Chapter Two

Shisui came into consciousness absolutely parched.

He was aware of that- his thirst- the dryness of his throat, the ache in his head, the instinctive yearning for a taste that he couldn't quite pin down, before he noticed anything else. Then the Uchiha's shinobi senses alerted him to the antiseptic scent of the room, the faint static of machines, footsteps approaching… he was in a hospital. Not soon after that realization, Shisui drifted off again.

…

The second time, ash-toned eyes managed to flicker open. The room was lit in off-white color by long, narrow strips of bulbs. There was a ceiling fan too, lazily bringing in a light breeze down on his hot and feverish body. His throat still felt dry and sore. A man in a mint green half-mask stood above him.

His mouth was moving. '...can you hear me? Blink once if you…'

"Water," Shisui croaked, before his eyes closed again.

…

The third time he awoke, Shisui was sweating heavily. He could feel the slickness on his limbs, heavy and lethargic as they were, and a tension in his muscles that alarmed him. His heartbeat was too quick; the beeping monitor connected to him sounded erratic. Anxiety rose, as his eyes quickly swept the room around him- standard, feeding tubes, waste facility, oxygen mask, electric blanket- but couldn't find a single glass of water. Something told him that that wasn't what Shisui was truly looking for, but the teenager skittered away from those thoughts. Hands were holding him down but the Uchiha felt oddly removed from all of it.

"He's going into a panic attack! Quickly get Dr. Toshima here-"

"-don't know what to do… just woke up like this-"

"-catatonic, ANBU-san, quickly get the Hokage! Where's the oxygen mask-"

Shisui fell into blissful darkness once more.

…

The fourth time he awoke, he was utterly ravenous. Unknown to him, his eyes had activated the Uchiha bloodline, not the Mangekyou but three commas spinning around restlessly in a pool of red. Those in the room watching him and there were many, including the Hokage, two ANBU, a chakra specialist, a trauma surgeon, a nurse, a dojutsu-specialist Branch Hyuuga, and the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, were somewhat unnerved. None least so than Naruko Uzumaki, when those red eyes spun across the room and landed on her. The expression on Shisui Uchiha's face was nothing short of hunger. The one on Naruko's own face may have been perplexed or embarrassed but she still recalled the dark-haired teen lying on the grass, telling her that it didn't hurt at all to die, and she didn't fear him now, still too pale and too young, on the hospital bed.

The part of Shisui that was still in control of his faculties croaked out, "Water."

The Hokage's lined faced betrayed nothing but there was a hint of compassion in his eyes, as he turned and nodded. By this signal, the chakra specialist ushered the blonde girl into a child's gurney, one ANBU on either end as they carefully wheeled her towards the bed. Naruko's face was a bright crimson, as they pulled her sunflower yellow shirt up- with an actual sunflower stitched on the front, fancy that- past her belly and laid it there. Everyone looked at Shisui expectantly.

Shisui stared back, unimpressed. 'What the hell is going on?'

After a few seconds of awkward silence, the dojutsu specialist coughed into his hand. The Hyuuga's Byakugan was fully blazing and focused directly on the center of the blonde's stomach. "Perhaps you can channel some chakra with the Ne seal, Uzumaki-san?"

"Uh, right!" Naruko quickly followed the instruction, clumsily putting her hands together to form the proper hand seal, and then channeling some chakra into it. Her stomach lit up as an intricate seal formed above it, thick black lines spiralling out of her bellybutton, innocuous, beautiful and holding back the greatest demon in the world.

