"... like I said, in my clan's eyes, there are only two types of people: those with chakra, and those without. Many of the people who wield chakra generally belong to a clan, and we have classifications for those clans: those that are active, and those that are inactive."
I sat in front of Shisui the following morning, finding myself half asleep as he drilled in more knowledge of the shinobi world. After my episode with Sasuke, I had barely slept when Shisui woke me up this morning to drag me to my daily routines. Too tired to even recall the night's events in my mind, I struggled to keep my droopy eyes open and focused on my tutor, and found myself constantly nodding off.
"Yah," reprimanded the Uchiha, suddenly smacking the tabletop and making me leap up in surprise at the loud bang. I coughed and sat up straight, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands as I struggled to concentrate on him. "I thought you looked too tired to do any taijutsu training today, but I didn't expect you to be too tired for this!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I apologised hurriedly, shaking my head and sitting up straight. "I'm listening. Please continue."
He grimaced at me before continuing on.
"Anyway, following the end of the Warring States Period, the number of ninja clans that existed began to diminish, to the point where ninjutsu was no longer thought to have a place in the modern world," he explained to me. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity: if ninjutsu was such a powerful art, why was it all of a sudden shunned?
"Why is that?"
Shisui shrugged at my question, unsure of the answer himself.
"What's been told through the years is that the clans who turned their backs on ninjutsu simply found no need for it anymore," he said, albeit with doubt in his eyes. "I find that a weak excuse, but I have no need to question other clans of their decisions. These clans who no longer follow the shinobi way are referred to as inactive: seeing as we and the Senju are probably the only two clans who still wholeheartedly embrace our strengths and abilities, you can then assume that every other clan in existence is inactive.
"There are often exceptions, of course, so I can't really jump to conclusions just yet. This rule generally only applies to the clans we know of within the Land of Fire: seeing as your friend Haku knew of his power and originated from the Land of Water, we cannot be a hundred percent sure that we are the sole promoters of ninjutsu just yet. We know little of shinobi from other parts of the world; however, we have some exceptions.
"Orochimaru was previously a student of the Senju, even though he wasn't a member of the clan. After being taught by them he went off to do who knows what, and came back to Konoha with two students he had picked up on his travels. Those students were Kabuto and Karin, and all of them now currently work for my clan."
"That explains why they look so different to you," I mused, picturing the faces of every single Uchiha I had met and comparing them to the faces of the trio. Lacking the infamous Uchiha good looks with dark eyes and dark hair, as well as the surname itself, it had been blatantly obvious to me that those three weren't blood members of the clan. Shisui chuckled, tapping the desk lightly with his fingers.
"They are some of the few non-members of our clan who have been allowed within our ranks," he said. "Naruto, too. He and Karin are from the same clan, through his mother."
"How did Naruto end up with you guys?"
"Naruto's parents were good friends with my aunty and uncle," he said, frowning as he racked his brains. "They were both shinobi in their own right, but they died soon after Naruto was born. He was raised in an orphanage for a few years until Mikoto- Sasuke's mum- tracked him down and took him under her wing. He was raised alongside Sasuke, his older brother Itachi, and me, to an extent."
"Small world." I sighed and rested my arms on the desk, laying my head as I shut my eyes. "Keep talking. I'm listening."
Shisui grimaced at my words, lightly hitting me over the head.
"Fine, rest your eyes, but listen to the rest of my boring lesson," he said, beginning to flick my hair up and down. "So, those are the classifications we have for the different shinobi clans. As with any other profession, there are ranks within the shinobi system. What we and the Senju did was begin with making our children genin, preparing them..."
Shisui's explanation to me of the rank system went on and on, and I felt his words doing no more than coming in through one ear and out the other as his voice turned into a drawn out, monotonous drone.
I must have eventually fallen asleep, because I remember Shisui yanking me by the ear and murmuring softly, "Kohana-chan, recall to me the ranks of the organisational system."
