All We Have... (Obito) Part 8

"Kushina, are you sure?"

Yokaze quietly stood in the background watching the exchanging of words of her parents and aunt.

Lying in the hospital bed, the red headed woman nodded. "Yeah. You bet I am," with a lovely smile, she nodded, "I couldn't have thought of a better family to do it,"

Thirteen-year-old Yokaze understood the words, she knew the emotions involved, but she wasn't sure why it was all happening. Why was Aunt Kushina giving her cousin away to her family? Was she gonna leave? It'd be dangerous to go now, the clan, along with the rest of the village, were fighting the Kyuubi. Like a lot of the other villagers, she could be killed.

"With... with what I have I don't think I'm goin' to be here much longer," Kushina started, her voice croaked. The comment startled Yokaze. What was she talking about? Aunt Kushina never cries. What was happening?

The building shook slightly and a loud, terrifying roar sounded. The Uzumaki's all glanced towards the window before quickly returning to the matter at hand. "Is Minato going to go through with the process?" Yokaze anxiously looked up at her father, willing him to explain what was going on and why did everyone looked so troubled.

Kushina paused for a long moment before solemnly nodding.

"He's going to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto."

As the voices and images started to fade away back into the depths of her mind, Yokaze's eyes slowly opened, meeting the starch image of the ceiling. The blankness of it balanced the horrid, chaotic images, soothing her frazzled conscience.

It was every once in a while when the memories came back. These dreams-- or best suited as nightmares-- all started the first night she was with Naruto, the first time she had to face the world with only one member of her clan. As the years progressed though, the nightmares weren't as frequent.

But damn, they still hurt.

Groaning, she rose from her bed and ran a hand through her golden locks. Checking the time and seeing she had no need to rush, slowly got ready for the day. Lying in bed was only going to make her think about the past, and she didn't want to do that.

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7:00 AM

"Naruto,"

Yokaze rolled her eyes as she stood at the bottom of Naruto's bed, watching her little brother sleep.

"Naruto," she said, more loudly this time, "Naruto, wake up!"

When the response to her command had been more snoring and snuggling, Yokaze yanked the sheets away from her brother, sending him to slide off the bed and onto the floor.

Yelling out of surprised from the rude awakening, Naruto glared at his sister. "Ah, come on, Nee-chan! You didn't have to do that!" the boy yelled as he rubbed his poor bum.

"Maybe if you didn't go to sleep so late last night, we wouldn't be doing this," Yokaze shook her head watching her brother as he lethargically made his way back to bed. "You don't want to be late to school you know."

"I'm never late for school," Naruto yawns, not acknowledging the glare he was receiving from the woman.

"You know why? It's 'cause I wake you up everyday, NOW GET DRESSED!"

Naruto fell back onto his bed as his clothes were roughly thrown at him. There were muffled cries as he tried to throw the bunch off of him. "It's just SCHOOL, Nee-chan! Why are you making today such a big deal anyway?"

"Are you serious?" Yokaze dully watched Naruto as he stared back at her with a serious expression. She doesn't say anything and patiently waits while staring at her brother.

Then it came.

"OH MY GOSH!" As fast as Yokaze could blink, Naruto flew out of bed, darting towards the bathroom, "TODAYISTHEFNALEXAM!!!"

As the door slammed and crashing noises suddenly erupted from the bathroom, Yokaze gave a long, loud sigh.

Life was tough living with a twelve-year-old brother.

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"I practiced all night."

Yokaze glanced down at her brother, "All night? If I'm correct, I heard you hit the hay around 3:00 AM, and when I say "heard" I mean I heard your monstrous bellowing you call a 'snore.'"

"IT WAS BASICALLY ALL NIGHT! FROM 12:00 AM AND AFTER THAT IS TECHINICALLY MORNING!" Yokaze chuckled as Naruto argued while they walked towards the Academy. "So... you won't be able to make it to the graduation today?" Naruto asks quietly, looking disappointedly up at his sister.

Yokaze smiled sadly, and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Naruto, I have a mission. It's... important."

