Note: 100 ryō is about one dollar. This is a commission from Laflenkenway on tumblr. There's going to be at least one more chapter.

As soon as he was able to walk, Sasuke negotiated his release from the hospital.

The only Uchiha remaining in Konoha, he was the clan head now. Despite his age that held some weight. There were whispers of Sasuke being placed to live with one of the other Noble Clans to care for him- the Hyuga seemed to be the most popular suggestion- or even Copy Ninja Kakashi, which seemed to generate more conflict than it ended.

Sasuke argued. If Naruto, his incompetent classmate, could live by himself then so could he. He didn't want to be placed with other clans. He didn't want to live with pitying looks and whispers following him wherever he stepped.

His brother's eyes on him were bad enough. He didn't need anyone else's.

In the end, the Council and the clan heads had agreed to his terms, on the condition that he kept up his grades and attendance at the Academy. He said nothing to his escort- Shibi Aburame- as they walked down the streets. Why he had volunteered, Sasuke couldn't imagine, but he didn't care. Most Konoha residents avoided the Aburame on principle- and as long as he stayed in Shibi's shadow, that included Sasuke by extension.

As they approached the Clan Compound gate, the unnatural silence echoed around them like the toll of bells signalling an execution. Uchiha debated and dialogued, trained and tested jutsu together, laughed and talked about hobbies or missions. By its very nature, fire was life and the Uchiha were no different. This- emptiness, this nothing- this was as far from home, from his family, as he could. He hadn't noticed the void last night, as excited as he had been to tell his father he had finally mastered the Phoenix Flower Technique.

And when he stepped inside, the feeling of home did not come. Bloodstains had been mopped up, bodies carted away but the damage to the buildings remained. The streets were still empty and Sasuke alone remained in all the world.

His parents, gone. Great-Auntie Uruchi and Great-Uncle Teyaki. Gone. Tekka, Yashiro and Inabi. Inabi's wife and new baby. Gone. Izumi. All the children he used to play with and dream about becoming great shinobi- maybe, Sasuke had once dared to say, even the Hokage.

Gone, and Sasuke alone remained.

He paused, forcing down the tears that threatened to build in his eyes. Only babies cried. Ninja were cold as stone, hard as ice.

"Are you alright?" Aburame Shibi asked from behind him.

Sasuke swallowed the hot lump building in his throat. "I'm fine," he said, pulling away from Shibi. Being so curt with an adult was a new feeling for mother would have frowned at him, told him to thank Shibi-san but she wasn't here. What she wanted didn't matter anymore, especially when it came to dealing with adults.

He didn't need adults telling him everything was going to be ok.

He didn't need adults telling him everything happened for a reason.

He didn't need adults telling him this was going to get better. That he would feel better.

Shibi said nothing else as they walked the empty streets until, at last, his house stood in front of them. "You have it from here?" Shibi asked, pausing before the steps.

"Yes," Sasuke said, retreating onto the porch and grabbing the door. Behind him, the house waited- full of nothing but darkness and grief. "Thank you."

Even ninjutsu hadn't been able to repair the scorch marks on the floor of the living room. Sasuke closed his eyes again, fighting back the image of his parents vanishing into black flames.

A quiet yowl broke him out of his memories. Tensing, Sasuke grabbed at a kunai holster that no longer hung on his hip. It sounded again, sad in the nothing around him, and this time he recognized it as a sleek tan form crept up to him. Itachi hadn't seen his mother's cat worth killing, for reasons beyond Sasuke. The babies hadn't been worth killing either, and yet their blood stained the streets all the same.

"No one's fed you today, have they?" he asked Tora, kneeling to stroke her fur despite himself.

Gentle, Sasuke, Gentle, he remembered his mother telling a much younger version of himself, one still clumsy and unused to moving on two feet.

Another mew, and another cat darted in front of him- smaller, darker, and with the distinct smell of garbage that signalled it was one of the strays his mother fed.

How dare this- this worthless animal still live when his mother and father had been cut down like weeds?

"Make yourselves useful and go hunt," he snapped as he ran upstairs- past the shattered bannister, past room stained dark with blood and into his room- the one place untouched from the hell of last night.

His room was a disorganized mess. He didn't remember leaving it in this state, but it gave him something to do.

Once it was clean here, he would eat and do some late night training. Life didn't stop just because everything else in it had.