Shisui could barely focus on that. Instead his entire world had tunnel visioned into this narrow line, directly focused on Naruko Uzumaki as chakra lights, light blue and reddish orange, made themselves visible and arcing across her body. Almost all of them were centered at her stomach, slowly spreading outwards and upwards, minutes away from creeping to her neck…

HungerThirstThereChakraDrink. The Uchiha hadn't even recognized that he was moving until the machine made a long, solitary beep, as his body tore the lines connected to it. His tall, gangly teen body was half-bending over the blonde, his legs pressed around her, her own against his chest, blue eyes wide and curious but unafraid, as he sunk down. The chakra was around her stomach but the seal was there too, and he couldn't possibly bite on that. The chakra would reach her neck soon. It would take longer- far too long, in his mind- for it to reach a safer spot, a less intimate wrist or arm. It was awkward and ungainly but Kami, was he so thirsty…

'There's a special place in Yomi for monsters like me,' was Shisui's last thought before his teeth broke the skin of her neck, drawing one sharp gasp from Naruko. After that, everything was lost to blood, chakra and Shisui's own self-loathing for it all.

x

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pen, took a deep breath of his nicotine and fantasized briefly about wringing Minato Namikaze's neck.

'One body flicker down to the monument, a little corpse robbing, a few hand seals and I can finally get some catharsis for this damn hat,' the Second Kami no Shinobi thought dreamily. He'd pull out the speedy bastard's entire spine and shove it down his throat. He'd fill his nostrils with carmine powder, spoon out his pretty blue eyes, break every knuckle and tie his fingers into knots! He'd even hand him to Onoki in full chakra restraints and tell him to do his worst.

'Well, maybe not the last one,' Hiruzen amended, allowing one forlorn glance at the successor that so inconsiderately died four years into his reign. 'What would you do if one of your most promising shinobi was chakra addicted to a child jinchuuriki, Minato-kun?'

The picture on the frame, of a handsome blonde man with vibrant ocean blue eyes and a kind smile on his face, not unlike his daughter in every physical way, looked soundlessly back. Hiruzen sighed and returned to the occupation of every Hokage: finding answers to problems that should never even exist.

Shisui-kun was a fine young shinobi and a loyal soldier that compromised his own personal bonds for the benefit of the village. He was also painfully chakra addicted to Naruko Uzumaki, the only child of the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha's jinchuuriki, to the degree that his combat effectiveness had been essentially compromised for all mid-to-long distance missions for a minimum of two years. Proper treatment could ensure that it wasn't a permanent end to his career but to do so meant accepting risks to village security, hundreds of thousands of ryo in medical equipment and specialists and potential fallout from leaked knowledge. The question became, then, whether or not he was worth it.

Hiruzen personally believed so. Disregarding Shisui's moral character and sacrifices for the village, which were impressive and extensive respectively, he was a prodigy. Quite possibly the most talented Uchiha of his generation, though it beggared the question of whether Itachi-kun deserved that title, and a wielder of the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan. He was proficient in all of the main fields of shinobi work, had an excellent mission record, regularly employed three chakra affinities, as well as a talent in yin release, and was the only grandson of his old friend, Kagami. He was also a bearer of the Sharingan bloodline, an aspect that was valuable before but truly precious now, as Sasuke was years away from siring children. All of these skills, coupled with a sincere belief in the Will of Fire, meant that Shisui Uchiha was not an asset that could be easily discarded. Thus, his treatment would proceed.

Now, to mitigate the risks.

First and foremost was the increased risk to village security, particularly in regards to Naruko-chan's use of the Kyuubi's chakra. Hiruzen had a full breakdown of the Shiki Fuujin seal that Minato devised for his daughter and knew that trace amounts of the demonic chakra were always present within her chakra network. That amount would have to suffice for Shisui's treatment as Naruko-chan's body couldn't yet handle actively pulling on the demon's chakra and awakening it from its slumber. Yes, it would prolong the treatment but that was a far superior choice to damaging the seal. Neither could Hiruzen afford another panic attack when the sensors and higher level ninja in the village became aware of Naruko tapping into her tenant's chakra. He had calmed them down considerably since then but further reassurances wouldn't hurt…

'A loyal, popular Uchiha shinobi with a fully matured Sharingan and a history of powerful genjutsu happening to take custody of the village jinchuuriki wouldn't go amiss either. It would allow the necessary cover for Shisui to… well, feed for lack of better word, on Naruko's chakra.'

