Chapter Text
Pre-Series:
Part One: “The Sharingan's Secret”
Genji, a Nara, one of Shikamaru’s older cousins, was watching them— Toshiko, Shikamaru and Choji as —they played at the edge of the Nara woodlands. If Toshiko pushed chakra into her eyes to enhance her vision like she’d been taught then she could just make out the shadows of the deer that Shikamaru and his clan cared for.
“Come on Choji!” Toshiko cheered.
The three of them sat in a circle together; three had been playing sticks. Sticks was a game where everyone started with two fingers and then by using the process of doubling and dividing went around trying to be the last one out; that managed to happen when the winner was the only one with less than ten fingers in the circle.
Usually Choji was the first one out— not because of lack of strategy but rather Choji tended to snack during the game and constantly lost track of how many fingers he’d had out and in play —but in a surprising turn of events he had ended up facing off against Shikamaru; Toshiko had been the first one out.
“Seriously?” Shikamaru raised a brow.
“You always win Shika,” Toshiko rolled her eyes. She leaned more against the Nara boy, her head knocked against his shoulder. “You got this Choji!”
“Thanks Toshi!” Choji beamed. Toshiko beamed back; she always felt more at ease with Shikamaru— life with him seemed easy and simple because Toshiko knew that with her best friend at her side nothing was unconquerable —but Choji made her face hurt from smiling so hard.
They constantly pushed one another to do better, be more daring, take more risks.
Shikamaru— and their guards, though namely Izumi as ever since Shisui’s death she had tended to hover when they weren’t on Uchiha or Nara land —was really the only reasons they hadn’t found themselves doing something too stupid as for every push Choji and Toshiko gave one another the Nara heir was always right there pulling them back from the edge they were about to leap off of without so much as a cursory glance of what laid before them.
Choji then beat his three fingers against Shikamaru’s two. Shikamaru’s hand fell. Shikamaru then, on his turn, split the three fingers he had on his left hand, putting his right hand back up with one finger.
Choji beat his three fingers against Shikamaru’s two.
Shikamaru’s left hand fell. His right finger beat against Choji’s three— he had three on each hand —and quickly, Choji took Shikamaru out.
Choji threw his hands in the air with a loud whooping yell before he fell back onto the grass. Shikamaru fell back as well, though unlike Choji who was relishing in his victory Shikamaru folded his hands behind his head and, with a catlike smirk closed his eyes.
Toshiko’s bottom lip slipped between her teeth; Shikamaru had let Choji win. As the Nara heir basked in the sun that fact was obvious enough to the Uchiha girl. She didn’t say anything though as she laid in the grass next to Shikamaru.
Toshiko closed her eyes.
Her arm pressed up against his and the boy scooted closer to her. The heat of the sun prickled the young girl's skin; she then felt Choji lay down on her other side.
Toshiko wanted to become a shinobi so bad she could taste it in her dreams sometimes. She studied and practiced when she could but in moments when the world turned slower and the fleeting summer air rolled over her and best friends Toshiko couldn’t help but want time to pause.
She was sure this was what Itachi— and Shisui; Toshiko’s heart clenched at the memory of the older Uchiha, her brother in all but blood —always talked about when he told her to slow down with training and just be a kid, just a little bit longer.
She wished— Toshiko prayed at the altar her mother had made in their home —Shisui had gotten to be a kid just a little longer. She wished he was still there, picking her up and swinging her around, bribing her with small treats not to tell Itachi or her father he had done something stupid and unbefitting of the Uchiha name in front of her.
Toshiko didn’t think, no matter how silly Shisui had always been, he could be unbefitting of being an Uchiha.
He was the best. Had been; always would be.
“You’re thinking too loud,” Shikamaru grumbled. He always said that when Toshiko got lost in thought, caught up in her own thinking, lost to the memories. She didn’t know how he did it as it was the Yamanaka clan who held the ability to read minds.
“I am not.”
“Open your eyes.” Toshiko did and saw Shikamaru pointing at a fluffy deformed cloud.
