NEVER MIND ABOUT THE TITLE CHANGE

Is all good, we back to Ghost Stories because I managed to alienate and confuse everyone, including myself.

Enjoy.

Day 61: Colour

Kagami bit into the small cake he had bought from the bakery. The woman had been lovely, telling him all of the special flavours for the day, and she had even given him a free one to try.

The inside of the cake was still warm, and he hummed, pleasantly surprised by the sweet, rich flavour. It was brightly coloured too, a myriad of blue, yellow and pink, and the top was decorated with a thick sugary layer in the shape of a small cat.

He quite liked this new, modern world. The humans had been busy while he and his brothers were trapped, and while he had 'seen' some of it due to his nature, it wasn't the same as seeing it and feeling it.

The world was bright and colourful now, and everything was loud and cheerful. The humans had built spiralling towers into the sky and their parks were neatly manicured, with trees and sweet smelling flowers.

It reminded him of another city, in another place and time.

That city hadn't been as neat and tidy as this new, bright Konoha. But it had the same cheer, the same colour.

Kagami ate the rest of his treat, enjoying the sweetness of it and the sound of the marketplace bustling around him. A thousand years ago, this had been lush fern and the occasional scattered house or road.

Now it bustled with life.

Two girls, arm in arm, chattering excitedly as they passed him.

A family, playing by the trees not too far from him.

A couple laughing as they shared a cone of ice cream.

The fountain burbled, humming a song only he could hear.

He hummed back, and the world shivered around him, recognising him from long ago. Around him, he can see the weaving he had done, the strands of gold and red, of blue and purple and green. It sang and hummed, brightly coloured and also so dark it was simply nothing.

A bird, a funny looking thing with a small head and a fat, unwieldly body, pecked at the ground around his feet. It cooed at him, drawing him out of his thoughts.

Pigeon, the collective knowledge of this place tells him, eager to share. Usually they're grey, but sometimes they're whi- put more spikes down, there's too- go chase them- I'll take a picture!- they're so stupid- it's so ugly it's almost cute-

He brushed it away and fed the bird some of his cupcake.

It pecked at his hand, animal and driven by instinct.

It was rather ugly. So grey and boring. Even the plumage of its chest, a dirty white, was rather unimpressive.

But like the market had told him, it was sort of adorable, in a pathetic sort of way.

Kagami stroked a hand over its head. For once, Shisui wasn't around to scold him for changing things to be more colourful, more beautiful, and when he pulled his hand back, the pigeons feathers shine iridescent, shades of deep velvet blue, indigo, and green, and its chest is now so white it is almost blinding.

It cooed at him again, and he rubbed its small, delicate head for a moment longer. After a while, it grew bored and hopped away, in search of more crumbs.

He enjoyed the marketplace for a little while longer, listening to the song of the fountain. It sang a sorrowful song, probing, asking to know where has its keeper gone, ancient one? Will he come home?

Kagami had no answer.

Shisui was well hidden, and he has refused all of Kagami's attempts to speak.

Did we upset him? We are sorry. The fountain asks him, mournful and almost childlike in its questions.

Kagami soothed it as he had been doing ever since Shisui's disappearance, but it is a stopgap measure, nothing more. Eventually the waters will grow more and more listless as Shisui withholds his power, hides away.

He did not know where Shisui was, but he knew one person who would.

He looked up. The sky is washed out, leaving the dusk weak and bland. The humans cities, as bright and stunning, and full as they are, left the sky behind in terms of brilliance. The stars that Mikoto had wept into being were lost, burning for no one to see.

Kagami brought them to bear, drawing their light out, so they glittered like gems in the sky. So many that the sky looked like a sea of them, bright and almost drowning out the satellite the humans had named the 'Moon'.

He drew on the flares of colour he had woven into the expanse. White, and gold, swirling clouds of colour that looked like plumes of smoke and flame. Not auroras, but older, more ancient than that. He had never quite mastered the gems Mikoto had placed, but his clouds were just as beautiful.

"Oh god- look at the sky-"

Kagami tucked his box of treats into his pockets and left the market as the humans cooed and cried out about the beautiful sky overhead.

He walked the short distance to Danzo's old apartment, enjoying the night air. Even if it was tainted ever so slightly with the greasy stink of burnt oil, the brush of it over his face was something he had not been able to experience in a millennia.

