It was sunny, the grass was green, and the breeze was running across Fire Country. On days like this Rikishi should be reclining in his cheap rocking chair on his porch. Instead, he was with his apprentice and cousin for the evening.

Kizuna was drawn taught but still somehow managed to look relaxed, as per usual. The downward shadow cast on her face made her features look more 'set' than usual, (if that's even a thing, Rikishi added) and the blonde felt as if someone her age shouldn't have that much of it in her face, even if it wasn't portrayed through wrinkles.

"Anooo, Rikishi-teme why'd you call me here again? I know it has something to do with training but, ano... neither one of you is doing anything," The boy finished with a puzzled expression.

Ahh, that was Ryuu, Rikishi's cousin. He was indignant but mellowed out just enough, and his mood wouldn't be dampened by the Uchiha in front of him. He was a seasoned genin, aged fifteen years.

Perfect training partner, and also a perfect candidate to be a friend, or something of the sort (considering age difference), to his apprentice. Her whole world was mostly Sasuke, with Rikishi slowly becoming more than just a blip on her radar. He could tell... not that that pleased him or anything. But back to the topic at hand—Kizuna needed a friend. Not her brother, not her Sensei, but someone she wasn't obligated to interact with.

Cough, insert Ryuu—

That and Kizuna needed to hone her Sharingan... and Rikishi was feeling lazy, probably had something to do with this porch weather.

"Ne... sorry Ryuu-kun," Rikishi scratched his growing stubble, "This is my apprentice, Uchiha Kizuna. Kizuna, this is my cousin and your new sparring partner, Kento Ryuu. Shake hands and make nice." That last part was for Kizuna, she was polite but tended to be somewhat robotic at times.

The girl scoffed almost undetectably at Rikishi, and extended her hand to Ryuu.

"Hello Uchiha-hime, my name is Ryuu, aged fifteen years. Pleased to meet you." He said with a slightly amused expression.

The girl narrowed her eyes at the black-haired boy, "Hello Ryuushi-dono, I'm Kizuna, aged eleven years. Pleased to meet you." She managed to look quite smug with herself despite barely changing her expression. Ryuu's brow furrowed as he released the girl's hand.

"It's Ryuu, Hime." He put his hands on his hips as he silently analyzed the Uchiha.

"Alright... Ryuushi-dono."

Rikishi laughed at his apprentice's flimsy attempts at humor, oblivious to his cousin's indignant outburst. When the former ANBU caught his breath (his two companions were giving him looks by then) he proceeded to explain what he wanted from them for the day.

"Ano, Kizuna, you awakened your Sharingan last week, yes?" She nodded and Ryuu gave a teasing 'wooaaah' that made the girl roll her eyes. Rikishi smiled, seemed like his plan was working. "Well I had a friend back when I was a young shinobi, and he told me the Sharingan took some getting used to. So today, you're gonna practice with your dōjutsu, and Ryuushi-kun here," Rikishi ignored the whispered 'baka', "is gonna help you by being your sparring partner."

. .

Ryuu had many thoughts swirling in his head at the moment. He analyzed the Uchiha-hime. Her posture was straight and relaxed, while she looked at her surroundings with guarded eyes. At first glance she looked unfriendly, as her face held no specific expression.

When he heard her slight attempt at teasing, he inwardly grinned. She was just a eleven year old who had become recluse because of trauma. He rolled his eyes in his mind, him and Rikishi-teme would bring her personality out. It might take a minute but they would. That's probably another reason why Rikishi-teme brought him here. He could've sparred with the Uchiha-hime, but he brought Ryuu along because he was lazy, and he wanted Uchiha-hime to have a friend.

On the other hand he was ecstatic to learn about this dōjustu, the Sharingan. He had heard a little about it from his Hyūga friend, Shin, and also through him he gathered all the information he could get on the Byakugan.

He'd never admit it to anyone, but Ryuu loved learning new things.

It's how he made friends and acquaintances so easy, he just naturally wanted to know about a person he didn't know. He was greedy, in a sense.