“It looks like your neighbor's cat.” Toshiko bit back a smile; it did.
The old man who lived next to Toshiko had her family— Uchiha Shouta —had so many cats it wasn’t any wonder why the Uchiha district never had any pest problems. But the cloud Shikamaru pointed to looked like the cat that had been severely disfigured from a dog attack it had survived as a kitten.
Missing back leg, half a tail, a nub of a left ear and a missing left eye.
“That one looks like a turtle,” Choji pointed out.
“An upside down one,” Toshiko added with a smile.
“That one looks like the ninja who works at the front gate,” Shikamaru pointed to a third cloud; Toshiko tilted her head.
For the next couple of hours the trio laid in the grass, pointing at clouds, giggling to one another, only to pause mid-joke when two familiar chakras could be felt approaching.
Toshiko had popped up and taken off in the two signature directions before either Shikamaru or Choji could tell the girl to calm down.
The boys followed after, though not even with a fraction of the energetic Toshiko had coursing through her.
“Nii-san!” Toshiko leapt at Itachi; he was still wearing his uniform though the Weasel mask Toshiko had found one afternoon whilst snooping was nowhere to be found.
Itachi been gone the past two weeks on one mission or another and with how tense the Uchiha district was— her father tried to hide it by sending her off to the Nara’s or Akimichi as often as he could but Toshiko couldn’t do anything but notice how everything had changed in the wake of Shisui’s death —it made the young girl so much more hyper aware her brother wasn’t home.
She had missed him so much since he’d gone.
Itachi didn’t hesitate to scoop her up despite the fact she was six and as their mother said she was becoming a big girl who didn’t need to be carted around like a baby anymore; much to Itachi and her fathers chagrins.
“I missed you!”
“I missed you too,” Itachi said as Toshiko buried her face into the crook of her brother's neck. He smelled like stale soap and mildew; he had showered whenever ANBU headquarters were. He then looked at Shikamaru and Choji and bowed his head in their directions, the Nara who had escorted Itachi onto the grounds had moved to hover behind the boys the same way Toshiko’s guards always hovered behind her.
Like they were waiting for an attack at any moment.
“Shikamaru-kun, Choji-kun, thank you for looking after my sister while I was away.”
“Nii-san!”
“Toshi is our friend, we weren’t watching her,” Shikamaru muttered. He had always been friendlier to Shisui than either Itachi or Sasuke mainly because Itachi was always so formal and Sasuke was always so mean to Toshiko, hiding her shoes so she couldn’t try to follow after him or teasing her about how small she was when Itachi and their parents weren't around.
“Be that as it may, thank you.”
Shikamaru made a sound as Choji scratched the back of his head.
“No problem.”
“We should be getting home,” Itachi said to Toshiko, “Mother will have dinner ready soon.”
“Aw,” Toshiko deflated in her brother's arms, “I can’t stay a little longer?”
It wasn’t like it would be a family dinner anyway; her father would still be at work as he had been pulling more and more hours at the department to the point Toshiko only saw him when she would drop off lunch to him and Sasuke had packed both lunch and dinner when he had left that morning so that he could practice until curfew. Now that he was in the academy all he seemed to do was try to catch up to Itachi; it was to the point that like her father Toshiko rarely saw her brother.
Toshiko felt her brother stiffen; the nails of his fingers but into the girl's skin.
“I’m sorry Toshiko, we have to get going.”
“Oh,” Toshiko frowned as she kicked her legs to be let down. When Itachi set her down Toshiko still clung to his hand. Unlike Sasuke who hated to be touched, Toshiko loved it. “Okay then, ‘Tachi?”
“Yeah?”
“When we get home, after dinner, can we play shogi?” Toshiko wondered, “Shikamaru showed me a new strategy the other day and I want to try it out.”
“After dinner?” Toshiko nodded.
“Perhaps.”
“Cool!” That was the only confermated Toshiko needed before she let go of her brothers hands and tackled her friends into two tight hugs.
Choji always hugged her back just as tightly. He was bigger than her and always picked Toshiko up off the floor when they said goodbye, causing the Uchiha to giggle, even after she had been let go.
