Someone you loved

Chapter 33

Weeks passed and slowly the lives of Team 7 returned to normalcy, at least as much as that was possible.

The ROOT agent Sai had moved into the home of Team 7 after some consideration. Even though it were some tension-filled days after the boy had moved in first, he gradually became a part of the pack. Sasuke, who had at first been against Sai, believing that Chiasa was trying to replace the brother they had lost, had been the first one of the Gennin to acknowledge him in the end.

Sai had pestered him continuously, always following him like a shadow and copying whatever Sasuke did. It was only after he had seen the boy trying to smile in front of a mirror that he had realised what was going on.

Somehow, in some weird way Sai had decided that Sasuke was the perfect person to imitate. And from that moment on Sasuke understood what his sister was trying to do. They couldn't save their brother, but they had a chance to save that boy from a life of loneliness. Even when all he had left of his beloved older brother were memories that would fade with time, he could make sure that everything Itachi had done lived on in Sai.

As soon as Sasuke welcomed the other boy into their tight-knitted family, Naruto and Sakura became kinder too. It was as if with Sasuke's okay, Sai became a true part of the pack.

Chiasa was already head over heels about the boy who stubbornly kept on calling her Kaa-san, bringing a smile on her face every time.

On the other hand, Kakashi turned weirdly gentle whenever he talked to Sai. When Chiasa had mentioned it to him, he had reluctantly admitted that he used to be a part of ROOT a very long time ago. He had seen first-hand the training the agents went through to reach the level of ANBU by the age of ten or younger. In some way he blamed himself for what Sai had gone through and wanted to make up for it. It was also painful for him to see one of his pups suffer without knowing and being unable to stop him from struggling. The wolf in him wanted to kill whatever was hurting him but since it wasn't something physical, he could do nothing, and it was turning him insane.

The therapy sessions with Inoichi had certainly helped the Gennin dealing with what had happened – at least Naruto and Sakura; Sasuke still went regularly to his appointments. Though none of them had mentioned how distant they felt to the village they had sworn to protect, Inoichi had his suspicions and had warned Tsunade to keep a close eye on them.

On the other hand, it had been laughable easy for Chiasa and Kakashi to pass the Yamanaka's evaluation. No one had even the slightest clue that Chiasa had reached her breaking point, barely hanging on by the threat that was the existence of her Blessed One. It truly had been a blessing of the kami that she had found him before all that or the Nations may have faced another Uchiha Madara. It was just too bad that no one was aware of that fact – except one person, the masked man was looking forward to what was to come.

So the day, Chiasa was cleared for work came and Tsunade assigned her gladly a mission – their ranks having become scarce after clearing them of Danzo's agents - without knowing that she had started a row of events that would lead to change the Elemental Nation as they had been.

"Listen to Kakashi and try not to make too much trouble, okay?" asked Chiasa the four children insistently, grinning at the mischievous gleam in their eyes, even Sai managed a small smirk – not one of his fakes.

"Of course, Nee-san."

"We promise, Chiasa-nee."

"Don't worry, Kaa-san."

"I'll make sure we're not getting caught, Chiasa-nee."

Chuckling, the kunoichi hugged them a last time, pressing a soft peck on their foreheads before turning to the silver-haired Hatake.