The mirror had sapped his power, left him in that dark, empty room. There was no beauty, no intrigue, no curiosity. It never changed.

Until Sakura.

Until colour.

Pink and green. The orange of her shirt, the blue of her running shoes. They didn't match in the slightest, but now that he knew Sakura a little better, he thought, maybe they did.

The doorman smiled broadly at Kagami. "Ah, you went to the bakery I recommended! How did you find it?" He asked.

This man had forgotten that the apartment belonged to another, and so had the clever machines the humans used. Obito had enjoyed wiping Danzo's presence from Konoha's records, erasing it finally. "They're great. So colourful too!"

"My niece loves 'em." The doorman said, pressing his special button to call the elevator. "And, I will admit, they're a lovely pick me up after a long day."

"I bought some for my brother."

The doorman beamed. "Well if he doesn't want them, you know where to find me!" He called as the elevator arrived.

This human reminded Kagami of Sakura's father. Warm and bright, and full of colour.

The apartment was still ruined from Sasuke and Shisui's assault on Danzo, the floor scorched black, and the paint on the walls bubbling and buckling.

Curiously, the remnants and scattered embers of Danzo's essence were already gone. Some would have fled with the wind, hiding away until it was safe to re-gather and re-form. But even then, Kagami expected more of the remnants to have lingered, lost without their corporeal vessel.

But there was nothing at all left of Danzo.

And that was curious.

Itachi was in the other Ancient's study. This room was neater than the others, less ruined by the blast of Danzo's essence ripping apart. The bookshelves were things of beauty, deep wood that shone dully in the light of the afternoon. Elegantly carved, they were full of ancient tomes, ones older than the Earth itself, and others more recent.

Itachi was sitting at Danzo's desk, reading one of the ancient tomes, one that appeared empty to the mortal eye, but was really filled with Danzo's neat, matter of fact script.

His younger brother looked up at he entered, and a small smile graced his lips.

A rare sight. "I bought you a gift." Kagami said, uncurling his hand, the cupcake shimmering into view on his palm.

Itachi took it from him carefully, as he always was.

So gentle and hesitant.

"Thank you." Itachi said quietly. "Ah- it is a cat." He examined the top of the cupcake for a moment before he took a small bite.

"Isn't it sweet?" Kagami asked, setting the bag of other sweet treats down on the desk. He liked the sugary sweetness and he knew Itachi would too. "And-look at the inside."

Itachi's smile was a little more easy this time as he raised an eyebrow at the carefully marbled colours of the cupcake. "I should have guessed." He said, looking up at Kagami. "You could not get something a little more… traditional?"

"You enjoyed it, didn't you?" Kagami grouched playfully, knocking his elbow into Itachi's head. "So ungrateful. I ought to remind you who is the eldest here, hm?"

The smile turned genuine as Itachi shook his head.

His little brother's hair was out for once, falling down his back in a wave of black and blue and purple. It made him look more like Madara than Mikoto, leaving his cheekbones and jaw harsh and throwing his eyes into shadow.

Itachi brushed it out of his face, setting the cupcake aside.

To save for later, no doubt.

Itachi was always strange like that, collecting and saving parts of things people gave him.

Kagami pulled Itachi's hair back, braiding it easily. "Have you found anything more about where the seal might be?" He asked, weaving strands of warmth and calm and ease in alongside Itachi's dark strands. They glittered, invisible to mortal eyes, but to Kagami, they shone like silver and gold and platinum. "Where it might have moved to?"

Itachi sighed, weight falling back onto his shoulders.

The strands hummed a song.

His little brother said nothing about the strands as Kagami let the braid fall against his back. "Homura and Hiruzen did a good job at hiding it." He said, turning a page in the book. "And Danzo's writings are deliberately vague. All I can surmise is that it is hidden under a well of discord."

Kagami snorted.

Itachi eyed him grumpily. "Do not huff, Danzo prattles more than he writes sense. It is a bore to get through."

"We already knew that the seal would be hidden near discord and strife. Koharu and her siblings are discord personified." Kagami said. "But there was no indication as to where this well might be?"

Itachi sighed. "I will keep searching."

Kagami sprawled on the couch by the window, watching the sky bloom green and gold above him, the stars shining through, steadfast and unwavering.

Itachi followed his gaze. "You cannot do that now." He murmured. "The humans instruments measure all of that, they will notice and take notes and make conclusions."