Shikamaru hugged her back as well but unlike Choji who always crushed Toshiko in his arms Shikamaru just held her securely against himself.
Toshiko could feel the slow beats of his heart.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow when we drop Sasu-nii off at the academy.” When Itachi was in the village he would— rather than the usual guard that lorded over the Clan Heads middle child —always walk Sasuke to school; Toshiko would always join. Even if it wasn’t Itachi who walked Sasuke to school, Toshiko tended to join so that she could see her friends.
“We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Once Shikamaru released Toshiko, the girl scampered back to her brother's side. Effortlessly— like she weighed nothing —he picked her up and held her at his side.
Itachi bowed his head once more as the Nara guard moved to escort the siblings out only to shunshin off the Nara lands.
Itachi wasn’t as fast as Shisui had been— no one was; it was why Shisui had been dubbed Shunshin no Shisui —it still made Toshiko’s stomach flip as they shot off to the gate that led to the Nara Clan compound.
When they stopped outside the Nara’s lands Toshiko gripped her brother as tight as she could.
“Are you okay?” Toshiko just nodded, scared that if she verbally answered her brother she would vomit on him.
“I’m sorry about that Toshi, mother—“
“—I get it,” Toshiko muttered into the crook of her brother's neck. She hated shunsin, even when Shisui would do it to her Toshiko hated the feeling.
She hoped when she learned to body flicker herself that the feeling would go away. The feeling had only started going away when before Toshiko knew it, they had taken to the trees. If they walked the the dirt path it would take an hour or so to get to the Uchiha district but with where the district laid in relation to the Naras, if Itach cut through the trees— and leapt through them as a ninja should —then it would only take several minutes to get home.
“Nii-san?” Toshiko croaked— still queasy —several as they started walking towards their clans gates.
“Yes?”
“I missed you.”
“You already said that Toshiko,” Itachi replied.
“I know nii-san but I did miss you. I always miss you when you’re gone,” Toashiko explained.
“I miss you too Toshi-chan,” Itachi said; he then pointed at the woman just past the Uchiha Clan's gates. She, like Toshiko and Itachi, wore the clan symbol on her back. “Look it’s Aunty Mina.”
“Hi aunty!” Toshiko shouted with a beaming smile and a wave that destabilized her enough to nearly topple over from her brother.
Uchiha Mina, one of the two districts’ seamstresses. Her sister was a dressmaker and her elderly father was the clans tailor. He was training Mina’s husband Kirimaru to take over the business so that he could retire.
“Hime!” Mina smiled, only for her smile to dim when she faced Itachi, “Itachi.”
Toshiko gripped onto her brother's shoulders tighter.
The absence in her chest echoed loudly in Toshiko’s ears; a— light, practically non-existent but still there —pressure built up behind Toshiko’s eyes as she thought of Uchiha Shisui.
She knew what her clan whispered whenever they thought her and her brothers backs were turned. She knew her godfather and the other men that followed her father all suspected Itachi. She and Sasuke had been there when they had barged into her home and tried to demand their father to allow them to arrest Itachi for Shisui's murder.
But Toshiko knew Itachi. He didn’t kill Shisui. He couldn’t have; Shisui was as much a brother to Itachi as Sasuke was and Itachi would never hurt Sasuke.
“Aunty.”
“At the Nara’s Hime?” Uchiha Mina asked, brow raised and calico smile playing on her lips.
Toshiko shifted closer to her brother. Her clan always acted like this, either they chastised Toshiko for spending time outside her clan or they smirked as if they knew something she didn’t when talking about Shikamaru.
“Yes.” Mina giggled.
“I do hope you had fun.” The woman said, her eyes then flickered to Itachi. “I’m glad you’re home safe Itachi.”
“Thank you Aunty.” It was quiet for a moment. The crows that surrounded the land cawed loudly. “We should get going, our mother is making dinner.”
“Please tell Mikoto-sama I say hello,” Uchiha Mina said with the slightest of bowed heads. “And your father of course, please tell him hello too.”