As he cleaned, the cats grew steadily louder, breaking his concentration. He tried to ignore it, and succeeded until an orchestra of planitive mews joined Tora's cries for food. Drawing a kunai he threw his door open and started for the stairs, only to trip on a calico napping on the stairs.

The smell of wet fur hung in the air, summoning a memory from when he was little more than baby fat and smiles.

Remember, Sasuke, she had said, plates of meat guarded in her callused hands, Always be kind. Because if no one is kind then this isn't a world worth living in.

He swallowed the lump building in his throat, and gave in- with the promise to himself he'd put ads in the paper the next day. If he was going to have a prayer of defeating Itachi, he couldn't waste any training time on something as insignificant as pets.

Sasuke wasn't sure what to expect when he slid into his seat at the Academy. His parents had been in their graves less than three days, and the Third had told him he could take a week off from school, if he needed it. But what no one seemed to understand was that he needed to get stronger. He needed to train, he needed to learn and grow and he could not do that in an empty compound.

As the other students filtered in, a scuffle in the hall drew the attention of the others, laughter and taunts swelling until the arrival of Iruka-sensei ended the chaos. Iruka-sensei ushered the wayward students into the classroom, but as he did so, his eyes went to Sasuke. For a moment, the eye contact stayed, until Sasuke looked away, pulling away.

He didn't need Sensei's pity.

Reaching into his bag, he sorted his books and items, preparing for the day's lecture as Iruka walked down the aisle, handing back the tests from last week.

Last week. Had it been only so long ago?

Iruka slid the test toward him with a reassuring smile. "Good work on quickly detecting the genjutsu, Sasuke," he said, "but you may want to review your understanding of the Land of Iron's international policies during the Third Shinobi World War." For a moment, Sensei's cheerful look dropped from his eyes as Sasuke met his gaze.

Then Iruka moved on. "Ami, your essay was interesting, but…"

Tuning his teacher out, Sasuke turned the paper over. A near-perfect score stared back.

His hand shot forward, crumpling the paper. No one waited at home for him to show.

And yet.

The Land of Iron was a good place for a missing-nin to hide. The neutrality would protect him. It was something he would need to know later.

Smoothing out the paper, Sasuke folded it and stuffed it into his book bag for later study just as a pencil jabbed into his spine.

"Sasuke-kun," Ami asked, flipping her violet hair, "what did you get? I'm sure you did better than I did, cause you're so smart."

"I know I did," he said, "now leave me alone."

The rest of the school day went about as well. Ino and Sakura tittered and fought over him, Kiba and Shikamaru still cut class and, dauntless as the sun, Uzumaki Naruto never failed to raise Iruka's ire with a prank or a witty not-quite-answer. Things were normal. They must not have known- just what had happened the other night. And as much as he needed the normalcy, he did not need the people constantly demanding to be around him- to compare scores, to train, to fight. At least Iruka understood him enough to let Sasuke work on his own in class. But come free period, Sasuke was on his own.

People gravitated to Uchiha genius like flies to honey- to ask him questions, mooch off his grades, try to get him to hold hands with them or whatever else they wanted from him. Even the curt rudeness he'd started to wield like a shield wasn't enough to fend them off.

"Sasuke! Oh Sasuke!"

"Not now, Ami," he grumbled, turning away from her.

"Aw, Sasuke," she said, "Everyōne can tell there's something wrong with you, so I thought I'd cheer you up!" She plunked herself down on the bench next to him, fluttering her eyelashes. "My mom taught me a lot of great jokes. Wanna hear one?"

"No. Go away."

"You say that now," she tittered, "but I know I can make you feel better." She cleared her throat, one of her hands snaking around his shoulders.

"Get off me!" Sasuke said, pulling away.

"Don't be so shy, Sasuke-kun," Ami said, leaning against him again, "If you would just-"

Then she pulled away, eyes wide. "Sasuke- on your shoulder-"

Before he could look, her gaze moved from his shoulder to her arm. Ami screamed, waving her arms as Sasuke saw a crowd of small black bugs crawling up her arm- and more were arriving by the moment. "Get them off me!" she wailed, running away.

Perhaps Sasuke wouldn't have thought anything of it- Ami's fear of bugs was well known, after all- but Sasuke's skin pricked under someone's stare. He met the culprit's gaze, dark glasses and Uchiha clarity. Sasuke nodded at him, a brief acknowledgement of services rendered. A barely perceptible head bob in return- think nothing of it- then Shino turned back to his bento.