"More important than me graduating?"

Yokaze was silent. "I want to say no, because I really do believe that you graduating is more important than what I'm going to be dealing with, but..." the older sister looked away from her brother's glum stare, "there's something that needs to be done... and I have to do it."

For the rest of the walk to school, the dejected Naruto was quiet as was Yokaze. Even as Yokaze said her goodbye, wished Naruto luck and even threw in an "I love you," Naruto still didn't utter a word to her.

Sometimes, Yokaze wished she wasn't a ninja.

After she watched Naruto slowly make his way inside the Academy, she subconsciously noted that he was eight minutes late. But knowing Iruka, he'd probably dismiss Naruto's tardiness after a long, loud lecture. The thought of Naruto being angry with her burned her mind as she walked towards the Hokage office.

In fact, when she had received her mission, she couldn't have been more upset. She even pleaded the Hokage to be excused from the mission, after her attempts at persuasion through anger were rejected. "I don't want to miss my brother's graduation. This isn't just important to me, it's important to Naruto. Can't you understand?"

The Hokage had sadly nodded and claimed he was empathetic. Like many of the two's arguments, Yokaze left the office in a rage. She broke the disappointing news to Naruto that night, he responded to the information the same way she had. He complained, he pleaded, and then he was angry. He stayed mad for a good week before Yokaze won him back with some ramen and a hug.

"Yokaze-san, the Hokage will see you now." Yokaze curtly nodded to the Chuunin behind the desk before she strode into the office.

"It is necessary that you clear your mind of any... problems, Yokaze," was the first thing the Hokage said to Yokaze as she closed the door behind her. "We need you to be focused."

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"Congratulations, son!"

"Oh, look how much you've grown!"

"We're going to eat out tonight!"

"I'm so proud of you!"

Naruto bowed his head lower, trying to ignore the praises and happy laughter. It was hard though. It's so easy to drown out the nasty name-calling and being called a blame for something he wasn't even sure he did. But all those people, those families, were saying words he wanted to hear from one person, his only family, the woman he loved most, his sister.

But she wasn't here.

In the shade of the tree, Naruto swung slowly, and watched as the families dissipated, getting a few disgusted glares every once in a while.

He didn't even notice the figure that had been walking towards him. "Naruto."

Startled, Naruto yelped and fell off the swing, and onto the dirt floor. As the dust cleared, he looked up at the person in surprise, "Sasuke?! Why are you still here?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation while he stuck his hand out to Naruto, "What are you talking about, you dope?"

Naruto, whether he had noticed the hand before or if he hadn't seen the offer until that moment, had taken Sasuke's hand and was helped up onto his feet. "I mean, shouldn't you leave now? The ceremony is over." Naruto dusted himself, but did not take his eyes off of the boy in front of him. He had been skeptical.

"I was going to go but..." Sasuke gave a sigh. It reminded Naruto a lot of Yokaze and the way she used to sigh just before she was going to say something she didn't want to. The thought of his sister made his heart ache. The day wasn't even over and he already missed her.

'I wish you were here.'

"You looked pathetic sitting there, I had to check on you." Naruto blinked. He forgot he had asked Sasuke a question and had only caught the last sentence. After a long pause, Sasuke sighed again. It wasn't the same sigh as before, Naruto was thankful. "You weren't listening, were you?"

Naruto's reply had been a wide sheepish smile, "Ano, Sasuke. You know me too well."

"Idiot..."

"Really though, why didn't go home? You're always the first one to leave." When Sasuke made no attempt to continue to the conversation, Naruto just shrugged. Constantly being around the Uchiha for four years gave Naruto the ability to read his, now, friend. "Alright, wanna go do something?"

Naruto could've sworn the look on Sasuke's face had been relief as the latter boy gave a nod, "Yeah, sure."

Nodding, the two boys walked into town, comfortable with each other's silence, thankful for the familiar company.

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"It's weird," Sasuke muttered into his ramen, causing Naruto to throw him a curious look.

"What's weird?"

A glance upward, "It's weird how we work so hard for a piece of metal."