“Of course,” Itachi promised before skirting around the seamstress; on the way home Toshiko waved at several more people.
Uchiha Kai, Uchihas Maka and Tsubaki— twin sisters Sasuke's age that often braided Toshiko’s hair into intricate designs whenever they played together —Uchiha Mineta, and Uchiha Tekka.
Tekka, Toshiko’s godfather, was her fathers man through and through as he often said. Whenever he would come over for Sunday dinners the man would end up with more leftovers than he could usually carry whenever he left.
He hadn’t been by for dinner since he and the other officers that had joined him had declared Itachi a person of interest in Shisui's death. Which is why as Itachi passed her godfather, the girl didn’t call out to him and ask for him to come home and eat with them as he used to but rather simply waved to him.
Tekka waved back, a small smile on his face as he did so.
It was only when they had approached their home that Itachi set Toshiko down onto her own two feet; his hand clasping hers.
He stopped several feet before the hearth of their home. Itachi knelt down to Toshiko, his hands were on her shoulders.
“After dinner I need to do something before we’re able to play shogi. I know you’re excited to show me the moves—“
“—It’s okay nii-san,” Toshiko cut her brother off. “Whatever you need to do, I’ll wait.”
He looked so tired, so sad. Toshiko couldn’t imagine the missions he had to go on as a member of ANBU. After Shisui’s death all Itachi did was take missions or hover over her.
Sasuke hated it, wanting Itachi’s attention but all Itachi ever said was that he had to watch her, like it was some sort of important job that the clan heir had to do.
He never smiled anymore the way he used to.
Toshiko grabbed her brother's face in her hands and used her thumbs to push the corners of her brother's lips upwards into the remnants of the carefree smiles he used to wear.
Itachi’s hands left Toshiko’s shoulders and covered her hands.
“You are very sweet Toshi,” Itachi murmured, “I hope you keep that.”
Toshiko’s head coked to the side.
“Where would it go?”
Itachi’s smile became genuine, he grabbed Toshiko and held her against him for a moment before letting her go and standing up, hand on her shoulder like the past moment hadn’t actually happened.
“Come on, I’m sure mother will be interested to know what you and your friends were up to today.”
“Choji beat Shika at sticks,” Toshiko said as they walked into the house. Toshiko could smell the fish her mother was making from the entryway.
“Did he now?”
“Itachi? Toshiko?” Uchiha MIkoto called out, “Is that you?”
“Yes!” Toshiko called out, skipping further into the house once her shoes were off, leaving Itachi at the front door. “Hi mama!”
Uchiha Mikoto was the pinnacle of Uchiha women. She was beautiful, a former shinobi— Toshiko didn’t know much about her mothers days as ninja except that she had been on a genin team with the long departed Fourth Hokage —and she knew how to keep house like no one else.
“Hello my darling girl.”
“Choji beat Shika at sticks.”
“Good for him,” Mikoto said as she grabbed the fish— mackerel —out of the oven and placed it onto the counter, “Is your brother going to be eating with us?”
“I-yes?”
“Go ask, and Toshiko?”
“Yes mama?”
“Wash up before you sit down, then you can tell me all about how Choji-kun beat Shikamaru-kun.”
“Okay!” And with that Toshiko was out of the kitchen. She’d shot up the stairs, down the hall and to her brother's room where the door was shut. Getting onto her tippy-toes, Toshiko knocked twice. “Nii-san,” Tohsiko called out, “Mama wants to know if you’re eating with us or if we should bring your food up to you.”
It didn't happen often but in the immediate aftermath of when Itachi would get back home from missions, their mother would make an allowance for him to eat alone up in his room rather be surrounded by Sasuke and Toshiko asking him a million and one questions about what he had done, where he had gone and what it was like.
Shisui never took those allowances; he had always eaten with them when he could.
“I’m going to eat up here Toshi, but when you’re done, you can come up, okay?”
“And we can play shogi?”
“Maybe.” Toshiko frowned; whenever Itachi said maybe he meant no but he had said to come up and see him after dinner.