That night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, ripples of thunder rattled the house. He turned away from the windows and wrapped his pillow around his ears- a futile attempt to escape the blasts of light and sound. Squeezing his eyes closed, he tried again to push aside the weight in his chest, the one pressing against his spine and forcing his mind to rattle around in his head like a targetless Inuzuka.

His door hung partly open, and he saw something small and quick slide through the gap. He tensed as Shū looked up at him, yellow eyes understanding nothing of human sorrow. With a sigh, Sasuke lay back down. The bed creaked as the cat jumped on the bed and curled up next to Sasuke, seeking the warmth of his inner fire, small and pathetic as it was. The weight in his chest faded as his mind finally found something to settle on: the feeling of soft fur against his arm. This was an acceptable arrangement.

Cats couldn't mock your weakness, nor did they comprehend tears.

During the day, Sasuke threw himself into a routine to choke out his brother's voice. It spoke at the strangest times- in class when Mizuki-sensei spoke of the Will of Fire, when someone cut themself and the smell of blood spiked the air, when his fingers twisted together into the sign of the tiger- when smoke curled around him- when the wind blew his hair into his eyes-

Wake up. Eat. Feed cats. School. Feed cats. Train. Eat. Sleep.

Repeat.

His brother's words haunted his steps, no matter how fast he ran or how many times he struck down the training dummies.

(Weak. Blood. Tiger. Smoke. Eyes. Nothing. Everything.)

Wake up. Eat. Feed cats. School. Feed cats. Train. Eat. Sleep.

Repeat.

As eventful as school was, during the walk home the silence of the Uchiha Compound started echoing in his ears again, no matter how good or bad the day behind it had been.

That's when he would feed the cats and vanish into the woods to train.

The cats made it easier to avoid thinking about his brother and the things he had said. Sasuke didn't know if he'd ever be ready to face the truth of what his brother was. Everytime he started to forget, every time it felt like things had gotten better, something- the scent of ash, the taste of a dumpling- reminded him again that his brother had never truly loved him.

That he'd murdered their entire clan because they were weak.

Training sessions grew longer.

Never again, he silently vowed. No one was going to make him helpless ever again.

None of the Uchiha victims got a burial befitting of a warrior. They were laid to rest like ordinary civilians in Konoha's burial grounds. They didn't even get their own section. They were just mixed in with everyōne else, as if their deaths- as if everything they had done for the village- didn't even matter.

Many Uchiha names were on Konoha's memorial stone, and most of the ones he recognized were related to his parents- one cousin of his father's in particular, he remembered, had died on some mission to destroy a bridge during the Third Shinobi World War when he was barely Itachi's age. As busy as his father had been, he always made time to visit his cousin weekly and burn incense for him.

But even though his father had dedicated his life to serving the village, he was not granted a place on the stone alongside his younger cousin. None of the Uchiha had been.

The Uchiha clan languished in dishonor. And it would be entirely up to Sasuke to restore that honor.

He traced his parent's names with a hand still chubby from helpless youth.

His mother's kindness had not saved her.

But neither had his father's power. His father, the clan head. His father, who had nurtured and raised Itachi from birth.

What did either power or kindness matter?

His brother's words again played in his mind, and Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut.

Something sharp- like metal shavings- nudged his hand, breaking his thoughts.

One of his mother's strays- the big one she'd named Tora- batted again at his hands, claws sheathed yet still peeking through the fur on her paws. Wiping the dirt from his face with his sleeve, he danced his fingers out of her reach. Not far enough, as she rolled with him, her gaze sharp and focused as her paws flashed at his hand.

"Fine," he grunted as he got to his feet, "I'll feed you. Just be patient."

He was burning through the cat food faster than he had expected. The bag of feed he had been using was running low and he needed enough to feed all four of the cats his mother owned, plus the strays that came by for meals. He poured what remained into a jar and placed it on the counter top to remind himself.

That was when he first noticed the oddity of the five bowls set out by the counter. That wasn't strange by itself. Each bowl was well-worn and well-used, with the name of its respective owner inscribed on the side. But the bowl the farthest to the right- tucked into the corner- was also the dustiest. Sasuke frowned and read the name on the sides of the bowls, left to right. Tora. Hyō. Shū. Neko. And Yuuna.