"It will be fine. A one off." Kagami said, weaving a pattern in the sky.

His younger brother made a noise that told Kagami he didn't believe him at all.

Silence fell between them, comfortable and easy. It was always easy to be around Itachi. Even if he was closed off and intensely private, even to his own brothers, he was also comfortable in his own self, had an air of acceptance and quiet solemnity that made everything just seem…

Quiet.

Kagami leaned back on the couch, watching the sky dance with colours.

Itachi continued to work, flipping a page every now and then.

Dusk continued to fall, the sky darkening and darkening and darkening. Until the spinning galaxy above them, faint as it was, seemed even brighter, and the stars were white and gold and sparkled like the suns they truly were.

It was watching the sky, like this, Itachi close by, that made Kagami yearn for a time before all this. Back in Mikoto's garden, where there was nothing but his brothers, and the other Ancients. Where Itachi was sitting not alone, but with Izumi, and Itame, and Kawarama.

Where Shisui played and teased Sasuke in the water, and Rin and Obito sat with each other, fishing in the streams for the images Tobirama and Izuna conjured up.

Where Madara wasn't angry and closed off, bubbling with fury at every moment.

"Itachi." Kagami said, loathe to break the warm silence.

Itachi said nothing, but Kagami knew he was listening.

"Where is Shisui?"

A page turned, slow and deliberate. "He does not want to talk." Itachi said instead. "He will come back when he is ready, you know that." He continued, close to a reprimand, but not quite.

Kagami unwrapped his scarf, fingers plucking at the threads, looking, searching. But Shisui always was wily, good at hiding. Taught by Izuna and every moment, Kagami cursed his older, vanished brother, for teaching Sasuke and Shisui to disappear at a whim and a moments notice. "It is dangerous right now, Itachi."

His little brother was quiet. "Why is it dangerous right now?" He asked quietly, non-confrontational, almost conversational.

"That is none of your concern." Madara interrupted.

Kagami wished his older brother knew how to read a conversation. He really did.

"Then Shisui's location is none of your concern." Itachi answered easily.

Kagami slipped off the couch, already feeling the stirrings of Madara's so easily ignited rage. Ever since Izuna's death, since Mito had vanished into slumber, Madara's temper had been so close to the surface. "Itachi, we need to find him."

Itachi closed the book with a sharp, short snap. "Why is it dangerous right now?" He asked again, looking up at them with a challenge in his eyes. ""What happened to make you frightened of a half immortal seer, one who is dead and nothing more than a shell of her former self? What do you know that you are not sharing?"

Kagami stepped between his brothers. "Madara-" He tried.

"Remember your place, Itachi." Madara snapped over him.

"I will remember my place when you remember who I am, Madara." Itachi answered sharply, rising from his place at the desk. "You are hiding something from us- from Shisui, whose eyes are supposed to see the truth. How? The same magicks that keep Karin trapped?"

Madara rose in fury. "How dare you." He snarled and Kagami put a hand on his chest. The sound echoed through the study like thunder. "I would never-"

White hot rage tainted the calmness of the weaving he had done, turning it blinding.

"How dare I? How dare you." Itachi snapped back, and even more rare than his smile, was his anger. But it showed itself now. Beautiful in shades of red and black. "You have no right to forbid anyone anything. Karin's imprisonment should warrant Sasuke's exclusion from the area, not Shisui's. But he is allowed to come and go as he pleases."

Kagami could feel the air between the three of them start to thicken, the stink of sulphur rising in the air and the pressure beginning to increase. One of the glass windows made a squeaking noise.

Black. Red.

"Which means that Karin is not what you are worried about." Itachi guessed. "What happened between Shisui and Mother?"

Kagami clenched his teeth together. "Enough." He pleaded as the glass panel cracked with a sharp, high snap. "Enough, both of you. Itachi, keep your secret. I will find Shisui on my own." He kept a hand on Madara's chest, more a warning than anything.

The world turned grey, black, brown, yellow.

Silence for a long few moments, but finally, Madara backed down, an ugly snarl on his face.

"He does not know." Itachi said quietly, face almost horrified. "That is what you are hiding. Whatever happened between her and him, you took it from him- he does not know- and now that he is alone-"

Silence.

Itachi stared at them. "You took his memories." He realised. "Gave him something of your own design."