Fortunately, Naruko seemed to have become rather attached to the Uchiha teen after Danzo's dojutsu grab spectacularly backfired on him. She wouldn't mind the treatment if it was to her friend's benefit and it would even help her move through the near-death experience at the hands of a Root agent. Children were particularly resilient and while Hiruzen was saddened that she'd had to experience such, he couldn't deny that it benefited the village tremendously.

'On the Uchiha Massacre, we are all bound by pride and folly but Danzo alone can bear the brunt of claim for a dojutsu thief.'

A smile, small and grandfatherly, yet somehow brimming with a vicious, vindictive triumph, crossed the Sandaime's face. He hadn't said anything at all but bringing Hideki Hyuuga into the team to treat Shisui-kun- and allowing him to note of the distinctive scars around the boy's right eye, of an incomplete eye removal surgery- ensured that Hiashi at least would be on the war prowl. Danzo had received a full dressing down before Koharu and Homura for this failure. While it hadn't kept Itachi from carrying out the Massacre in his name, it had put chains down on Danzo.

Every tree needed a lengthy and strong system of roots to support it. Hiruzen accepted this. What he did not accept was that it be allowed to fester in darkness unchecked, for maggots and plagues to eat away at their strength and corrupt it into something twisted by even the nature of shinobi villages. A light had been shined on Danzo's personal little army and while it would be allowed to continue- it must be, nothing else was acceptable in this era of not-quite-war- Hiruzen had refused to allow Danzo alone to do so. Another council was made, smaller and composed of others that could be entrusted to work alongside Danzo and keep him in check, if necessary, to run Root. The Hokage himself could not do it, as he must remain above suspicion on these missions, but Daen Nara, Muta Aburame and Norimi Tadase would do well.

The second issue, the expense of the procedures, was sadly not an issue at all. At the death of all of the Uchiha Clan, barring Shisui and Sasuke, the liquidated assets of the members were moved to a joined account to be split equally between the two survivors. The funds were more than enough to cover the teen's medical costs, which would be extensive, as keeping a chakra specialist on retainer and having bi-weekly check-ups for himself and Naruko-chan would not be cheap, nor would the Yamanaka therapist Hiruzen ordered. The Sandaime wasn't aware of the teen's personal finances before this, though he assumed them healthy considering the quality of Shisui's missions and the fact that his house was inherited outright from his deceased parents. Nonetheless, if he desired, he could retire from the shinobi forces altogether, though Hiruzen would strongly discourage that path.

The third issue would be the fallback from a potential revelation. Hiruzen had fortunately moved quickly on this matter and none but the medical team sworn to secrecy, on chakra-laden seals and ironclad non-disclosure agreements, were aware of Shisui's illness. Naruko, after crying her poor heart out over the Kyuubi revelation, had been made to understood the importance of secrecy herself. If they remained cautious on the matter, than the greatest threat would simply be Sasuke, whose guardianship Hiruzen had every intention of delicately inquiring about with his last surviving relative. Lest Kami work otherwise, the old man had every hope that they could pull out of this mess with the least suffering and humiliation possible.

'For the village, at least,' Hiruzen thought, his old heart filled with a perplexing mix of amusement and pity, when he body flickered into the privard ward. Shisui must have woken up for another chakra infusion, as he'd left his bed entirely and was now curled- uncomfortably- around a sleeping Naruko. The initial infusions seem to have the side effect of making them both drowsy, a temporary state Korumi-san, a chakra specialist of near four decades, had assured. As Naruko had been moved to an adult-sized bed, Shisui's gangly limbs were no longer in danger of toppling him to the floor but the curve of their spines still revealed their statuses as only children unused to cuddles.

Shisui would likely be mortified when he awoke. That Yamanaka therapist would earn every ryo of his contract.

x

Naruko woke up with an arm just a little too hot to be comfortable across her back and a nose pressed into her blonde hair. Since she'd only had one shower since the… Incident, the girl squirmed around self-consciously to withdraw herself and ended up waking the Uchiha teen too. Ash-grey eyes looked bemusedly down on her for a second, as though wondering exactly who she was, before they closed in apparent silent horror. The Uzumaki determinedly poked his cheek because at this point, he was just being dramatic for the sake of drama.