The first four cats he knew. They were his mother's pets, the few cats of the many who lived in the Uchiha Compound to be housecats. But Yuuna…

He cast his memory back as far as it would go. Some cats came and left as life ran its natural course, but all the way back to when he had been half his height- if that- Yuuna's bowl had stayed, empty but cleaned and cared for with the others.

Once- he thinks, he's not sure- he asked her. She had traced the rim, and her eyes- had flickered briefly towards- something, his memory couldn't deliver- "One day, you'll get to meet her," she had promised in a low voice. But she had never mentioned Yuuna again.

Now that was just strange, he thought as he picked up the bowl and turned it over in his hands.

Sometimes, he thought as he dropped the bowl into the trash, loved ones didn't come home.

Theatrics aside, he still had to feed the strays. And there definitely wasn't enough food to feed everyōne again tomorrow.

He'd have to buy more.

While Sasuke technically owned the entire clan's assets, he also couldn't access them until he hit eighteen or became chuunin, whichever came first. He lived on a pension provided by the Village for all the orphans. It was barely enough to live on, let alone buy new supplies for school or medical supplies or lightbulbs.

A glance upstairs.

Mother had kept a roll of cash in a secret drawer in her bureau. For emergencies only, she'd whispered before taking Sasuke's hand and walking him outside to buy dango-

Crushing the memory down, Sasuke sucked in a deep breath and started up the stairs, pointedly not looking at Itachi's room as he slid the door to his parents' room open.

For a terrible moment, the corpses of his parents lay on the floor. Then he blinked and the memory was gone. The gashes in the wall and the pale brown stain on the wooden floor remained.

Two separate futons. Two dressers, two desks- which had been hers? He chose the one closest to the door- the one with hairpins and a brush laid out on the top- and fumbled for the drawer.

His searching fingers finally grasped the wad of cash and he fled like a samurai in full armor fled lightning, clutching his prize closely to his chest.

Stumbling to a stop downstairs, he counted the wad- only fifty thousand ryō.

That. That wasn't nearly enough. That would last barely a month- and especially not if he bought food for the cats.

His hand tightened on the cash and he cast a glance at the four remaining bowls. He could still put those ads out. One newspaper ad was definitely cheaper than buying food, over and over again, month in month out.

And yet…

Something pushed against his calves, and he wobbled as Shū rubbed against his ankles.

This was not what shinobi did, a voice whispered. Not what Itachi did.

At the thought, some of the things he was not thinking about clicked. His mother had hidden money. Surely some of the others had as well.

Even though the Uchiha Complex stretched over less than a square kilometer, there were over eighty houses to search, in addition to the various Uchiha-run shops. Before… there had been about three-hundred clan members living on the grounds, ninja and civilians both. A lot of ground to cover.

The first house Sasuke searched was the house next door- Izumi's house.

In so many ways, nothing had changed. Izumi's bag hung by the door, ready for the mission she'd never had a chance to complete. An open book lay pages down, waiting for someone to come and finish it. And yet, dust motes filled the air like a flock of carrion birds circling over their prey, carpeting the tables in a thin film. The faint smell of rotting groceries hung in the air.

He passed over the kitchen, and went directly toward the bedroom. The door still hung open, and Sasuke slipped in. First, the dresser. He pawed through clean undergarments and dirty magazines, with no luck. Under the mattress. Behind the headboard. Nothing. Not even dust, he realized as he slid one thumb over the nightstand.

Where was the dust?

Drawing a kunai, Sasuke moved on to the next room- a library.

Someone had been here, too. But this time, it was easier to see where exactly they had been. Gaps in the bookcase looked back at him like missing teeth. He plucked one of the remaining books off the shelf and glanced at the title. Nature Transformation and Shuriken Techniques.

Another. On the Spiritual Properties of Fire and Its Combat Application.

So these were all documents related to Clan techniques. Books that belonged to his Clan.

And someone had taken them. The bodies of his family had not yet cooled in Konoha's burial grounds and people were stealing their clan secrets. Quickly as he could, he packed the remaining books into the backpack he had brought.

What else had been stolen? Who would dare to steal Clan secrets? Would they come back?

His first impulse was to go to the police- to report the theft. But his Clan was the police. And the Hokage had made no move to reinstate a justice system for the residents of Konoha. Sasuke knew that the village had seized several clan scrolls and secrets. But they wouldn't need to sneak in after the fact, would they?