Kagami looked away. After all, that was what he did. Weaving and spinning new realities, new ways of being.

"Kagmai, what have you done-"

He sent them away, unable to bear the sadness in Madara's eyes, or the horror in Itachi's. Undoubtedly, they would both find him again, but for now, the study was empty and calm, the tension having vanished along with his brothers.

It was quiet again, and colour returned to shades of lilac and indigo.

Calm.

Quiet-

-a breeze, blowing across his face, sweet smelling and pleasantly warm.

Izumi and Shisui are mucking about in the stream Tobirama had made at their behest, up to their knees in the clear, clean water. Izumi has her dress tied in a knot at her waist, legs covered by the same thick material Mito wore during her training.

Shisui has misplaced his shirt somewhere, and his shorts are covered in mud.

Kawarama is by their side, older, taller, but he is no better than the young ones. He is soaked to the bone, and digging around enthusiastically with Shisui, apparently uncaring about the white shirt he is ruining.

At least Izumi is trying to keep herself clean. She picks her way delicately through the water, cradling a clear, wobbly thing in her hand. "Itame!" She cries, voice almost blending with the burbling of the stream. "Itame!"

Itame groans, rolling over blearily. His elbow digs into the soil as he pushes himself up, head rising off of Kagami's lap.

Izumi waves it triumphantly and Shisui sits up with a yell, arms covered to the elbow in mud.

Kawarama babbles excitedly.

Itame stares.

Izumi waits expectantly and then waves Itame and Kagami away dismissively when neither of them appear as excited about the wobbly thing. She heads back to her brother, and their close friend, showing them eagerly.

Shisui's voice rises in excitement.

Kawarama laughs, musical and almost unbearably sweet. "It looks like you, Izumi!"

Izumi smashes the wobbly thing into his face and Shisui laughs-

"Kagami!"

Kagami looked up, breath catching in his throat.

Sakura recoiled a little, but her grip on his arms doesn't loosen. She blinked a few times. "Kagami?" She asked, head tilting to the side, eyebrows lowering very slightly.

He has to take a moment to collect himself and realises that his wanderings have brought him to the park where he was meant to meet Sakura. And that more time than he thought had passed. Above him, the sky is velvet blue, rather than dusky orange. Mikoto's stars have faded back to obscurity and his clouds are vanished. "… I'm sorry." He said, struggling at keeping his voice even. "I wasn't aware…"

Sakura lets him go slowly, almost reluctantly. "Are you okay?" She asked warily. "I was calling you for like five minutes."

He stepped away from her. "I'm fine."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Really?" She asked skeptically, expression morphing from wary worry to something more akin to disbelief. "Cause your eyes were glowing and I thought you had gone all vengeful god on me."

Kagami smiled automatically at her ridiculous assumption. Sakura was perhaps the only person alive that would be spared any sort of vengeful wrath. Simply because they couldn't hurt her.

Sakura's eyebrow rose higher.

"Vengeful god?"

"Well, glowing eyes! I found you in a broken mirror in a mountain. And then your eyes start glowing! What do you expect me to think?" She demanded. She blinked, and her expression softened suddenly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He really liked the abrupt shifts of mortal minds. He probed her mind curiously, but all he got was vague ideas of being tired and sore shoulders. Ever since they had been placed under her control, it was hard to read her mind, the thoughts jumbled and hazy.

An unintended side effect of the seal?

"I'm fine, Sakura." He reassured her. Truth be told, he was still rattled by Itachi's perceptiveness, by the dreamscape that he had allowed himself to build without noticing, by the very fact that it had crept up on him so suddenly.

Losing time was also a worry.

"Truly."

Sakura looked unconvinced. Her shoulders drew up and she rubbed the right one absently. Her entire countenance screamed conflicted. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. "… I really don't believe you." She said. "But. Okay."

She turned away, shoes scuffing the ground as she sat down on the worn wooden table behind her.

Picnic! Hurry up- Aw, we didn't get the one with the- in the shade-

Kagami pushed the remnants away impatiently. He hadn't lost control of himself like that in a long time. Not since…

"It's not time for us to meet yet." He said gently, almost not sure what to say to Sakura. He didn't understand her mood. She seemed upset by something, not him, but her conflict appeared almost internal from the way her brows were creased, and she was frowning at nothing.

Sakura looked up.

