Natsuki's never been fond of the tiny apartment she and her brother call home but after spending three weeks in a hospital it feels like the Daimyo's palace to her. The ever present tension that had taken to sitting in her chest and stomach practically melts away at the familiar sight of an unmade bed and empty ramen cups.

The place smells musty, a result of being locked up too long while Naruto kept them company in the hospital, but its home and Natsuki almost cries when she throws her bag down and collapses face first on the bed.

"Open up a window," Sasuke orders.

Natsuki lifts her head up to peek at her friend and he and Naruto start cracking open windows to let some fresh air in. For the unforeseeable future, Sasuke will be staying with them.

At discharge one of the guards had told Sasuke the compound was clear should he wish to return home. He'd looked so close to a panic attack that Natsuki said Sasuke would be staying with them for now. She hadn't even asked Sasuke's permission or anything. Just grabbed him and marched them all back home.

He hadn't made any sort of protest the whole time so Natsuki could only hope she's made the right choice. Looking at the way he moves around the apartment, familiar but still a bit uncertain, a selfish part of her preens at the fact that one of her precious people will be so close to her at all times.

It's horrible, especially considering the events leading up to them having to share this space, but she can't stop herself from feeling content at the sight of Sasuke and Naruto moving around each other as though they've been doing it for years.

"I'm hungry," Naruto complains, dropping down on the bed beside his sister and drumming his heels into her back.

Natsuki scowls and tries to kick him in return but the angle is awkward and she can't reach. Sasuke smacks him in passing, earning a loud yell of indignation, and hesitates for the barest of moments before slipping onto the bed as well closer to Natsuki's head and out of range of Naruto's feet.

"We need to go shopping. I'm certain that fridge has nothing in it for us," Natsuki mutters.

"I'm fairly certain that the thing occupying it right now has become sentient and is planning a hostile takeover," Sasuke agrees solemnly which makes Natsuki giggle.

"Maybe we should we go out to eat?" Naruto suggests. Sasuke looks like he'd much rather do anything but face the outside world but Naruto's stomach grumbles loudly before he can protest and Natsuki's responds in kind.

"Sorry Sasuke," she apologises. "We'll make it quick? To Ichiraku's and back?" she tries.

Sasuke looks around the apartment again. "Maybe... I could just stay here? And clean up a little?"

The twins make a face.

"You shouldn't be the one cleaning. We'll do it!" Naruto declares but his stomach rumbles again and he winces.

"Let's go out," Natsuki quietly suggests, lifting her head and resting her chin on his thigh so she can peer at him. "A little air might be good for us," she hedges.

Sasuke looks doubtful but eventually folds. They head out for Ichiraku's, the late afternoon sun warming their skin as they walk.

"See, this is nice," Natsuki says, trying to be pleasant. As said before, Natsuki is not good at feelings or being sympathetic. She's not even sure how she's going to deal with her own trauma and the nightmares that plague her after the massacre much less Sasuke's. The boy in question is sticking as close to her side as physically possible while Naruto meanders beside them at his own pace.

People are talking. Natsuki can hear them whispering as they walk.

The twins have always received a fair amount of attention. Mostly negative and sometimes aggressively so, but they've learned how to deal and ignore it. Sasuke's never had to deal with it though. He's always had his family and, in return, the respect of the village simply by being who he is. He's suddenly unsure of how to deal with all the attention being thrown is way.

He curls in on himself a little, but looks at the twins, the way they move with their heads held high as though they can't hear the whispers, and takes a deep breath. If they can do it, so can he. He straightens his spine but can't bring himself to pull away from Natsuki just yet.

Teuchi greets them normally, as though his favourite customers hadn't simply dropped off the face of the earth for weeks. No doubt he's aware of the reason behind their disappearance. Ichiraku's is a common hangout for Konoha shinobi and ninjas are the biggest gossips you'll ever meet.

Still, Natsuki appreciates him more than anything when all he does is slip them their favourite meals and starts chatting about what new flavours he's thinking of trying for the new week.

Naruto's swept up in that conversation in a heartbeat leaving Natsuki and Sasuke to enjoy their meal in relative silence. In this place, surrounded by people she loves as their chakras brush against each other every now and again, Natsuki feels her world settle.

-\|/-

Natsuki avoids stirring up any big fuss about her return to class by being the first one there. She settles herself all the way at the back and by the window. She'd be crawling up the walls if she wasn't able to see where everyone was in the class. Judging by the look Kanzaki-sensei gives her, he understands the reason behind her sudden change in seating but says nothing about it, simply shuffles his papers and greets her with a quiet 'welcome back'.