"Activate your Sharingan."

Ryuu's skin itched in anticipation. The Uchiha-hime blinked and for a second, Ryuu's whole world was drenched in red. He couldn't tear his gaze away from her eyes. In an instant of self-control he shook his head furiously, effectively tearing himself from the trance.

Uchiha-hime's eyes were a shining ruby color with one... comma looking thing spinning around her black pupils. Yeah, way different from the Byakugan. Ryuu drew his tanto and watched for Uchiha-hime's reaction. She didn't give his weapon a second glance as she slid into a fighting stance. Ryuu swears he saw her smirk, so she's arrogant too (he scoffed despite finding the trait endearing).

Sliding into his own stance, the Kento Clan member waited for his older cousin to speak.

"Begin!"

Despite the match starting, the girl didn't move an inch. Deciding to test the Sharingan, Ryuu ran full speed at the Uchiha and slashed at her neck. She ducked down, and the boy preceded to throw a barrage of attacks (below his full speed of course) just to test the waters. Uchiha-hime dodged but the way she did was odd. She'd watch the blade come towards her, then dodge in a frantic manner.

Although as the moments went by, her movements became more fluid. So, Ryuu decided to up the anti. His attacks became quicker, and his combos became more intricate. Surprisingly, Uchiha-hime kept up. She spun and wove deceitfully out of his blade's path, and once again, Ryuu swears he sees her smirk.

"No Sharingan!"

Quickly, a wicked grin worked its way across Ryuu's face.

Uchiha-hime's dodges and evasions became less polished and more frantic, and then, his tanto tasted her blood. It was a slash that barely connected, but left it's mark on her right cheek.

"Sharingan!"

And then, those flawless, polished evasions were back. As if that wasn't enough, seemingly by the second she was getting more acclimated to the Sharingan. Soon she was deflecting his tanto away by the blunt edge with her hands. Then suddenly, she did a backwards handspring, and kicked his tanto out of his grip.

She stood there, calm posture back. She was smirking, Ryuu could see it clearly now. Her ruby eyes laughed at him, she was breathing hard, while the injury he gave her bled, and that was enough for Ryuu. Uchiha-hime looked faintly evil in his opinion, as she stood there, dressed in all black, with her pale skin and taunting ruby eyes.

In an instant, Rikishi-teme was by her side, donning a handkerchief from Kami-sama knows where, and wiped the blood from her cheek. He looked at the now blood-stained cloth, and sat it on the girl's shoulder.

"Alright I think that's enough," offhandedly, Ryuu watched the girl pick up the handkerchief, and burn it (he notes that her chakra nature was fire).

"Now let's assess the genjutsu aspect."

"What do you mean genjutsu aspect!?"

. .

Sasuke yawned, and shoved his hands in his pockets. They didn't do anything particularly exerting today in the Academy, but he just felt really tired. Being watched by girls and hounded by Naruto-teme all day did that to you. He walked out of the doors, but before he could even get started on his usual route home, he was suddenly greeted with the image of his sister. Her familiar, calm posture instantly washed a sense of security over him. A charred smell wafted around her, telling Sasuke that she had body-flickered.

She lifted her hand in an impish wave, "Ne... hey Sasuke," the side of her mouth quirked up in a lopsided grin, and reluctantly Sasuke returned it. He waved back, and they began walking.

"Couldn't you just Shunshin us home, nee-chan?"

"It'd make you feel sick, and besides it's nice to feel the breeze in your hair," she looked up at the evening sky, "and the sun on your skin." Sasuke grunted in protest, and jumped slightly when something bumped into his side. He looked down and saw the culprit, a blade handle, protruding from Kizuna's lower back.

Without thinking, he grabbed it, but before he could pull it out of the scabbard his sister's hand was on his, and she was glaring at him. He noticed an angry red scar on her cheek. Sasuke felt his temper flare.