I snored loudly before snorting out, "Genin, chūnin and jōnin," as my answer, to which Shisui thumped me loudly on the head.
"Ahh, why do you have to be like this?!" I cried out, eyes still closed as I tried to go back to sleep. "I got it right!"
"You forgot student and tokubetsu jōnin," he said with a small sigh, shaking his head. "Look, my goal is to get you to at least chūnin level by my deadline. Do you know how difficult that's going to be with someone your age? Our shinobi are trained from young ages, and easily become chūnin by the time they're thirteen or fourteen! I sure do hope you're a fast learner, otherwise we're completely screwed."
"Don't worry," I muttered in a sluggish voice, waving Shisui away. "I'll do it. Trust me. That chakra shit you had me do was pretty easy, I'm sure we'll be a-okay."
I gave him a lazy thumbs up, and he let out an incredulous laugh.
"Says the girl who complained about it being too hard for two hours straight!" he guffawed, leaning back in his seat with his arms behind his head.
"Hey, but at least I got it at the end of that two hours, hmm?" I reminded him, slackly lifting my arm to wag a condescending finger in his face.
"You're right, you're right. I'll give you the credit when it's due."
I snorted at his remark, resuming my comfortable napping position.
"If you don't mind, I'll take a time out," I said in an idle voice, making him roll his eyes at me. "Give me ten minutes."
"You're really-"
Shisui's words were cut off at the sound of the door to his study opening, and I opened an eye to look at him, to see if it was anyone important. He was staring intently at the doorway at who I assumed to be another clan member, brow set as he spoke in a level voice.
"Sasuke. How may I help?"
At the very mention of Sasuke, my blood ran cold. I sat up straight in my seat, fully alert, and stared intensely at the wall behind Shisui's head to avoid him at all costs. The hairs on my arms were beginning to stand on end as I felt the General advance into the room, ending up standing behind me.
"Looked like you were having a good time dozing off there," he said in a cold voice, looking down at me in scorn. I gulped silently and stared straight ahead. I must have had a terrible look of panic on my face, because the look on Shisui's face showed his concern sure enough.
"Sasuke, if you need to talk, we can talk outside," said Shisui, rising to his feet. However, Sasuke shot him down.
"I'd much rather we talk here. It's going to be quick, anyway," he said boredly, taking the seat next to me and sitting down in it. I felt myself begin to shiver as he pulled his chair as close as possible next to mine, finding no qualms in my company whatsoever.
"She tried to escape."
Shisui's face was blank as Sasuke spoke, and even I sneaked a look at him in confusion.
"Who?"
"She was going with Naruto to breakfast when she tried to run away," said Sasuke dully, accompanied by a small sigh. "She's lucky no one else was around, or else the consequences would have been harsher."
"What did you do to her?"
"I did nothing," said Sasuke faultlessly, lazily raising his hands in the air. "I had no interest in punishing a child like her. I let Naruto deal with it, and knowing him, he would've pretended like none of it ever happened."
Shisui released a breath of air, raising a hand to his forehead. At the mention of the word "child", my mind went straight to Yuki, and I turned to Sasuke with an imploring look on my face.
"Who?"
He slowly turned to look at me, with an eyebrow raised.
"Hn?"
"Who was the girl?" I asked, persisting to find out. "Was it Yuki? Did something happen?"
"I don't remember speaking to you," sneered the Uchiha, narrowing his eyes at me in a patronising manner. I leaned forward on the edge of my seat, caring little of myself, and more for Yuki's sake.
"What happened? Why did she try to run? Where was Haku?!"
"Kohana, please relax," reassured Shisui from across the desk, watching Sasuke's cold gaze on me the entire time. "If it makes you feel any better, we weren't talking about Yuki. You have to understand that we have several children in this programme, and Yuki isn't the only one."
"How is Yuki, though?!"