The rest of her class gives her odd looks as they trail in but they're easily ignored by putting her head down and closing her eyes. No one knew how to approach her before and she's thankful for it now because no one dares come closer to ask questions.

She wonders how Sasuke and Naruto are making out.

Sasuke seemed relaxed this morning but his eyes were dark when they split. Naruto gave her a thumbs up before disappearing after him so all she can do is sigh and hope her brother is doing his best to keep Sasuke occupied.

She sighs and rests her chin on her arms and tries to get lost in class but it's difficult. Her eyes keep wandering and she jumps a little every time one of the students moves too quickly or does something she can't anticipate.

At the end of the day she's a jittery mess but she can't help it.

"It will get better." Natsuki nearly hits the ceiling when Kanzaki-sensei's voice comes from behind her.

The look he's giving her isn't one of pity, it's the same sleepy look he always has and Natsuki takes the advice in the spirit (she thinks) it's being given. Just advice from one shinobi to another (even if she isn't actually shinobi just yet).

-\|/-

Living with Sasuke isn't quite what she thought it would be. For one thing, life actually gets a little easier. It's probably the council's way of sucking up to their only Uchiha but Sasuke gets offered a house (a whole fucking house) to live in seeing as he refuses to go anywhere near the Compound.

He declined it at first but after being approached repeatedly, finally accepts the damn thing and promptly demands that the twins move in with him.

Neither of them complain. When given the option of living in a nice house with proper heating, an excess of bedrooms, running water and baths that don't spit rust water on a semi-regular basis versus the dump the twins have resided in for almost eight years, there's really no other choice is there?

Naruto is eager to pack and go and, to be honest, so is Natsuki.

"I forgot about this!" Natsuki gets a dingy stuffed rabbit shoved into her face. She recognizes it as one of the few toys they'd managed to sneak away from the orphanage when they got booted –ahem- transferred out.

She makes a face. "Ew." It's disgusting and belongs in the trash. Naruto leers and her skin crawls right before he shoves it down her shirt.

"Naruto you bastard!" She wails as she scrambles to get the disgusting toy out of her clothes. She pitches it out the window but still feels gross and grimy. She glares at her brother who's sneaking out the room. "I will not forget this," she promises. Naruto goes white before making a break for it.

Natsuki has to count to ten, then to twenty, then thirty before she's able to move without considering causing her brother serious bodily harm.

She stomps over to the bookshelf and furiously empties it instead but freezes when a familiar worn notebook falls out from its hiding place behind folders full of rough drafts for novels.

The sloppy handwriting and 'IMPORTANT' scrawled in English mocks her with its innocence and she tamps down on the growing urge to see the little book burn. She picks it up, determinedly ignoring the way her fingers shake, and flips through.

They're her early notes, the ones she'd written back in the orphanage when she was trying to organize herself and her place in the new world she'd been thrown into. The haphazard mix of English and Spanish she'd mashed together as a very rudimentary encryption is laughable and she can't hold back the startled laugh spills forth. In the quiet of the room it sounds more panicked than amused. Was it really only a few years ago that she'd written these? It seems like so much longer, like another time entirely.

Familiar names jump out at her; Tsunade, Pein, Madara, Gaara. Names she'd given such importance to back then but now only fill her with dread that serves to remind her just how powerless she is. A little girl with no family aside from her brother and their best friend who's also now an orphan after an attack she was powerless to stop.

The words 'Uchiha Massacre' are written in bold and underlined in triplicate. They're laughing at her. She tears the page out without even looking at what's on the rest of it and tears it into tiny pieces. She doesn't need another reminder of how powerless she is.

She should throw the notebook out. A large part of her wants to. As is there's still not much she can do to change the Story significantly. She's doing the best she can to keep Sasuke from spiraling down into thoughts of revenge and she thinks she's succeeding but it's hard to tell. He still has nightmares and wakes up screaming regularly waking Naruto whenever he does. The only reason he's not disturbing her sleep is because she rarely gets any these days.

"Watcha looking at?" Natsuki nearly jumps through the window at Sasuke's sudden appearance.

She was so lost in her thoughts she never sensed his approach. Who knows how long he's been watching her? She shrugs and closes the book. No sense in trying to hide it, it would just make him suspicious and even more curious about what it was.

"Old notes," she replies, waving it a little. "And story ideas. Stuff I never really thought out and I just forgot about them." And isn't that the truth…

Sasuke dismisses the book completely. "Naruto says he won't come back unless you promise not to kill him."

Natsuki scowls. "Then he's not gonna be coming home for a while then."