At that, Naruto had choked. When the blonde boy recovered, he seemed outraged, "SASUKE! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" Naruto pointed at his own headband which fitted proudly on his forehead, "THIS PIECE OF METAL IS A SIGN OF US BECOMING ADULTS!"

"We're just genin, Naruto. It's not like we're being crowned king," Sasuke pushed his empty bowl forward, "And it isn't like they're going to make us Hokage either."

"Well, you say that now," Naruto smiled, his white teeth gleamed in the light, Sasuke had unfortunately took notice to some stray pieces of ramen sticking to those pearly whites, the Uzumaki boy didn't seem to pay any attention. He was use to those looks from Sasuke. "Just you wait, when I'm Hokage... I'm gonna be awesome."

A few seconds passed, "Well, I'm surprised, you didn't make a world wide announcement about it." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's shocked expression, and then the pouting came. Rolling of the eyes.

But no shouting had sounded. No angry fists to the table, not even a glare was spared towards the Uchiha. Just silence, sad silence.

How unusual. Then again...oh yes, he had forgotten. "...Is it Yokaze?" Sasuke asks, his tone, quiet.

A nod.

It wasn't until Sasuke had taken the chance to look, but he could see on Naruto's face, sadness had washed over his usually go-happy expression. Naruto reminded Sasuke a lot of Obito and how sorrow looked on him, it was unfitting for his cousin. It was definitely unwelcoming on Naruto.

For the four years they've been forced to be with each other, due to their older family members, Sasuke had learned of Naruto's deep love and strong dependence on his sister. While the whole world hated him, his sister had loved him unconditionally, and her love was all he needed. Like Sasuke, he only had one wanted family member alive to care for him. Unlike Sasuke however, Naruto never got to experience a love from a mother, brother, father... or even a whole clan for that matter. And unlike Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto had to deal with the enmity of the village.

So for all of Naruto's twelve years of living, all he has known was his sister's love. She made up for the world's animosity. And as Sasuke had noticed, she was just as dependant of Naruto as he was on her. The absence of his older sister on a very special day to the young Naruto wasn't boding well.

"Obito is on a mission too." Sasuke says, quite glumly. He felt Naruto's eyes slowly turn to him, "Yeah, he just got the mission yesterday, didn't say anything until he dropped me off for school," he shrugged, "it pissed me off." Naruto laughed, finding the deadpanned Sasuke pretty funny. The Uchiha let him laugh. He was hoping he'd smile at the comment. It was too weird, a frowning Naruto, a sincerely sad Naruto.

"Well, it isn't so bad, I guess." The genin in orange mused loudly, "It could be worse. We could be alone."

Alone.

The word by itself still sent shivers up their spines.

A world without their guardians, their sister, their brother, their family, and without each other.

What a sad place it would've been.

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'How odd,' A tall figure placidly walks through the silent street, cautious of the darkness of the night, 'I never thought I'd willingly walk there by myself.'

Stopping in front of the destined apartment building, Yokaze idles, staring hesitantly at the structure. With a small grunt, she forces herself to climbs the stairs. 'How embarrassing. I can easily get myself to the right floor if I jumped, but...' Growling to herself, the kunoichi quietly made her way up the stairs, careful not to make any sort of sound. Then, what felt like quick trip to the fourth floor, Yokaze stood in front of Room 62, lightly glaring.

After reprimanding herself silently, Yokaze knocked on the door. It took several minutes before any movement had been heard from inside, when the door had finally cracked open, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"...What?" Obito muttered sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

"You were actually asleep?"

"I just got home not too long ago..." Obito pulled open the door, inviting Yokaze in. "What are you doing here so late? It's after midnight..." he gave a yawn.

"Just thought I'd check up on you," Yokaze took a seat on the couch, examining the unlit apartment as she did. "Besides, I didn't want to hear you complain again about not ever telling you when I get back from a mission."

"I didn't mean come over when it's 4:00 AM--err, or 1:00 AM in our case," Obito corrected his exaggeration. The Uchiha sat next to Yokaze, lazily placing an arm over her shoulders. "But... I guess I can forgive you." He gave a sleepy smile.