“Okay.” Skipping back downstairs Toshiko saw her mother had set out two plates on the table. The tray her mother used to ferry food to Itachi— or her father when he was locked away, drowning in paperwork in his office —was already full.
“Do you want me to bring that up to nii-san?” Toshiko wondered.
“Did you wash up?”
“Uh-no?” Toshiko smiled up at her mother, fluttering her lashes as she did so. Her mother giggled.
“Wash up Darling, I’ll bring this up to your brother.”
“Okay!” And by the time Toshiko was done scrubbing her hands clean her mother was back downstairs already seated at the table.
“So Choji-kun won sticks?” Toshiko’s mother wondered as they had started to eat. Her mother had piled her plate high with vegetables and rice, the short ribs on the plate
“Well,” Toshiko said shyly, “Shika let him but Choji still beat him even if it was technically a forfeit.”
“Now why would he do that?”
“So we could cloud watch,” Toshiko said simply, “There was a cloud that looked like a seal mama.”
“Oh?” Mikoto wondered, “Which one?”
“The lock,” Toshiko answered “Not for the house but the one Tachi-nii has on his desk.” Shikamaru had been surprised when she had pointed out the seal not because he didn’t expect someone younger than him to know something he didn’t but rather because he was surprised anyone who wasn’t on track to become a Seal Master knew a locking seal from memory.
But if the Uchiha clan knew anything they knew seals.
When the Uchiha and Senju had founded Konoha the Uchiha had leaned into sealing whether it be to fortify their homes— the clans had been at war for centuries and trust isn’t built overnight —or lock up journals so noisy sisters couldn’t snoop.
Toshiko wasn’t quite sure where the knowledge had come from, that was never discussed in her lessons, just that the knowledge of sealing had been bestowed upon the Uchiha after the village's foundation as an act of good will.
“And what are you doing finding out what seals your brother uses?”
Toshiko froze, her piece of fish only half raised to her mouth. “Well, um—“
“—I’m waiting, Toshiko,” Mikoto hummed with raised brows and a pointed look.
“I was doing stuff I shouldn’t,” Toshiko muttered, shoulders hunched and mouth small and off to the side.
“I figured,” Toshiko mothers hummed, “How many times do I have to tell you—“
“—I just wanted to read Itachi’s poetry,” Toshiko tried to defend herself, “I wasn’t looking for anything I shouldn’t.” Like the scrolls on dangerous jutsu’s she wasn’t ready for; Itachi had taken to hiding those from her after she had nearly blown herself and the house up.
“Your brother's love letters are something you shouldn’t be looking for,” Mikoto replied.
“But why? If he’s not giving them to ‘Zumi, someone should read them-mama, if no one reads them how can they get better?”
Toshiko watched her mother pressed her lips together, they tipped upwards and then down and then her mother sucked in a deep breath of air.
“You cannot violate your brother's privacy in hopes he learns how to ask out a pretty girl.”
“But if he doesn’t he’ll die alone mama!”
Mikoto's brows shot up and she smiled as she leaned forward, “Who has said that?”
Toshiko’s heart clenched.
“Shisui, mama,” Toshiko answered, her mother’s small smile dropped almost instantaneously. “He always said that if Tachi-nii was so hopeless that he needed help not to die an old maid.” Usually Shisui offered to help him but Shisui was dead, he couldn’t help anyone anymore.
“Did he now?” Toshiko nodded. Her mother didn’t respond and a moment of silence blanketed the table, “He was a good boy, Shisui.”
“The best mama,” Toshiko agreed, “And he was right, nii-San is so bad at writing Zumi-senpai love notes mama.”
Mikotos lips pursed together, “How bad?”
Toshiko felt herself smirk, she threw herself back against the tatami flooring and loudly proclaimed her brother's worst writing, “Her hair is as dark as dried flowers. Her eyes are the color of smoking coal. If only she could be mine, Izumi.”