Whoever had snuck in- and it could be anyone in the village, anyone who wanted to learn or sell his clan's secrets- could not have searched every house without Sasuke knowing, not yet. But if he sat back and did nothing, they would. He would have to start now if he wanted to get ahead of them.

Golden sunlight had started to peer over the rim of the sky before Sasuke finished searching every building in the complex. Some houses had been searched in the same methodic care as Izumi's house, others had been ransacked and ruined with no discernable purpose. Sasuke did turn up a significant amount of ryō between the untouched houses, but that was no longer his primary goal. Now he focused on the libraries, using his weapon sealing scrolls- and any others he could find in the empty houses- to contain the documents of his clan.

These scrolls he sealed into the floorboards of his bedroom. It took quite a bit of time to perfectly duplicate the formula from the weapon storage scrolls, but once he had mimicked the design, he taped it under the boards. Some of the books he could used to study now, others would have to wait until he were farther along in his studies. But at least they weren't in the hands of- strangers.

But that wasn't enough. The Uchiha Clan may had faltered, may be on the brink of extinction, but they weren't dead yet. And anyone who stole from the Uchiha Clan needed to suffer.

And that's how the full moon woke from her slumber to find Sasuke, still sleep-deprived from the night before, fumbling with ninja wire and exploding tags as his cats wove around him, rubbing against him and playing with the scattered garbage in the streets.

Another yowl from Tora broke his fragile concentration and the tripwire he'd been weaving snapped back to the side, narrowly missing his cheek.

Sasuke groaned, casting the spool of wire to the ground. Tora screeched again, and this time the sound came with a familiar wail of pain. Sasuke looked up in time to see a familiar flash of gold stumble out of the alley. "Leave my cat alone you jerk!" he snapped, jumping to his feet.

"Your stupid cat attacked me," Naruto retorted fresh scratches adorning his arms. Then his eyes landed on Sasuke's work, and interest crushed the irritation in Naruto's eyes. "Whatcha doin, Sasuke?"

"Nothing," he said, even as Naruto darted over- far faster than Sasuke had ever seen him move in class- and leaned over the mess of wire and tags.

"Ah, there's the problem!" Naruto said, reaching in, "Ya gotta twist it the other way to offset the tension."

"Naruto-" Sasuke began, but before he could finish his sentence, the trap tightened up.

"What?"

He'd done this before, Sasuke realized. Everyōne in the class knew about Naruto's antics, about Iruka's frequent battle of wits with the irascible blonde. But it had never once occurred to him that Naruto was actually any good at the things he did on a regular basis.

"...So what exactly are you trying to do, anyway?" Naruto asked after a moment, "I mean it's placed in a great spot for an ambush but-"

"People keep breaking in to steal things," Sasuke said, shortly. "I want them to stop."

"Oh." Naruto considered. "Well. You can stop them- the Ankle Bind would be a good one for that. Or you can mark them so everyōne knows what they tried to do. It's a good way to telling everyōne 'I beat you'."

They hadn't even covered the Ankle Bind in class yet. Where had Naruto, the dead last, learnt it?

No matter. Naruto knew something that might come in handy to Sasuke later. He'd be foolish not to take advantage of that.

"I do have some glitter that would work," Sasuke said, more to himself than to Naruto. He'd seen Izumi wear it once to cousin Tenma's graduation ceremony- small uchiwa fans, colored red and white. Glitter you could only get from one place in Konoha. "Is it possible to set up an Ankle Bind and a glitter trap at the same time?"

Naruto's eye sparked with mischief. Somewhere, Iruka-sensei woke in a cold sweat and the Third Hokage's perpetual migraine worsened. "Is it possible- haha! Sasuke, you're talking to a true trap master! Count on me, we'll have this whole place rigged up in no time!"

Any protests Sasuke had at 'we' dissolved when he realized exactly how good Naruto was at this trap business. He designed and set wire with the practised ease of an electrician and the precision of a Hyuuga. Sasuke's original, half-baked plan to trap every house shattered under the twenty or so traps Naruto placed- by the entry points of the Compound, key points on the rooftops and the streets. Every house was effectively protected, without the drudgery of setting up outside every house.

It was more than good work, Sasuke had to admit. It was definitely Genin-level wire work, if not higher.

Naruto yawned and stretched, content with his last trap. "We'll get 'em Sasuke," he said, confidence shining from his voice, "then we can haul them to the Hokage and he'll kick their asses."