She truly was a colourful mortal. Pink hair, green eyes, the colours of her namesake, Konoha's national flower. It suited her, a delicate colour for a delicate lifeform. Short lived and ephemeral.

"Oh.. I uh… I couldn't focus on anything else. So I came down here." She saw with a shrug, fiddling with a neat, plastic box on the table. Her eyes flicked to it, and then to him. "… Do you like- can you eat?" She asked, somewhat awkwardly.

Kagami smiled. "I can- We can." He said, sitting opposite her. "We don't need to eat to survive, but… I enjoy it. There is nothing like experiencing it in the moment."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, a half smile on her lips. She didn't share her thoughts and all he got from her mind was the vague notion of clouds. "My dad always makes way too much food." She said instead of whatever it had been she was thinking. She opened the box with a snap that was at once muted and sharp. "I can't eat all these by myself- well I could, but I shouldn't." She almost rambled.

Kagami could smell the richness of cocoa beans- chocolate, chocolate, chocolate – and a tartness of raspberries. The smell had been almost completely hidden by the plastic box, and again, he found himself surprised by how durable it was. "Why shouldn't you?" He asked.

Sakura paused and then looked at him as if he should know.

He waited.

She sighed, rolling her eyes in a way reminiscent of Mito. "Sugar. It's bad for your teeth, and too much of it can make you dependent on it, and not in a good way." She explained. "And if I'm gonna be a doctor, I can't be running around eating piles of sugary snacks, y'know what I mean?"

Gonna. Kinda. Goe-eng.

She and other mortals around her age and younger, they spoke so rapidly now, mouths moving almost as fast as their thoughts. He had noticed that mortals were far more informal now, something he appreciated since he always preferred it to Madara's stuffy pomp.

But even, it seemed, the older humans had trouble keeping up with their young children.

Slow down, I can't understand a word of what you're sayin- Woah, woah bud, what was that- Say that again in English- Wait, wait, what does that mean again?

Then, that wasn't new either.

Time moved so quickly for them, things changed quickly, and as adaptable as they had been fashioned to be, sometimes…

Sometimes they were a little reminiscent of Madara's pomp and stuffiness.

Sakura licked her thumb as she put a giant slab of a thin cake onto the plastic lid. "Besides, he made like four trays and this way at least I can share them instead of freezing them." She said, words almost blurring together. "Here, it has white chocolate in it." She said, pushing the plastic towards him.

"White chocolate?" He asked, though he had already seen it in the shops he had been visiting. Overly sweet, almost too soft. He liked it.

Sakura made a face. "I'm pretty sure its not actually chocolate, but… I don't really know." She admitted, rubbing her shoulder again. "It's good though, with the raspberries. They're my favourite."

The brownie is rich, full of flavour. Kagami can feel the love her father had put into the dessert, the care and concern for his daughter.

Sakura doesn't seem interested in talking anymore, falling silent. Her hands are under the table and she stares at the wood, the same conflicted expression on her face. Her face is more open than perhaps she realises, but Kagami doesn't tell her that.

Even with how open it is, he doesn't know what she is thinking. And the mortal mind was different from Ancients, and each sentient species had its own quirks and tics. Humanity was unpredictable, adaptable, nigh unkillable, but prone to madness and hubris that rivalled even Madara's pride. Even amongst the countless sentients that had come before them, human minds were the most fragile, so easily they descended into whispered voices and ghosts of the past.

"What were you and Madara arguing about?" Sakura asked suddenly, picking apart her brownie with thin, dextrous hands. Her nails were cut short, neat and tidy, shining as if polished.

He knew immediately what she was talking about. Their last meeting.

"We need her to like us. Koharu already has her talons in her."

"A cold will not kill her. I would be disappointed if it did."

"That isn't the point, and you know it. Our misstep in the courtroom cost us valuable time and very nearly, the whole plan. We need Sakura to trust us."

"She called us, did she not? She already knows of Koharu's treachery."

"And she knows of ours."

"… She will not betray us."

"You threaten, but it is an empty one. We are beholden to her and we cannot harm her." Kagami sighed. "She distrusts us already, has already placed sanctions on our movements. If we play nice, we might be able to sway her to our side."

"She is on our side."

"You're a fool if you believe that."

Madara's eyes narrowed. "She knows I do not like her."

"You told her?"

"She provoked me. If I were to act friendly now, it would only heighten suspicion. She is well aware that our relationship is transactional. She suggested it herself and I agreed. I will not pretend to be her friend."