Sasuke grins and steps over to help her pack the rest of the books away. She gives the notebook one last look before tucking it into her rucksack for safe keeping.

-\|/-

She figures it should come as no surprise when the senseis start complaining about the fact that Sasuke has taken to skipping classes with Naruto. She's been expecting some kind of reaction from Sasuke for the longest time now. At home he's quieter than usual. He still teases Naruto and troubles Natsuki about her cooking, but occasionally he just goes quiet and stares off into the distance.

The fact that he's doing anything, even if it is ditching class, is a relief to her. She'll have to probe him a little later just to find out the reason why he's suddenly taken up ditching when before he used to scold her and Naruto about it but as long as he doesn't seem to be turning into the rage filled brat from Before, she thinks he'll be all right. Relatively so at least.

She's not sure why the senseis keep complaining to her though. As much as they like to think otherwise she doesn't actually have any control over Sasuke or her brother. They make their own choices. All she does is try to guide them down the path of least destruction (quite literally).

-\|/-

No matter how much time she spends in the hospital, Natsuki will never get over the smell. It's too… clean. The antiseptics and disinfectant used on the floors and in the rooms irritates her sensitive nose and makes her sneeze every time she steps in.

This visit is no better than any of the others.

"Isada-sensei?" she asks, wiping water from her eyes. There's always an adjustment period she has to endure before the smell stops bothering her but until she gets used to it she has to deal with watery eyes and a runny nose.

Today's receptionist isn't sympathetic to her plight in the least.

"Exam room 304," is the curt response she gets before the receptionist makes a show of opening the log book and ignoring Natsuki spectacularly.

Natsuki takes it with her usual grace (meaning as soon as she's out of view of the front desk she gives it the hardest middle finger she can summon) and trudges up to the third floor for her usual check up with Isada-sensei.

Ever since he'd gotten it into his head to compare the Uzumaki twins, he seemed to be seriously pursuing a research paper on the subject of chakra deficiency and malformed coils in young shinobi. For Isada it means digging through piles on piles of medical records on children born with malformed chakra coils, hunting them down (if they were still alive) and requesting permission for them to be part of his study.

For Natsuki, it means having to endure weekly checkups so that he can monitor her progression through school. Isada seems to be in it for the long haul which means Natsuki's resigned herself to practically living in the hospital for the rest of her life (or at least until Isada feels he's gotten enough data from her). She's not even sure how many other participants he has for his study. It's not like her condition is common.

She hasn't seen anyone else waiting to be examined by Isada in the past month she's been coming so she doubts

The notion is dispelled when she arrives at the exam room and the door's label has been turned to 'Exam in Session'. Sunday isn't a busy day for the hospital which is why Isada uses it as his 'data collection day' for his research and his temper is legendary among the staff which means she doubts the receptionist gave her the wrong room number which can only mean Isada's found another participant for his research.

Natsuki tries rather unsuccessfully to fight the sudden flare of jealousy that flares up with the thought as she sits in the stiff backed chair in the waiting area for Isada to be done.

20 minutes later the door opens and out walks a familiar… face? Well… it's not really the face that's familiar as much as the almost comically large eyes and ultra-thick eyebrows set in the pudgy face of a baby Rock Lee.

She hops off her chair and wanders over slowly as Isada emerges from the room not a moment later.

"Ah, I hope you weren't out here too long. I wasn't expecting this exam to run quite as long as it did," Isada apologises, tugging at the collar of his med-uniform. He complains bitterly about how hot the uniform is when he thinks Natsuki isn't listening which she finds amusing.

"S'fine," Natsuki replies with a shrug, unashamedly checking out Lee who's doing the same. His chakra feels nowhere near as vibrant as the other shinobi children his age but it's there nonetheless, a strong, sturdy beat that thrums against her senses as slowly as waves on a lazy day but no less powerful.

"Meet Rock Lee, my second willing participant for my study." Isada gestures to the boy as though it isn't obvious who he's referring to. He's not as… green… as Natsuki was expecting him to be but of course this Lee hasn't been introduced to Gai just yet. If anything he's even less groomed than his future self, hair sticking up oddly at the back and sides where he seemed to have forgotten to comb. His clothes, however, are neatly kept. Well, as neatly kept as second hand clothes can be. Natsuki's spent enough time living on hand me downs to recognize the look of orphanage clothes that have to last long past their time.

"Lee, this is Uzumaki Natsuki. You'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future so it would be in your best interest to get along." Isada's glaring at Natsuki who honestly doesn't feel a lick of guilt at being singled out for her prickly attitude. Children don't like her anyway so why should she put in the effort when it would all amount to bupkis anyway?