"You think he would?" Sasuke asked, skeptical. The Hokage had already made it clear he had little time for such frivolous matters.

"Of course," Naruto said, "You're part of the village." As if that was all there was to it. As if that's all it took to erase the complications between Clan and village. Small as he had been, Sasuke knew there was tension, knew it was a key part of why Konoha had confiscated so much from the Uchiha Compound. Of course Naruto, oblivious to all of that- oblivious to the simple concept of clan duty- would believe in the village.

And yet. He was part of the village. The Clan was part of the village. Weren't they supposed to protect each other?

Tora mewled and rubbed against Naruto. Hiding his spike of jealousy, Sasuke watched as Naruto laughed and petted the cat. "Eh, I guess you aren't so bad," Naruto said as he scratched her ears, and if his eyes flicked towards Sasuke as he said it, Sasuke ignored it.

"Yo, Sasuke!"

He turned, and looked dubiously at the paper package Kiba thrust at him. "Have you had those- pets of yours looked at?" Kiba asked before Sasuke could start his own interrogation.

"Pets?" Sasuke.

"Oh, don't play dumb," Kiba snapped, "you reek of cat. When's the last time you had them checked for worms or anything?"

Sasuke blinked. Of course cats needed something like that. Ninja got checkups all the time, why wouldn't animals?

"I thought so," Kiba groused, at the look on his face. "Well, if you need any of them brought in the Inuzuka Clinic will service all animals." His voice dropped from the practiced script. "Even cats," he muttered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Sasuke said. "...What's in the bag?"

"Shampoo and stuff. I dunno, my mom said to bring it over."

"..thanks," Sasuke said, examining the package one more time just in case Naruto had set Kiba up to something.

"Don't mention it," Kiba said. "Literally. Bad enough I have to smell those stinking cats on you," he muttered as he walked away.

"I didn't know you hung out with Kiba!" Naruto's voice chirped in his ear, and Sasuke jumped.

"How did you-"

"We should totally hang out! There's this great ramen place called Ichiraku's- it's the best! You're going to love-"

"No," Sasuke said, stepping away. "No way."

The other kid crossed his arms. "Aw come on Sasuke," he said. "Admit it, you had fun that night."

If he'd been strong enough, he wouldn't have to lay traps and rely on charity.

"I don't have time for 'fun'" Sasuke said, turning away, "and I certainly don't have time for you, moron."

The silence stretched- one moment, tw-

"Yeah, well- I don't have time for you, either!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke retreated down the hall, "You and your stupid hair can go- jump off a cliff!"

Sasuke didn't look back. And if he noticed a slightly frazzled Iruka-sensei usher in a red-faced Naruto well after Mizuki-sensei had begun his lecture on the forty-ninth shinobi rule, he buried it under his notes and indifference. Or tried to. Like it or not, he was in Naruto's debt because of the traps Naruto had laid for him- without question, without aim or manipulation. He had seen a comrade in need and wanted to help, even though they had barely spoken outside of class- or in it, for that matter. But now that he had, Sasuke found himself noticing quite a few things about his classmate.

For starters, Naruto cut a lot of classes- but mostly the ones taught by Mizuki-sensei or one of the others. Oh, he tried to cut Iruka-sensei's class, but Iruka-sensei always hunted Naruto down, or at least sent someone after him. None of the other teachers did. More troubling was the behavior exhibited by the teachers. Iruka-sensei was hard on Naruto- harder than he was even on Sasuke or Ino, the two trainees vying for top spot of the class. But the other teachers- even Mizuki-sensei- didn't seem to care whether Naruto excelled or not. In a normal school, that was one thing. But in a ninja school, where subpar ninja meant death for the entire squad… It didn't make any sense.

"Hey. Idiot."

"What do you want, duckface?" Naruto asked, stormy eyes fixed on the scroll he was scribbling on.

"Why are you training so hard to be a ninja when you cut class half the time?"

Naruto blinked, for an instant, then his glower returned. "I don't need to explain myself to you, you bastard."

He turned back to the scroll. Sasuke took in the blueprint in- even more complex than the ones Naruto had designed on the fly for Sasuke. "That's a good design," he said.

Slowly, Naruto's head lifted up. "You really think so?"

"Have you showed it to Iruka-sensei? It might bring your grade up."