The teen- Shisui, Old Man Hokage had said- moved his arm away and she scooted back the few precious inches that remained in their hospital bed. Her hospital bed, since she was pretty sure that the one with the beeping machines had been his. "Is that safe?"

Darker eyes tracked her own gaze and then the shinobi made a shrugging motion while reclining. "Haven't died yet."

Well, you couldn't argue with that logic. "Are you hungry?"

Something between an apologetic grimace and a charming grin crossed the dark-haired teen's face. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, not looking quite into her eyes, as he answered positively. Naruko had her own measure of awkwardness over it all but she felt that she was dealing better with all of this than he was.

'Of course, I didn't lose my entire clan in one night to my own cousin.' The blonde winced. She didn't have any family members to lose but somehow being an orphan suddenly became far more attractive than being an Uchiha. 'An orphan jinchuuriki though, not so much.'

Maybe that's why she was handling this so well. They had both been attacked by an enemy ninja, Shisui had lost his entire family- bar one cousin, whom she vaguely remembered as a student in another class- and she'd learned that there was a demon in her stomach. Then there was spending the entirety of the week holed up in the hospital, with Old Man Hokage, iryo-nin or masked ninja present. And of all the visitors, it was only the Hokage that bothered to talk to her.

Shisui had sat up at this point and donned a remarkable poker face as Naruko all but crawled into his lap, sat down and activated the Ne hand symbol. They'd been doing this lying down before but having his body hover over hers had been even worse; not that Naruko was afraid of him exactly but it was easier to have him bite into her neck when she didn't think that his body served as an effective deterrent to running away. The chakra rose up faster and easier now, she'd had enough practice channeling it. Instead of letting it naturally extend from her stomach outwards, Naruko purposefully tried to pull it outwards. The cold-mannered but intelligent Hyuuga had given her tips on doing so just the day before and while she couldn't reach periphery tenketsu, like her arms, yet, she was getting better at channeling it from the Gate of View, in her stomach, to the Gate of Life, by her spinal cord.

Shisui had one hand hesitantly on her arm steadying her, while the other moved short blonde hair away from her neck. Naruko tilted her head to the side, giving him better access and trying not to shiver as the teen hovered indesivisively over her sun-kissed skin, warm air from his breath tickling over her. Eventually the thirst won out and the dark-haired teen brought his mouth down, making a soft, aborted sucking motion at her collarbone and then sinking his teeth into her skin. It tore through easily, faster than the last time and barely any pain evident, even though Naruko flinched at it.

There was a pull on her chakra and her body grew warmer briefly. One hand was locking her body in place, a firmer grasp on her waist, while the other was almost gently holding her head up. They sat there for a few minutes to allow him to drink, more chakra than blood trickling out and then he withdrew, her own body burning feverishly bright for a heartbeat as the Kyuubi healed all damage and she sagged into his chest. There was a released breath, of contentment or relief Naruko did not know, while the Uchiha carefully released her and moved her prone body over to the bed. "Okay?"

"Okay," Naruko confirmed, waiting for the mild drowsiness to pass. At least she wasn't falling straight asleep after he did this anymore. She reached out a hand to her neck and felt a stickiness there. "Er, can you…?"

"They left a packet of them here." Shisui turned to the bedside table, swiftly ripping through the sanitation wipes left there and pressing the moist fabric against her neck to wipe out the last bit of blood. Naruko had meant for him to hand the tissue to her but she supposed this worked as well.

After he was done, the Uchiha took a close look to her collarbone. "There's a scar."

"That's impossible," Naruko said automatically because it should be. Old Man Hokage had sat her down and explained some of the basics of being a jinchuuriki. Between the Kyuubi and her own Uzumaki-assisted healing, her body would need an ungodly amount of punishment to ever scar. Shisui's small and tentative bites were hardly that bad.

