets.

Sasuke crosses his arms as he turns to face her fully, looking down along the length of his nose, an action he knew Alice hated as much as Naruto. "What did you want to accomplish there, idiot?"

No verbal response was given. Instead, Alice reached behind her back and pulled out a stack of chopsticks from within her sheets. Her smaller hands struggled to contain the tens of chopsticks, but his hands easily caught them when she shoved them at him.

"Now break these," she instructed when he held them all, "without chakra."

"Why the hell would I—"

"Just do it, Sasuke."

Grumbling under his breath again, Sasuke decided to just hurry up and appease the girl's stupid requests so he could go to bed already – he wanted to forget about everything that'd happened today.

Grasping the chopsticks between both hands, Sasuke exerted a minimum amount of pressure. The chopsticks bent slightly, but did not shatter like the single chopstick had. Frowning, Sasuke continued to add pressure, bending the chopsticks until, finally, with trembling muscles he managed to unevenly break majority of the chopsticks.

Carelessly, he let the bent and broken chopsticks tumble from his hands. They clattered unevenly on the floorboards, many rolling under the nearby coffee table or under the couch, spreading splinters everywhere.

"Satisfied?" Sasuke drawled, brushing his hands dismissively.

With bare and mottled hands, Alice gestured at the mess in front of her, dark veins standing out clearly in the moonlight from the wide window Anko often entered through. "Tell me, Sasuke, was it more difficult to break that many chopsticks?"

"More frustrating than just one, yeah," Sasuke said shortly, "but any idiot would know that you had to apply more force to break that many."

Alice hummed at the aggravation in his voice, lips twitching into a mocking smile as she plucked up a shattered piece of wood. "Then any idiot would realise that standing on their own makes them more breakable." She lifted the shard to eye-level, twisting it this way and that to take in its jagged edges. "However, a team, one built on trust, is much harder to break."

Spreading her arms out, Alice gestured at the many bent chopsticks littered across the floor, having not been fully broken by Sasuke's hands. "As much as I like to play around Sasuke, I'm fully serious with this metaphor here as clearly you're unable to understand concepts as simple as this without clear guides."

Sasuke's nails dig into his palm as he clenches his fist, staring down at Alice's reproachful expression. Her gaze is flat with frustration, and her tone matches as she bluntly says, "get your head out of your ass and look around, Sasuke. Your team doesn't hold you back from gaining more power, as you'd like to think. They give you support, so that when you face something that would normally break you, they ensure that you survive to come back and overcome it one day."

Her movements are dismissive as she rolls over and slips under the sheets, head planted firmly on a pillow and facing away from Sasuke. The shadows are deeper now, and Sasuke struggles to make out the swell of her sides as she heaves out a tired sigh. "Go to bed, Sasuke, and think for a while. If you continue to push us away, we won't be able to save you when you inevitably end up in a situation where you can break."

Sasuke takes that as his cue to leave, and despite the anger warring with confusion and other ugly emotions in his chest, his steps are light as he leaves behind the sleeping girl.

That night, Sasuke slips out his window, casting one long look back before heading for the gates out of Konoha.