"I am well aware of Miss Uzumaki!" Lee declares and isn't that adorable? She'd assumed Lee patterned his speech after Gai but it seems like he's just always been a little sweetheart. "We are in the same year at the Academy."

Both Natsuki and Isada look surprised at this statement.

"And you never told me?" Isada asks, looking stern.

Natsuki shrugs helplessly. "I didn't know!" she protests.

"And indeed she would not have known for we are in separate classes!" Lee declares. "But a good shinobi should always be aware of changes in their surroundings and Miss Uzumaki caused quite the stir when she advanced."

Natsuki chuckled awkwardly and Isada just sighed.

"Well, stay aware because you'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future," Isada says, rubbing his eyes.

"I look forward it!" Lee declares brightly, shaking Natsuki's hand enthusiastically. "I do not wish to be rude but I must depart and continue with my training!" and with one last wave Lee trots off and disappears down the stairs.

Natsuki and Isada stare after him long after he's gone.

"His condition is much like yours but unlike you he possesses a much larger reservoir of physical chakra. The lack of properly developed chakra coils makes it difficult for him to access them however. He could, given intense training, but it would leave him severely injured afterward."

"So basically if he learned to use his chakra he'd sort of go out with a bang?" Natsuki asks.

"A very big bang," Isada confirms and silence falls again.

"I like him," is what she breaks the quiet with.

Isada huffs but the sound is amused. "Come along. Let's get your exam out of the way."

Natsuki gives the stairs one lingering look before following him inside.

-\|/-

Despite what people think, Naruto isn't dumb. Over energetic, yes. With a short attention span? Hell yes. But when you spend as much time being hated as he does you learn that it's better to let people form their own opinions of him and stay that way rather than to waste energy changing their views. And really it all helps because when people spend time ignoring him they don't realize just how much watching he's doing when they're not looking.

For all his hyperactivity and (perceived) inattentiveness Naruto is a rather observant child. Maybe not in the same way as his sister who can pin him and Sasuke in under two minutes (four if she's distracted that day) or like the Sasuke who seems to have a sixth sense for whenever his fan club is approaching and who disappears like smoke in the wind as soon as they get too close (more often than not leaving Naruto to fend for himself), and maybe that doesn't apply to his school work (because honestly who wants to sit in school all day reading books that don't even have any cool heroes in them) but still… he notices things.

Like when Natsuki's smile gets more and more strained as time goes by and they all move up one more year. At first he thought he could blame it on the Massacre (and boy doesn't he beat himself up night after night for not following his sister and best friend home like he should have. He should have been there with them! Not home curled up under a bed like a scaredy cat when the village wide alarms started blaring!), but then time passes and Natsuki starts sleeping again (instead of lying in bed staring at the ceiling or spending hours working on her stupid stitching) but the brightness behind her smile doesn't come back.

She's still his loving sister, giving him hugs and kisses (and forcing him to eat vegetables when he'd rather do anything else) but every now and again, when she thinks he or Sasuke isn't looking, she'll get this faraway look in her eyes and will let out a heavy sigh. In those moments she looks so much older than she ought to be so Naruto does what he thinks is best. Yells really loudly and initiates a prank war which usually does the trick to bring her out of her funk.

He wonders though… how much of his sister was lost the night Sasuke's family was murdered. She may be alive but she's not… quite… the same.

And then there's Sasuke. Is this what it's like to have a brother? To have someone to scheme with when Natsuki isn't around or to have someone who the teachers trust implicitly (because Natsuki may be cute but the name Uzumaki has her down in a lot of bad books just on principle) to cover his back? If it is, then he likes it, even if he has to drag the bastard out of class on some days to chase away the shadows that sometimes creep into his eyes when he's left alone for too long.

Natsuki calls Naruto her ray of sunshine because he chases all her bad feelings away. Whenever she says that it makes Sasuke scoff but his lips quirk anyway which means he agrees too.

Naruto doesn't always feel like sun but if that's what Natsuki needs him to be then he'll gladly be it.

When he was younger and the Hokage came to visit the twins at their orphanage Naruto dreamt of one day wearing that hat and making a village so great that Natsuki would always be smiling.

Now… he's not sure if being Hokage would be enough to make that one dream come true…

Naruto is an oddly tricky character to write for. I thought Sasuke was hard but Naruto's exactly the kind of easy going character I seem to have issues with writing. Who knew.

Sorry for the long break but I spent 6 weeks working at the PT Department in my local hospital and every afternoon I was too tired to write. God I'll be horrible when I graduate and actually have to start working every day. Not looking forward to that adult life.

-Rayne