Ooh, and she had a bloodline. One that was screwed up by the demon in her gut admittedly but Naruko couldn't feel too bad about that. She didn't think she would have liked it if people were constantly biting her to heal themselves. It was different with Shisui; she had been the one to force her addictive chakra into his bloodstream and besides, he helped save her.

Shisui shook her head. The hand on the side of her head was back now, one thumb brushing her cheek, as he tilted it sideways, taking another look. "There are small incisions on your neck. They've healed up, so they look more like silver dashes… a little curved, like a crescent moon. I think those may be my fault."

"Crescent moons?" Naruko shook her head, dislodging his hand and then moved her body until she was sitting directly in front of him, knees folded back, body half up. "Open your mouth."

The Uchiha obediently did so. Against his perfect row of white teeth- someone had been brushing regularly- were two sharp incisors, longer than the others. She couldn't see the back of them but she bet that they would be scooped in, forced into the shape of a curved half-circle, like her marks. "Kuromi-san did say the Kyuubi's chakra might change your body."

Shisui blinked, used his tongue to questioningly probe the affected area and then toppled back to the pillows with a groan. "Would have gone for the cute whisker marks myself."

Naruko laughed, genuinely appreciative of the compliment, even if it was offered in jest. She'd liked her whisker marks before the Incident. They made her unique and looked like clan markings. Finding out that it was related to the Kyuubi tainted it somewhat but it was nice to here it be described so.

"It's fine. They look good on you." Shisui Uchiha was the sort of handsome- tall, pale and dark-haired, maybe a bit gangly but the sort that grew into a lithe and graceful frame- that could make most things look good. The sharp incisors really did fit him though and made his full-mouthed grins even better.

"Could have been worse," Shisui's dark eyes sparkled. "Imagine getting a fluffy red tail and matching foxy ears."

Naruko did so, concluded that it would be adorable and laughed again.

Shisui seemed pleased by the lighthearted sound, which was one of the reasons the blonde had been readier with her laughter. She didn't know many Uchiha personally, occasionally run-offs when pranks and police collided aside, but she didn't think many of them were as… likable as Shisui was. Honestly speaking, most looked like they were walking around with a tanto shoved up their ass but that was the sort of inconsiderate thing one did not voice around a massacre survivor. Speaking of those…

"Are you going to be picking up Sasuke soon?" Naruko didn't know much about him other than the little gossip she'd gathered from the nurses- fellow Academy student, Itachi Uchiha's brother, recently awoken from a coma- but he was Shisui's last relative. The two would undoubtedly be living together, which meant that she would also be living with Sasuke. Her newfound living arrangements- whatever they would be, she didn't even know where Shisui lived- were borne of the simple truth that strange men could not be found in little girl's bedrooms two or three times a day for no obvious reason.

"Tomorrow, the Misoyaki-san wants to finish the psychological assessment first," Shisui sighed. "We'll have to discuss the funeral arrangements- there's too many to do individual ceremonies, so it'll likely be a memorial event- closing the district gates, consolidating the Clan Trust, effectively sealing and burying the Sharingan… there's a lot to do."

"We have therapy sessions tomorrow too," Naruko pointed out. "And Hyuuga-san wants to measure our chakra ratios after that."

Shisui nodded unhappily at the reminder. The blonde looked worriedly at the tired visage of her sort-of friend. He was the last adult Uchiha left, or close as because she still remembered him as the boy too young to bleed out on the forest floor and all of the responsibilities of being Interim Head of his little Clan were his, at least until Sasuke was an adult. Not to mention the grief over his loss…

'I haven't seen him cry once yet.' Maybe he did it when she was asleep? Naruko didn't like letting others know when she was crying either. She didn't know how to comfort people but…

Naruko tentatively reached out and patted his arm. "It's okay?"

Shisui smiled back sadly. "No, it's not but it will be. One day, it will be."

x