“Oh,” Toshiko's mother smothered a snicker. When the quite laughter had subsided and Toshiko had once more sat up, catching her mothers eye she smiled widely; Mikoto grinned back at her. “Maybe Shisui was right.”
“Of course he was mama, that’s why I’m helping.”
“What about Sasuke? He’s not helping?”
Toshiko felt her nose scrunch up at the mention of her other brother. She shook her head.
“Sasu-nii thinks it’s stupid that Itachi has a crush-he thinks girls are stupid mama!”
Uchiha Mikotos infamous glare appeared and Toshiko felt her stomach knot together though the look was in no way pointed at her.
“He said that?”
“Well, um—“ Toshiko was six and smart; she knew no one liked a snitch. “—Maybe?”
“Toshiko if your brother is disrespecting women you need to tell me.”
“But he’s not saying it to anyone,” Toshiko tried to defend, if Sasuke got in trouble because of her he’d hide her shoes again and her mother had already chastised her for going outside without them. She’s never leave the house again! “Sasu just thinks Itachi should be training him instead of kissing Zumi-senpai!”
“Your brother is kissing Izumi-Chan?” Toshiko felt the color drain from her face. Her brothers were going to kill her. Sasuke more so than Itachi but Toshiko didn’t want to think of her brothers disappointed face. It was the worst! “When did this happen?”
Once; and Izumi had kissed him, Itachi had turned a tomato red color and shishuned off, probably to plan their future children’s names. He’d written them down in the margins of old notes Toshiko had come across while snooping.
He’d written them wanted daughters, maybe a son or so but four kids in total.
“Um,” Toshiko licked her lips. “Tachi-nii said we could play shogi together after dinner mama, I-I should get my board!”
“Not,” Mikoto said, “Before you help me clear the table Toshiko.”
“I—“ Toshiko felt the words die on her tongue at her mothers severe looking gaze. “—Yes mama.”
“Good girl,” her mother cooed as she grabbed her empty dish and the half still filled bowl of rice. “Now about your brother kissing Izumi-chan?”
Toshiko felt her face burn as she ducked her head and muttered something about Dango. And it wasn’t like it was a kiss-kiss, “Nii-San ran away right after.”
Her mother’s eyebrow quirked upwards.
“Is that so?”
Toshiko nodded, if her brother was even somewhat listening from his room then he was never going to play shogi with her again!
Morosely Toshiko helped her mother clean off the table and do the dishes. If Itachi never played with her again then she’d never get to play with anyone other than Shikamaru. Her father spent more and more time at the station, almost always coming home after she’d gone to bed and leaving just as she woke up, Sasuke refused to play with her because he didn’t see how a board game would help him catch up to Itachi’s level and her mother, for as clever as she was, sucked at the game.
"That boy," her mother muttered with a small grin, "Your fathers son, I sweat it." She began running the sink to clean the dishes.
"What do you mean mama?" Toshiko wondered, her finger's gripping the kitchen counter as she stood on the tips of her tows so that she could peer up over the counters edge.
"Don't worry about it sweetheart, you said you and your brother were going to play shogi?"
"Uh-huh."
"Have fun, and stop—" Mikoto said severely, "—Going through your brothers things."
"Yes mama." And with That Toshiko was off; she scampered up the steps and halfway down the hall to her pink and purple bedroom where, on her light blue bed, the shogi board Shikamaru had gotten her for her birthday, laid. Quickly she grabbed the board before rushing out of her room and the rest of the way down the hall to where Itachi's room was.
The door was shut; Toshiko knocked. She waited and then knocked again, only for Itachi to open the door a moment later. Toshiko frowned at her brother as he grabbed her by the shoulder and ushered her into the room; he was wearing his uniform.
ANBU wasn't supposed to let anyone see them in their uniforms— no one could know what their mask was; who they were outside of the village —and while Itachi didn't have his Weasel mask on, it was on his hip.
"Nii-san, what's going on?" Toshiko held the shogi board close to her chest, like it was a shield to protect herself with.
Itachi kneeled down to Toshiko's level, his hand still on her shoulder, "Toshiko, I need you to trust me right now, alright?"