"She's in good hands with Haku," consoled Shisui, all the while Sasuke was still staring at me callously. I nodded my head, taking Shisui's word for it. If Yuki was safe, then that was all that mattered to me.
"And Ryo?"
"He's fine too," he said, waving away my fears. "Kohana, don't worry, your children are in safe hands. If it-"
"Why were you crying?"
Like the rude bastard he was, Sasuke cut off Shisui mid-sentence, eyes still locked firmly on me. I faced him with a straight face, eyebrow raised at his question. All I could do in that moment was try to erase last night's events from my mind, refusing to see Sasuke as anything more than an arrogant bastard dressed up in uniform. Even the way he sat irritated me, and it bugged me knowing that I had lost something so precious to an asshole like him.
"What are you talking about?" I asked mindlessly, knowing exactly what he meant, but not wanting to admit it. Admitting I was crying would mean reliving last night's events, and quite frankly, I was very happy to bury that part of my memory deep inside my mind so that I'd never have to face it again.
"Last night, you cried while you were under the genjutsu. What made you cry?"
"I can't remember," I said stiffly, lying between my teeth. Shisui watched us with a curious look on his face, but Sasuke wasn't buying any of it.
"If I remember correctly, after your first night of being submitted to genjutsu, you recalled leaving the room with Shisui. Are you telling me you "forgot" what happened to you on your very second night?"
"Yes," I insisted with a dry throat, avoiding his patronising gaze. My hands grew clammy as I sweated nervously at Sasuke's interrogation, unsure of what to say in fear it would incriminate me for some reason.
As soon as his eyes flashed red, I covered my eyes with my arm, looking away as I shrieked in fear. Behind the desk, Shisui angrily rose to his feet and exclaimed, "Sasuke! There's no need for you to activate your Sharingan! Put it away!"
Breathing heavily as I fearfully avoided Sasuke's gaze, I felt myself shrinking away from him as he too stood up, standing face to face with his cousin.
"You saw!" he barked at me, making me cower in fear. "How did you see?!"
"Sasuke!" snapped Shisui, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. I peered over my arm to see Shisui glaring in irritation at Sasuke, and Sasuke, in turn, glaring at me in complete rage.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried, covering my ears with my hands as Shisui pulled Sasuke towards him.
"Leave her alone!" he spat, shaking him violently. Sasuke snarled and pushed him back into his chair, rounding on me instead and yanking me up by the front of my shirt. I let out a whimper as he easily lifted me off of my feet and slammed me against the wall, eyes blood red with his Sharingan as he continued to glare at me menacingly. He pinned me down with such force it left me winded, and I knew then that Shisui had had enough.
"SASUKE!"
"What did you do?!" spat Sasuke in my face, putting his face right in front of mine. Shisui bowled his way over to us and pulled his cousin away from me once more, shoving him backwards and standing in front of me with his arms outstretched as I wheezed for air, rubbing my chest as tears welled up in my eyes.
"What are you talking about?!" yelled Shisui furiously,glaring at his cousin with utter contempt.
Sasuke pointed a finger at me over Shisui's shoulder, a bitter, rage-fuelled look on his face.
"You saw nothing," he spat threateningly. "You heard nothing, and you felt nothing. Do you understand?"
I opened my mouth, unable to form understandable sentences.
"You really have some fucking nerve," he snarled. "Tonight- just you wait until tonight!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
With a final deathly glare, Sasuke angrily turned on his heel and stormed out of the office, leaving me standing behind Shisui near tears.
"Kohana? Are you okay?"
The tears began to fall freely down my face, and Shisui turned around to give me a one armed hug.
"Y-yeah," I choked, even though it was blatantly obvious to the two of us that I wasn't. So what if Sasuke's genjutsu had backfired? Why was it such a big problem for him?
"Geez, what is that guy's problem," said Shisui in an annoyed tone, pulling me towards him as he glared at his door. "How fucking rude."
I shook my head, unable to face him.
I dreaded meeting Sasuke again that night.