"Fine. But next time offer her your jacket or at least shield her from the elements. Humans are delicate things."

"So I have been told."

He hummed, remembering Madara's sullen expression when Obito had joined their silent conversation with a reprimand.

Obito was seeing resemblances that weren't there, but it worked to cow Madara's temper. He never could say no to Obito for anything.

"I was scolding him for not shielding you from the rain." Kagami said cheerily. "He doesn't like to be told he's wrong and he gets a little bit…"

Sakura smiled around a bite of brownie cake that was far too big.

"Mm. Well he doesn't like to be scolded." Kagami said. He liked to share about his brothers. The other Ancients saw them as monsters for the plan they had proposed, for the lengths they went to, to achieve it. But his brothers were not monsters. "He gets… sulky."

Sakura laughed around her brownie, went red, and covered her mouth just as quickly. "Well. That's not something you hear every day." She said, eyes crinkling at the corners in the telltale movement of a wide smile.

"Don't tell him I said that." He murmured. Madara wouldn't like it.

Sakura nodded conspiratorially. "Course not." She said, lowering her hand, but her smile hadn't faded in the slightest.

The flush of her cheeks almost matched the mix of red and blonde of her hair.

"Are the others coming soon?" She asked, guileless.

Madara had not reappeared on the planet, and nor had Itachi. Kagami wasn't even quite sure where he had sent them, and he had no desire to check the weaving of reality for their presences. "Sasuke and Obito should come soon." He said gently. "Itachi is otherwise occupied and Madara has gone to talk to Shisui."

Sakura blinked. "Oh. Well… I suppose that's for the best. Madara doesn't like me much."

That made him huff. Madara didn't like anyone much.

Sakura rolled her eyes when he said just that. "No offense, but he's not the easiest guy to get along with. Koharu even told me not to bother when we were discussing the best way to entrap the lot of you."

"Hah!" Kagami shook his head. "Madara doesn't tolerate fools well-"

"That he does not." Obito said, voice tinged with acid and knowing. No doubt, both he and Sasuke had felt the expulsion of energy when Kagami had sent Itachi and Madara spiralling away.

Kagami stiffened as his younger brother walked out of the ripples of chaos that made up the universe.

Sakura jumped, skittering away from Obito as he made his presence known by her side. She flinched and then shrank into an irritated ball, her heart beating loudly in Kagami's ears. "Stop. Doing. That!" She said harshly, rubbing her arm furiously. "First Sasuke and now you! I'm going to have a heart attack if you keep sneaking up on me like that!"

Obito blinked, attention redirected for a moment. "I… I did not mean to-"

Sakura waved him away in irritation, stuffing another piece of brownie cake into her mouth with a scowl.

Kagami smiled at the exchange. She may have parts of Rin's personality, but she was a feisty, easily angered little thing, much unlike Rin's calm, almost timid demeanour. She didn't like to not know things, it seemed, or have things happen outside her control.

Sakura shifted over, scowling. "Just don't pop up behind me like that." She said, glancing up at Obito. "I don't like it when things appear behind me like that."

Obito just nodded. "Sasuke will arrive shortly. He was… dealing with some family business."

"…n the mafia." Sakura muttered under her breath, shaking her head darkly.

Kagami avoided Obito's gaze. "What?" He asked curiously.

"She thinks we were criminals." Sasuke said drolly.

Sakura jumped for a second time, eyes snapping wide open and Kagami saw that sharp jolt that ran through her body as she whipped around. The skin on the back of her neck was white and dimpled. "Sasuke!" She said, breathy and startled. "I told you-"

She was scared?

Her heart was pounding erratically in her chest and the thought most forefront in her mind was just a dark, sharp cloud of fear.

But what… could she be afraid of? Sasuke was no danger to her.

"You need to be more observant. Koharu will not-"

"Sasuke." Obito snapped. "Enough. She is not unaware of the dangers. And that is not what we came here to discuss."

Kagami glanced at Obito curiously.

Obito returned his stare, a promise to talk later. But he said nothing now, instead he sat down next to Sakura, levelling a curiously hostile look at Sasuke.

Sasuke's normally cool, tightly controlled red darkened with humiliation, eyes narrowing at the unwarranted harshness from his older brother.