"Why?" She did of course, Toshiko trusted her brothers almost as much as she trusted her father.
"Because something bad is going to happen Toshiko and I need to keep you safe, alright?"
"But-what do you mean something bad is going to happen? Dose mama know?" Toshiko felt her gut twist; she could feel her dinner start to make a reemergence. Her father was at the precinct, her brother was who knew where on the training grounds. Fear surged through her at the thought of something happening to her family; Itachi looked just as sick to his stomach as she did.
Toshiko was sure that like her, he was thinking of the worst that could happen.
"She will, but right now Toshiko I need you to get in here—" Itachi spun Toshiko around and lead her to his closet. Her bear, the one Shisui had gifted her long ago was already there, waiting for her. "—And no matter what you hear, I need you to swear to me you won't come out until I come get you."
"But-but—"
"—No," Toshiko had never heard her brother sound so harsh. Not when he fought with their father, not when their clansmen accused him of murder; never had Itachi sounded so serious. "Toshiko I need you to promise me, you'll stay in the closet no matter what. When everything is over, I'll come get you, okay? Me and only me?"
Toshiko felt her bottom lip wobble.
"But what about mama and papa, I can come out for them right?"
"No, Toshiko, I need you to promise when you leave the closest it'll be with me and only me."
"Why?" Why couldn't she run to her parents; they were all she wanted at that very moment as fear seized her from the inside out.
"I need you to trust me. I'll explain after but right now, trust me."
"You'll come back?" Itachi nodded. Toshiko trusted her brother, she knew he always tried his best and that he didn't lie to her. He loved her and Sasuke; he always promised before every mission he'd fight to come back to them in one piece. "You'll keep everyone safe?"
At this Itachi's face crumbled.
"I'll keep who I can safe, okay?"
Toshiko dropped the board and threw herself at her brothers midsection. After a moment Itachi pried Toshiko from him and pushed her into the closet.
"No matter Toshiko, stay in here and be quite, do not make a sound."
"I promise nii-san," Toshiko whimpered, terrified.
And she kept it, when the closet went dark and she pushed herself all the way to the back of it, hugging her bear tight, Toshiko kept the promise she made. When the screaming started— Toshiko knew those voices crying out; she didn't know people could make those sounds —and the pressure in her eyes started to build, she kept her promise and didn't make a peep or shoot out of the closet, not even when her father rushed in through the front door, calling her mothers name in a panicked voice she didn’t think was possible.
She flinched in the dark as the door shut after that and she was left alone in the house. The pressure behind her eyes kept building. The screaming stopped shortly after, Toshiko could hear wind howling through the streets of the district and for a moment the pressure behind her eyes started to quell. Her heart, she could feel beat in her throat.
She wondered who else had hid and when her brother would come get her. She shuffled closer to the door, bear in hand.
Shisui had once said if he couldn't be there to chase the nightmare's away for her the bear would be the next best thing. Toshiko hoped this was all just a bad dream, that the bear would wake her up any moment.
Only then then the screaming started back up; only it wasn't like it had been. Multiple voice didn't scream out in terror and pain again— there had already been so much screaming, Toshiko couldn't imagine who had hadn't heard —because the screaming that had started back up was Sasuke's screaming. He was calling out for help, to see if anyone was alive.
He didn't know to be quite, he didn't know to hide. He'd been training when Itachi had shoved her in the closest.
He was in danger and Toshiko felt her heart stop.
"Uchiha's—" Toshiko's father had once said after her and Sasuke had fought. They'd been trying to prank Shisui in Itachi's honor only he had arrived to early and they gotten caught and Sasuke, who could run faster because his legs were longer, had left her behind in the dust. "—Do not turn their back on one another. In this world, we are all each other have."
He was going to die and Toshiko couldn't imagine a world without him. She couldn't light the fire of his funeral pyre or pray at an alter her mother made with his face.
Toshiko felt herself tremble. She loved her brothers, more than anything.
"Mom! Dad!"
More than her own life.
And with eyes that practically glowed in the night, she shot out of the closet.