"Like you know what my grades are," Naruto scoffed.

"You're the dead last," Sasuke reminded him. "Everyōne knows."

"Meh," Naruto let the scroll roll up with a snap. "I don't think Iruka-sensei does extra credit."

"If you don't pass, you don't become a ninja," Sasuke argued, "Don't you think it's important?"

"Why do you care so much anyway?"

"I don't," Sasuke snapped, "but it'd be a waste if you didn't pass."

"I'm already a waste, Sasuke," Naruto said, his voice rising in volume as he got to his feet. "But you already knew that, didn't you? Well one day I'm going to be stronger than you! Stronger than everyōne in the village! Believe it or not!"

Then Naruto was gone.

"What's his problem, anyway?" Sasuke groused as he stroked Hyō. "You try to help him and he flips out like it's your fault."

The sun hung bloody clouds in the sky, trailing wisps of red into the expanse over head as is sank into the night. Most days, Sasuke could train like nothing happened, could throw kunai and summon fire chakra as if everything were fine.

Today was not that day, had not been even before his spat with Naruto. Sasuke leaned against the training post, and let the elderly cat just be in his lap.

He wished he could do that. Just be, and damn everything else. Cats were so lucky. They didn't care about anything.

Hyō mewled and turned over in Sasuke's lap. "Yeah, like it's my fault he's a moron," Sasuke muttered, stroking soft, creamy fur. "If he wants to flunk out, let him."

It wasn't like a lot of people would be surprised if Naruto did flunk out. In fact… they seemed to expect it. Which, Sasuke thought with a bitter smile, was directly opposed to everything Konoha was supposed to stand for. Naruto was part of the village, so part of the family. In theory. Clearly, that wasn't the case with Naruto. Or with Sasuke either. They were both outcasts- Sasuke the last fruit of a dying branch, Naruto an uprooted sapling. Both with no support except what they sought out themselves.

A loud twang cut the air, a string of curses hot on its heels.

The traps.

Sasuke leapt to his feet and took off toward the sound, abandoning stealth in favor of speed. He reached the site in time to see the culprit weave a set of handseals.

A wooden log fell to the ground in her place. Substitution.

Where would they go?

The most tactically sound place was-

"Gotcha!" A loud voice echoed down the streets of the compound, "so you're the jerk who was stealing from Sasuke!"

"Get off me, you hellion!"

A sound like a smack, and Naruto went flying past Sasuke, hitting the ground and rolling onto his feet.

"Naruto, are you-"

"He's getting away!"

Sasuke needed no more urging. Together, they chased the invader through the streets of Konoha. Several people shrieked Naruto's name as he ran by, but Sasuke heard a few people call his name in disbelief as well.

"Keep him busy," Sasuke said.

"You're on!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke made a clone and split off, circling around and climbing the trees until he was above the pursuit. Three- two- one-

He landed right between the thief's shoulder blades. She went down with a loud grunt, and Sasuke quickly wove the handseals for a rope technique.

"Nice, Sasuke!"

"Yeah, well, you weren't so bad yourself, twerp," Sasuke said, noting with mild interest that Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat.

"So," Sasuke said, turning the intruder. "I hope you have a good reason for trespassing on Clan grounds."

The genin- her headband, coupled with the fact that she'd been caught by the two of them and had no chuunin vest to mark her rank- made a face. "I shouldn't be surprised you're the only one who can tame that savage," she said, working her shoulders with the tell-tale wriggle of the Escape Technique. A swift kick to her shin ended that.

"You stole things from Sasuke!" Naruto accused, and Sasuke planted his face in his hand. They didn't know that for sure, and all she'd do now is deny it-

"Alright, fine," she snapped, "So I did. But it's not like the Uchiha are going to mind and I need the help with my techniques!"

Sasuke leaned in close to her. "I want everything back that you stole," he said, his voice dark, "and a list of names of people who have stolen from me."

"Cute, real cute," she snorted, "you aren't even a genin. You can't do shit to me."

"Yeah?" Naruto leaned in close. "I bet Old Man Hokage wouldn't agree."

For a moment, there was the barest flicker of fear in her eyes before she laughed. "No way Lord Hokage would listen to you."

"Maybe not," Sasuke said, "but he'll listen to us. And if he doesn't… I don't need the Hokage to make your life miserable. I just need him."

A choked gasp slid from her throat. "You wouldn't."

