Chapter 14
Uzume didn’t survive a war and several life-threatening injuries by being obtuse.
She had a cousin, who was quite literally the only one to care. Her name was Naka, like the river. A traditional name for the Uchiha, huh?
She was a sweet one, would always bring her some rice balls or water when she was training, would invite her to her home in the middle of the night if she needed it.
Uzume was an orphan. No one really cared. She trained, she fought, she bled. Yet there Naka was, a little shadow that kept distant, the cousin who cared. She was a sweet child, and Uzume almost made her her Person. Almost.
Uzume never had her Person, actually. She never clicked with anyone like that.
Her little Naka was cute, someone she adored. She liked herbs and medicine and would often help out in the clan’s infirmary. Uzume has fond memories of being patched up by the little Naka after a tough training session or a bad mission. Always a tender touch and gentle soul.
Little Naka was like a sister to Uzume, and Uchiha takes their family seriously.
She would have caved the head of her suitors in at any time, if the little Naka so much as made a sign of discomfort, regardless of how strong they were. She had glowered at the one that finally won her heart, when the little Naka had introduced them. He had been high-ranked, stronger than Uzume, and she wouldn't be able to fight him off, but damn if she wouldn’t try.
Then she fell all over again when little Obito came a year into their marriage.
A little ray of sunshine she can’t hate. Despite the tired, exhausted smile on little Naka’s face when she came into the birthing room.
The first time she held him, at little Naka’s insistence, Uzume cried. He was so small, a precious little bundle in her hands. The hands stained with blood, that had broken bones and cracked spines, held kunai and sharp tools, had been used to kill, yet she was holding an innocent. She could crush him between her hands if she’s not careful, and little Naka knew it too. So much trust in such a tainted soul like her.
She still fumbled with the boy, and little Naka’s laughter didn’t help the matter a bit.
Uzume was the Wine Aunt, who swung by every so often to teach the kid bad things that would help him in life, get him into playing pranks, make jokes and sneak him little pieces of candies despite little Naka’s exasperation.
The father was quite absent with missions and all, and Uzume was sure she heard something about him being in ANBU, but she couldn’t ask and so she didn’t. She just happily helped whenever she could, swinging by and doing all the heavy lifting.
Little Naka’s body was failing her at the time, the birth too harsh for her. When Obito turned 3, she became bedridden and Uzume’s world came crashing down.
She tried her best to help, but she’s still a chuunin in a war. She tried, but there were few things she could do. Little Naka smiled at her anyway and thanked her the best she could.
Then the fucking bastard of a husband came home and got little Naka pregnant again. Despite her fragile body.
Uzume would have wrung the fucker’s neck, high ranks or not, if little Naka didn’t stop her.
Uzume was deployed the next fucking day, hopefully for the last fucking time.
Uzume spent 8 fucking months on the battlefield, slashing enemies and drowning herself in blood.
She returned to a grieving boy and a newborn baby, with her little Naka dead dead dead-
Uzume did punch the bastard in the face the next time she saw him. And promptly got house arrested for it.
The bastard died on the battlefield a few months after. She would say good riddance, except there’s young ears with her and cursing out their father probably isn’t the best idea.
Oh well.
It’s an on and off schedule of 2 months of rest and 4 of active, near or in village duty, then war again. Again and again.
Little Kanae, the little girl, so much like her mother, was 3 when she came back from the latest war effort, broken and battered. She pushed Uzume into the shower, and there was hot miso and rice on the table when she came out. She said their grandma taught her how to cook, at 3. 3. Uzume didn’t quite process it at that moment, choosing to praise her for the meal and pat her head, but she did chew the woman out after that. No matter what, letting a 3 years old near a stove was simply not done.
She taught the girl how to wield kunai after seeing how much more mature she was compared to Obito, despite the age. Well, Obito can be the sunny one in this family.
She’s deployed again 6 months later, and promptly lost a leg 5 months into it. She retired and got a prosthetic.
It was a duck load of shit to get used to, and the pain is fucking with her head, but it’s fine. No one faulted her for staying out of duty with her body like that. She still did d-ranks, even! Her duty to her village was as much to her family as anything.
So yeah, she saw Kanae. She saw Kanae.
Girl’s a brilliant mind. Prodigious, compared to the other Uchiha kids. Maybe except for that Shisui kid, Miyato’s boy. He’s a real piece of work.
Still, Uzume worried for Kanae. She loves so clearly, so easily, that it was hard not to stay. A natural charm that she can’t help but be pulled to. She has roguish grins and crackling laughter, but Kanae was rather apathetic to anything that doesn’t immediately concern her people. Well. Kanae’s a child. Uzume can’t fault her for tunnel vision when it is so often a failing of Uchiha.
Still. Uzume saw Kanae and how she brightened around Obito, saw how she smiled around him, so different from with someone else. Saw the secretive smile she sometimes made around people. Saw how closely she guarded herself.
Saw the way she stood taller when she got into the Academy. Saw the way she started carrying herself, gliding silently around the house. Saw the stalking across the yard, few sounds can be heard. Saw how easily she took to violence and fighting.
Then Obito died, and Uzume grieved for her and Kanae both, for the gentle soul she had come to know.
Kanae ran.
But then she returned, not exactly lightened, but breathing easier, like she could live with herself.
Days passed.
Each was torture for Uzume, struggling through whatever D-ranks she had, then waiting for Kanae to return, well pass the time she should have been home. She could think of many things, did suspect a lot, from training grounds to back alley fights.
Each day, Kanae returned, grieving, but not hiding, not exactly running, standing just a little bit straighter. There’s some light in her eyes, something that eased her old heart. The flame inside her still burned.
Obito was Kanae’s, that much Uzume knew. Whether he’s her Treasure or Person or just hers is up to debate, but he was Kanae’s, like Kanae was his. And often in the wake of one’s Person’s death, without an anchor, suicide follows.
Uzume knows she isn’t Kanae’s like that, knows she can’t be an anchor for the girl.
But then everyday, she still returned, sometimes carrying a book, others snacks. She still returned and lived.
So when Uzume sees Kanae today, sees the soft smile on her lips, a knot in her heart loosens.
Her girl is alive, living now. Kanae is living, and that’s all that mattered.
She wonders absently in the back of her mind if she should prepare something nice for whoever that puts that smile onto her face as she goes to prepare dinner.
And, well, if she makes Kanae’s favorite foods, who would call her out on it? Certainly not Kanae.