Sakura rolled her shoulders. "Right. Koharu didn't say much about Karin but-"

Kagami tuned out the conversation. He knew how dangerous Koharu was. All of the quadruplets were, in different ways. Danzo was outwardly cold, but inside, he simmered with covetous jealousy, and his wrath was well hidden until he struck.

Shisui's injuries and Sasuke's loss of Karin were testament to his jealously. The slights had been imagined, nothing more than Danzo's own insecurities whispering lies into his ears.

Homura was a deceitful little weasel, skittering from place to place, whispering lie after lie, and vanishing with his cloak of wind and twisting, refracted light. And Hiruzen was a cowardly little swine, changing sides as it caught his fancy, twisting allegiances and bowing to every command thrown his way.

And Koharu…

"It is… hard for us." Koharu says, twisting her hands. She shifts nervously, eyes darting towards where Madara and Izuna were sparring. "We are not… the same as you. We do not belong. And your older brother's never fail to remind us of that."

Kagami follows her gaze to Madara. He knows Madara was wary of the quadruplets that had appeared one day, begging for help.

Tobirama is likewise cold to them, though he hides it better than Madara does.

"They were the same way with Izuna." Kagami murmures. "Obito too. Give them some time. Mother-"

Koharu flinches at the mention of their mother, as if she had been struck and Kagami regrets his words immediately. He had not lived long with his mother, escaping as soon as his weaving had allowed him to.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to…"

She gives him a sad, tight smile before turning on her heel and hurrying away, back through the gardens. No doubt returning to the small abode Hashirama had built for her and her brothers.

None of the quadruplets ever shared what their mother had done to them, but from the dark look in Mikoto's eyes and the stern set to Hashirama's mouth told him that they probably understood the hesitance and nervousness of the new deities.

Koharu was...

He had loved her once.

Obito found him easily, though Kagami hadn't been hiding.

"You are waning." Obito said quietly, cupping Kagami's cheek. He searched Kagami's face, mouth downturned. "Withdrawing. What is it?"

Kagami pulled his scarf more tightly around his neck. "I am worried about… everything." He said, finally resorting to speaking in the tongue their Mother had taught them. Mortal language couldn't fully express what he was feeling. "Itachi knows something happened between Mother and Shisui."

Obito's expression turned to confusion. "How? We swore never to tell them what happened."

Kagami sighed heavily. "He's too clever for his own good." He said.

Obito is silent. "That is why he and Madara were not present tonight." He deduced. "You argued and he left in search of Shisui?"

He loathed to tell his younger brother he had lost control. Obito would worry, fret, and his protectiveness could spill over into well intentioned violence. "I sent them away." He said. "Itachi challenged Madara, things got… tense between them. I was worried they would destroy the city."

Obito didn't look surprised to hear it. "Itachi does not take kindly to secrets."

"But it's not his." Kagami insisted sharply, too quickly.

Obito's hand fell away. "It may not be his, but Itachi will not let it rest. He already worries about us all and-"

"He never knows when to stop." Kagami murmured. Itachi was fiercely protective, to his own detriment at times. He never stopped, never faltered in his vigilance.

Obito's expression darkened even further. "Nor do you." He accused. "You have been lost inside yourself all night. Sakura said you had arrived, eyes glowing and completely oblivious to the outside world."

Kagami swallowed.

Obito's eyes narrowed. "This task extracts a heavy price from us all, but you especially. You need calm, quiet, Kagami, you cannot hold the tide of Mother's rage alone-"

"Leave it." Kagami said sharply. His weaving shifted, threads parting with his distress. His Mother slumbered still, but not for long. And as the seal around her weakened, her presence grew stronger, warping things that should not be warped.

His younger brother puffed up. "Find Itachi." He said stiffly, obviously hurt by Kagami's rejection of comfort. "I will find Madara. I have been itching for a fight and no doubt, he is furious."

"Wai-" He was gone before Kagami can say another word. The suddenness of it left Kagami alone, not just in presence. His brothers were disparate and there was a pit in his stomach, a warning or a promise, he wasn't sure.

So sorry about the confusion! I didn't even think about it, and I'm really sorry I confused some of you!

I've been having a hell of a week, my identity got stolen and the dumbass opened a whole bunch of fraudulent accounts in my name, and my boss isn't paying my super (gov mandated retirement) and no one has called me back about any of my interviews. AT ALL. And I kinda just wanna set things on fire. You know?