Dragonfly

Chapter Fifteen: Calm Before The Storm

Losing Shisui wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, sure, I cried, and it hurt about as much as it did to lose any family member. I didn't really have much to compare it to-I'd lost two grandmothers in my past life and we'd never been as close as I was with him, but the feeling of loss was always the same, mourning and all. If I could go back and change it, I wouldn't have wanted to get as close to him as I did, so his death would be more like the loss of a cricket crushed underfoot or something instead of a friend who was as close as a sibling. But that wasn't the difficult part.

The hardest part of it all was hearing the whispers; the rumors. People believed Itachi was the one to kill Shisui and the idea that it was a suicide was a hoax. Even Satoshi started to think it was true, because why would Shisui of all people kill himself?

They didn't know a thing about him. Or Itachi. They didn't know and it was their faults it had come to this.

Well, it was Danzō's fault, too, since he was such a goddamn eye whore, but it never would have come to that if the Uchiha coup wasn't in the making. Hiruzen was to blame, too. Mainly for letting his elder do whatever he wanted and turning the other cheek. That generation was just seriously flawed.

It was all downhill, from there. Shisui's death and Itachi's acquirement of the Mangekyō Sharingan was the climax and everything up until the massacre was falling action, useless time fillers. For me-not for everyone else. But it wasn't something that could be stopped, now.

Everything was a mess.

"Rika."

There was a light knock at my door. Emiko spoke gently, carefully, because she was under the impression I was super depressed over Shisui's passing and the annulment of our engagement. It had already been a few weeks since that day-I pretty much got over it. As much as I could, at least. The loss was difficult, but it didn't hit me too hard. The fact that my Sharingan never manifested was sort of proof to that (at least, I didn't think it did-no one pointed out my new wickedly red eyes if it did, anyway). I didn't even know if, given my circumstances, I was even capable of obtaining the dōjutsu. It didn't matter either way, though. If I did end up getting it, it would just get snatched right out of my skull.

Really, I just spent most of my time in my room because there was nothing else to do. The outside was boring. The inside was just as boring. I just wanted to wait it out and have the Fated Day hurry up and come deal out everyone's fates.

"Rika, will you come out?" She tried again. "It's been a few days since you've left the house. We're worried."

"Nothin' to be worried about, Mom."

"Oh, good, you're speaking to me. How about you go and do some shopping for me? You don't have to go far. Just...get out and stretch your legs."

I opened the door and blinked up at her, noticing the way her furrowed brow evened out when she set her eyes on me. Great. More people were worried about me. More people who loved me that would die.

"Alright. I'll go."

She threw her arms around me in a sudden, emotional hug. "Oh, Rika! I know things are difficult right now, but please try to be happy again! It will get better. It will."

Did I ever mention Emiko didn't exactly have the-ah-smallest chest in the world? And when she hugged me, my face went straight into her boobs. I flailed for a moment, worried I would maybe suffocate and die a little earlier than expected, but then managed to turn my head to the side and croaked out a response. "I-I know! Jeez, Mom, I know, okay?" I patted her on the back a little roughly but fondly, and she slowly let go. I took a deep gulp of air to save my lungs.