He let go once her glare got sharper, "You could've just asked." She chastised. Sasuke just shrugged, "Rikishi-sensei bought it for me." She explained. He crossed his arms, and his body language became more closed off. Kizuna noticed.

"What, do you want one?"

"Where'd that scar come from?"

"Training today."

"So Rikishi gave it to you."

"No, I was sparring with his cousin and I wasn't fast enough to dodge it." She said hotly, they were alike in that way, neither liked to be inadequate. With that, the youngest Uchiha's anger melted away.

"Can I drop out of the Academy, like you?" Kizuna frowned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

"Why!? You did and you're fine!" Sasuke shouted indignantly.

"I did it because I had to. I did it for you, Sasuke. I did it to provide for us." She said, her voice was void of emotion, but Sasuke could see the sadness in her eyes. He grudgingly accepted that he appreciated her sacrifice.

"We're going to Rikishi-sensei's for dinner, by the way."

The youngest Uchiha huffed in displeasure. He had never met his sister's sensei, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but if he was the one that got her this strong, he must be worth it.

. .

Knock Knock Knock.

A little ball of nervousness wound up in Sasuke's chest. The apartment door swung open, and a tall, broad-shouldered honey blonde man stood in the doorway. He had sharp golden eyes, a face dusted with stubble, and hair that curled upwards.

First he looked at Kizuna, then down at Sasuke, and suddenly he felt small.

"Evening, Rikishi-sensei," Kizuna gestured towards her brother, "this is Sasuke, my brother."

Rikishi nodded at Sasuke in acknowledgment, "Your sister's talked about you, Sasuke-kun. It's nice to finally meet you." He finished with a warm smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Rikishi," Kizuna elbowed him, "Rikishi-oji-san." He reluctantly added.

The man chuckled, and gestured for them to come in. When he stepped in, Sasuke was instantly greeted with the smell of beef miso ramen. The apartment was small, but that gave it a homey feel. A dining area was to the right, with a living space to the left. A kitchen was situated behind the dining area, and one door could be seen in the back wall (which Sasuke assumed to be Rikishi's bedroom).

As Rikishi walked into the kitchen, he gestured towards the dining table, and told them to sit. Kizuna sat in the chair next to the head of the table, and Sasuke wasted no time in sitting next to her. Subconsciously, as he grew more anxious, his shoulders rose and his body language became increasingly stiff. Quickly picking up on this, his sister reached over and grabbed the boy's neck and pulled him into a side hug.

"Calm down, Saas-kun!" She said, as if she couldn't believe he was nervous in the first place.

Sasuke lightly pushed her off him, half irritated that she called him that, and half irritated that she calmed him down.

"If you're gonna be like that, at least don't be nervous, be wary. Nervousness leads to fear, but wariness leads to action." She continued lowly, and punctuated her point with a poke to the side of his head. Sasuke scoffed, this is why he wanted to drop out of the Academy. Kizuna was out learning things and getting stronger every day, while Sasuke was in a classroom, learning about who the second Hokage was and what x + y equaled.

"Would've never learned that in the Academy..." The youngest Uchiha said sarcastically. Kizuna huffed, and after a moment she turned to face him, her face was smoothed into a indifferent expression but her eyes betrayed her. Sasuke inwardly smirked, he had her.

"I'll think it over, and talk to Rikishi-sensei about it," immediately, Sasuke's stone expression broke, and made way for a triumphant smirk, "but, even if Rikishi-sensei gives the okay, the only way I'll let you drop out is if you have at least one friend." Friend? Why would he need a friend? He had Kizuna.

"I know what you're thinking, Sasuke-kun," she said with an eye-roll, "But what if I died?" Sasuke's body instantly flooded with anxiety, "Even though I'm gonna do my absolute best to be strong enough to make sure that doesn't happen, it still could. I wouldn't want you to just be alone. Rikishi-sensei would be there for you, but that's not the same as having a friend. At least I think." Sasuke frowned, that was reasonable, but he didn't have to like it.