Now that was interesting. Sasuke had been referring only to Naruto's unmatched pranking skill. But at that comment, her fear- true fear, not irritation- rekindled. An edge he was not going to let slip by. "I would."

"...fine. You win," she grumbled, looking to the side. "I left them at home. I'll bring them to you tomorrow."

"Tonight," Sasuke countered.

"At Ichiraku's!" Naruto piped up.

"What? No way!" Sasuke said, snapping his head over to look at Naruto.

"Oh come on, like you're gonna let her back on your clan land!" Naruto said, pointing at the genin, "it's safer and you know it."

"Fine." Sasuke with a glower at Naruto before releasing the rope technique pinning the genin down. "Meet you there in an hour. Don't be late."

"Yeah, whatever," she said, before vanishing into the trees, leaving a trail of uchiwa-shaped glitter behind her.

"Why were you chasing her?" Sasuke asked, rounding on Naruto.

"I felt the trap go off, duh," Naruto said, "You said there were people stealing from you. I wanted to help."

"I can handle my- wait, you felt it go off?"

"Yeah," Naruto said with a grin, "I set it with a catra tag. And when it went off I realized someone was breaking in-"

"I get it," Sasuke said, rocking back from his knees. "You didn't have to come."

"But I didn't know where you were," Naruto argued, "You coulda been training or something, then what?"

"I was training," Sasuke said. "...but thank you."

"Yeah, well that's the last time I- wait, what?"

"Thank you," Sasuke repeated, a little less sincerely the second time. "I wouldn't be getting anything back if it weren't for you."

Naruto's blue eyes filled with tears. "No problem, jerk," Naruto said as he wiped his face. "Now, let's go get that ramen!"

Perhaps it was because he'd never been in public with Naruto before- not alone, not like this- but Sasuke had never noticed just how cold everyōne's eyes were when they looked at Naruto. He seemed oblivious, going about life with his usual smile and exuberance as if nothing were out of the ordinary, as if being looked at with such cruel indifference was normal.

That was one thing his father had always tried to avoid within the clan. Fugaku had insisted that everyōne in the Uchiha Clan had all the rights of the noble clan line, whether they were civilian or ninja, whether they had a Sharingan or not. Again, the face of a dead cousin Sasuke had never met hovered behind those words. He had always meant to ask about his cousin someday.

But no one remained to ask.

As the new hour rang, the would-be thief came in, her face tight as she placed a small bag in front of Sasuke. "That's everything," she said, looking appropriately regretful.

"It had better be," Sasuke said, keeping his voice low as he reclaimed the bag and peered inside to verify the contents. Five books. That about fit what was missing from Izumi's house. But there were at least thirty more missing from other houses.

"Sasuke, come on! The food's here, let's eat!"

"So what, is he your pet now?" she asked, looking from Naruto to Sasuke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked.

"You know," she said with an exaggerated blink.

"Actually I don't. Now get out of my face," Sasuke said. The suspicion in her eyes only deepened, and Sasuke wondered what exactly he was missing here. After one last cold look at Naruto, she was gone.

"Just ignore her, Sasuke," Naruto said, shovelling down more ramen than Sasuke thought could fit in even Chōji's mouth. "She's just mad we caught her."

"Nice to see you, Naruto? Who's your friend? Haven't seen him around before," the ramen chef- his name tag read Teuchi- commented. The second person who didn't have that cold look in his eyes for Naruto, Sasuke observed. Of course, money went a long way to alleviating grievances. It was just, as his father had said, a fact of life.

"Oh, this jerk is Sasuke," Naruto said.

"Exactly how often do you come here?" Sasuke asked, glancing between Teuchi and Naruto.

"As often as Iruka-sensei or the Old Man will take me, Naruto answered, "which is only like twice week unless it's a special occasion like now."

Sasuke scoffed. "It's not a special occasion," he said, "you don't go to ramen bars for special occasions."

"This is the first time I've had dinner with a- a friend," Naruto said, blurring his words together as he spoke quickly, "so it's special to me."

"You've never had dinner with Shikamaru or Kiba?" Sasuke echoed, "ever?"

"Yeah so you're the first," Naruto grumped as he slid the empty bowl aside and grabbed another, "don't get a big head."

If Iruka thought it odd that Naruto squeaked into the spot next to Sasuke the next day in class, and that Sasuke didn't kick him out, he gave no sign of it.