Yokaze glanced at the arm before scooting away to the other end of the couch, not bothering on giving Obito "the look." She didn't realize how tired she had been until she had just closed her eyes just then. "I suppose Naruto is here?" she asks in a whisper, mindful of the other sleeping persons in the apartment.

Obito answered with a sleepy 'yes,' "Yeah, he's sleeping on the floor in Sasuke's room. They fell asleep not too long after I got home." He grinned, "Guess someone's gonna have to stay tonight too." When blue eyes shot a warning look, Obito snickered.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Uchiha."

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Whispering, she heard whispering. Snickering. She heard snickering too.

At Yokaze's slight stir in her sleep, there was a nervous pause. As she slowly opened her eyes, she heard scrambling and yelps. When her vision cleared, she was met with an empty, and slightly unorganized living room.

It only took her a few seconds to register where she was and how she had gotten here. Sighing, she scanned her whole body, looking for any sort of prank-like object on her, fully aware that it had been her brother that was in the same room with her just a few moments ago. Assured that she was safe, she looked over at Obito, chuckling at the face full of shaving cream. 'Poor Obito, he looks so ridiculous right now!'

Deciding she was going to be mischievous, she left the sleeping Obito alone with his shaving cream and headed towards Sasuke's room, where voices could be heard.

Without knocking, Yokaze casually made her way into Sasuke's room, suspicious of the two boys being awake and getting along. "Good morning, Sasuke, Naruto."

"Mornin' sis,"

"Good morning, Yokaze-nee-chan."

The two boys did not look up from their ...books? Were they reading? Yokaze openly scratched her head, baffled. She has never seen Naruto willingly READ a BOOK. Sasuke, yeah, that was believable, but Naruto? "Okay, what did you guys do?" Something wasn't right.

Sasuke looked up from his book about shurikens and replied with all seriousness, "Nothing, why do you ask?" Yokaze made note of Naruto digging his face deeper into his book (which was upside down) and he seemed to be struggling.

"...I have my reasons." She simply says before backing away, "I'm gonna go get cleaned up, then. But if I catch on..." Yokaze walked away and into the bathroom, but not before giving the kids a threatening look.

When the door to the bathroom had clicked, Naruto and Sasuke sprinted up from their spots and ran out into the apartment, taking cover. "I can't believe I let you drag me into this..." Sasuke muttered glumly, trying to remember how he got into this mess.

"Sasuke! You make it sound like we're doing a bad thing! C'mon, it's called FUN. F-U-N, fun! By the end of the morning, everyone will be laughing and having fun! It'll be great!"

When Sasuke and Naruto took cover in the hallway closet like they had planned earlier in the morning, the Uchiha looked over at the laughing, blond ninja. Had it not been for the evil glint in Naruto's eyes or the snickering, Sasuke might've been more convinced about the whole 'fun' thing... although he had a feeling what Naruto really meant was revenge.

As if on cue, Revenge reared its ugly head and screeched, "NARUTO!!!!!!!!!"

Hearing his name, Naruto burst into laughter, desperately trying to contain it with his hands over his mouth.

Hearing loud, angry footsteps, Sasuke instantly regretted scribbling on the face of Uzumaki Yokaze.

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"AH!! LEMME GO, NEE-CHAN!" Naruto struggled against his older sister's powerful grip, still managing to laugh every chance he got. 'Is he asking for a death wish?' Sasuke pondered, not agreeing with Naruto's tactics (and had silently vowed to not EVER do it again!).

And as for the youngest Uchiha, he had been lucky enough to just follow the steaming Yokaze.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!"

"AH! RELAX! IT'S JUST A JOKE--AH!" Naruto was yanked by the collar with monstrous strength. He cried in fear, "I'M YOUR ONLY BROTHER, CAREFUL! I'm delicate!"

"Delicate? Oh it'll make my job easier!" Yokaze snarled back.