"Ne... I'm back, kiddies." That was Rikishi, he was carrying four soup bowls, while still managing to look calm. He sat them down in their respective places, and rubbed at his stubble. "And for the record, Sasuke-kun here would be alright if he dropped out of the Academy. I'd just have to approach the Hokage about taking him under my wing also. Kizuna, you could catch him up on anything he doesn't know, and we would get him to a place where he could go on missions as soon as possible." A sly smile made its way to the man's face, and he chuckled, "Although, you'd still have to get a friend, Sasuke-kun-"

Knock Knock Knock.

"Ne...Rikishi-teme! Lemme in, I'm starving, baka!"

Whatever Rikishi was gonna say stopped right there, his facial expression soured, but the ghost of a smile made its way to his face.

"Pesky." He walked away to answer the door.

"That's Ryuu, Sasuke," she shrugged, "But you can call him, Yuushi-chan."

A black haired boy walked over, and sat in front of Sasuke. He had hair similar to Rikishi, with sharp honey eyes like his too. His whole energy seemed languid and calm (like Rikishi). Obviously, they were related.

"We meet again, Uchiha-hime." He said slowly. A sly smile sat on his lips. Uchiha-hime?

"Ryuushi-dono, it's nice to see you." Kizuna said indifferently.

"Oh? And who's this?" Ryuu was looking at him like he was a pleasant surprise, and suddenly, Sasuke wanted to raise his eyebrow.. but he didn't, because only his sister sees him do that.

"My name is Sasuke."

"Sasuke, Sas, Sas, Sas...more like Saucy-boy to me." Saucy-boy? The youngest Uchiha was absolutely mortified. He looked over at his sister, her eyebrow was raised as she looked down at her ramen, most likely holding back a grin. Sasuke frowned, and turned back to Ryuu.

"I assume your name is Yuushi-chan, right?" At that moment, if he was home, Sasuke would have laughed. Ryuu's whole expression dropped, and he looked wholly unimpressed. Rikishi was doubled over in laughter, and Kizuna was grinning now. Sasuke smirked, and inwardly thanked his sister.

"Riiiiight. Rikishi-teme are you gonna stop laughing so we can eat?" Ryuu said, a little irritation seeping into his voice. A couple more chuckles escaped the teacher before he finally calmed down, and nodded. A chorus of 'Itadakimasu's rang through the kitchen, and everyone proceeded to dig into their meal.

After a couple minutes, light conversation began, and Sasuke learned that the Kento's were actually related to the Nara's through Rikishi's great-great-grandad. He learned how Kizuna was finally working on her Sharingan, and how Rikishi thought she was a prodigy at it. He listened to the three shinobi converse about fighting tactics, different ways to string an array of kicks together, and nature-chakra oriented ninjutsu. Throughout the whole conversation, jokes were cracked, and Sasuke found himself wanting to laugh.

As the ramen settled in his belly, the room felt warmer as he listened to the conversation. He leaned his head back on the chair, and slumped down just a tad, as his eyelids drooped lower and lower until- what! He shook his head furiously, and frowned deeply. Kizuna woke him up by shoving two-fingers into his neck, nail first. He narrowed his eyes at her in irritation, and she chuckled.

"It's time for us to go, Sasuke, calm down."

"Leaving already?" Asked Yuushi-chan. He ran a hand through his curly hair as he yawned, and stood up from his chair. Rikishi stood up too, and walked them to the door.

"Ne... meet me at the gear store tomorrow, Kizuna-chan." Mumbled Rikishi.

"See ya tomorrow, Rikishi-sensei. Thanks for dinner. Bye, Ryuushi-dono."

Rikishi waved his hand dismissively, and his cousin held up a peace-sign.

"Ne, see ya round, Uchiha-hime, Saucy-boy." Ryuu drawled.

Sasuke threw his hand up as he and his sister walked away, and called out, "Yuushi-chan, Rikishi-oji-san."

Kizuna laid a hand on his shoulder, and suddenly they were home, but Sasuke felt like he needed to puke.

"You'll get used to it."

. .