As the siblings continued with their bicker, Sasuke looked over at Obito, who was starting to wake up. "Hmm... that was a nice snooze...oh hey Sasuke!"

Said boy deadpanned at his older and supposedly more skilled cousin, his face covered with white shaving cream and looking like a frightening image of Santa that was in a coconut pie-eating contest. "Hi, Obito."

"What's goin' on?"

Obito and Sasuke observed the interesting banter between the Uzumaki's, "Naruto was being dumb."

"Oh, old news," Obito laughed while Sasuke thought how ironic it was, "Hey 'Kaze, leave the kid alone, can't blame Naruto for being Naruto..." the older Uchiha member stopped in his tracks at the sight of his the woman's face.

He laughed.

Suddenly forgetting about her brother's doomed fate, Yokaze released Naruto and made her way towards Obito, who continued to laugh hysterically, "LOOK AT YOUR FAAAACE!!!" Obito cried, still overly amused at the random scribbles and inked moustaches on Yokaze's rage filled face.

"Oh yeah? TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF, NOODLES!" At that, Obito stopped suddenly, feeling his face. At the touch of the white cream on his face, he turned to look at Yokaze, who smirked smugly.

Expressionless, Obito asks the blonde woman, "Is there shaving cream on my face?" There was a nod, "I look like a deranged animal frothing at the mouth?" Another nod. After a moment of thought, Obito shrugged, "Hey, at least I don't look like you!" he laughed loudly, unaware of the deadly look on Yokaze's scribbled on face.

Sasuke winced at the sound of his cousin getting pulverized and Naruto sighed in relief, thanking God that it was not his face connecting with his sister's fist.

"Thanks, I feel better now, Obito," Yokaze smiled happily, stepping over her pained boyfriend, "At least I don't look like you."

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After lecturing and ridding of the inked nonsense that was scattered on her face, Yokaze and Naruto left the Uchihas' apartment.

"So, was that little trick some sort of nasty revenge?" Yokaze brings up after a few moments of walking in silence.

Naruto grinned up at his sister and shrugs, "Why would I do that?"

"Really, Naruto, you don't think I was upset too?" Yokaze asks, her look of hurt was earnest. "I didn't enjoy any of it. I really wanted to be there..." she sighs, the sigh Naruto had missed, the boy couldn't help but smile. He really missed his sister. Yes, he thought the "joke" was a bit much, but...it just hurt to miss someone important.

Naruto stayed quiet while he walked, not the response Yokaze was hoping for.

In defeat, the Uzumaki's shoulders dropped, as did her voice. "Fine. Stay mad at me. I feel really bad that I wasn't there. But you know how it is... missions and stuff. I tried to get out of it...Listen to me, making up stupid excuses. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I understand why you would be upset--"

She was cut off when Naruto randomly hugged his sister, shoving his face into her shoulders, his body shivering. "Naruto? Naruto? What's wrong?" He felt his sister's arm accepting him, patting his back comfortingly like she had when he was younger. "Are you crying?" she chuckled uneasily, rocking his body comfortingly, "Why, what's with all the tears?"

'Why am I being such a baby?' Naruto thought as he tried forcing the tears back in. He dug his face deeper into his nee-chan's shoulder, wanting to hide, to be protected. Yokaze in response rested her chin on top of Naruto's head, continuing to silently pat the boy, once in a while, she softly tried to calm him down.

What would he do without her?

"I missed you, Yokaze..." Naruto finally sputtered, sniffing his nose.

"I was only gone for a day, Naruto, it happens all the time, why are you crying this time?"

What her baby brother said next had surprised her, wounded her, it broke her heart.

"You just never see me cry all the other times."

With nothing to say, Yokaze kept on hugging her brother, her own eyes blurred with silent tears.

" ...in her arms she held protectively, close to her heart, a boy who had no choice but was forced into becoming an unappreciative hero, Uzumaki Naruto... "

Oh, if anyone else sent me banners from a while back and I have not posted it up yet, don't take it offensively. It has been a very, very long time and my memory is kinda rusty ;]. So don't hesitate to tell me!
Read memo, thanks!