They walked in the door, and Kizuna was quickly assaulted with the fresh, cinnamon smell of her and her brother's house.

Sasuke immediately went to his room, a little too quick for Kizuna's tastes,

"Take a shower!" A loud, angry groan sounded from the back of the house, "I'm tired!" Sasuke fired back hotly, but the middle Uchiha knew he'd do it.

She walked back to her room to take a shower of her own. Her room wasn't anything special, seeing how she was barely in it. It was painted a light gray, with pictures of her and Sasuke scattered on one wall. A huge wardrobe sat on the wall across from it. It held all of her clothes, her underwear, shoes and weapons. A small bed sat against the back wall, and was lined with black sheets and warm blankets.

Kizuna took her tanto off her waist, and sat it on her bed. She then went and pulled out some loose black shorts, a white T-shirt, and some underwear from her wardrobe. Then she stripped and threw her dirty clothes in a hamper in the corner.

She proceeded to walk into the bathroom, unbothered by the cold tile. The pale girl sat her garments on top of the toilet, pulled out a couple of cloths to wash and dry with, and cut on the water. When the temperature was to her liking, she hopped in.

As she washed she thought about the night. She could tell Sasuke had a nice time, and that made her genuinely happy. He needed to interact with people, seeing as he made no effort to do so in school, besides that Naruto boy he talked about.

Sadly, he began asking about dropping out of the Academy today. She'd let him do it in a heartbeat... if she wasn't worried about him having friends, or at least one! She huffed, he needed more social skills, so she'd keep doing her best to bring him around Rikishi-sensei and Ryuu. Maybe she'd even tell him to invite Naruto over for dinner. One thing was for sure though, Sasuke was set on dropping out of the Academy, so now it was just a matter of when. Something else they had in common...

Finally, Kizuna turned off the water with her foot, and stepped out of the shower. Immediately, she grabbed the towel and ran it over her body and now clean hair.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she rolled her eyes at how much she resembled Sasuke and... Itachi.

Her bangs hung in, and framed her face. Her black eyes stood out against her porcelain skin, and her aristocratic nose tied everything together... almost exactly the female version of Sasuke, but with long hair. She couldn't compare herself to Itachi- Itachi, Itachi, Itachi!

Suddenly she was angry, and her eyes weren't black anymore.

The angrier she got, the faster those tomoe spun around her pupil. She grimaced as hot tears began to roll down her cheeks, and her blood boiled as hatred ran through her veins. Her head jerked down as she looked at her feet, and her mouth opened in a silent scream, "Why did you do it?" She felt like training, she wanted to kill something, why'd he have to leave them all alone!?

She shook her head profusely, and furiously wiped the tears from her cheeks. No, they'd survive without him. Her and Sasuke would be strong. Strong despite what he put them through.

The Academy drop out imagined what her sensei's reaction would be, "Ne, Kizuna-chan, calm down." He would say, and the girl found herself laughing. She sighed heavily, and pulled on her clothes after rubbing oil on her body.

The middle Uchiha walked out of the bathroom, out of her room, and then she entered Sasuke's room, which was conveniently next to hers.

. .

His room was much like hers. It was painted a darker grey, but the set up was the same. Her younger brother was laying in his bed, facing the wall.

She sat down on the edge of his bed, and slowly, he turned to face her. In an attempt to see him better in the dim light, her Sharingan activated. Sasuke gave her a weird look for a split-second.

"Did I wake you?"

"Almost," he said tiredly.

"You have a good time tonight?" She asked quietly.

For a couple moments, Sasuke didn't say anything, "Yeah."

Kizuna ran a hand through her brother's bangs, they had grown out quite a bit, just like hers. "We're gonna need haircuts soon, Saas-kun." The nine-year-old only responded with an unintelligible grunt, he was falling asleep by the second. Kizuna smiled softly, stood up, and walked to the room doorway.

"Maybe you should invite that Naruto kid over for dinner..."

Suddenly, Sasuke was fully awake.

"What!?"

. .

:)