What is this? 

Where am I? 

Izumi had been floating... wet... that was what she remembered. She remembered calling out to Itachi to save her before being killed... She was dead? But why was she breathing? And she was surprisingly dry, for someone who's body had been in liquid for a long time. Izumi didn't know how long she had been in there. She didn't care-- she was dead. She had other things to care about at the moment. Like where she was. 

A memory floated out of her consciousness, like a photograph. Izumi had been floating for only a little while, then, and she was still aware of her surroundings. Vaguely. She still hadn't had the slightest idea of what was happening, like she didn't now. That was probably what triggered the memory. 

"So, Kabuto, who is our subject of attention today, hn?"  That voice... 

"Uchiha Izumi, thirteen years old. Has awakened her Sharingan." The other, Kabuto, replied. 

"Well... Isn't she a pretty little flower. I suppose we could study her... after all, her Sharingan is developing well. And she is still young. There is time."  The creepy, hiss-like voice replied thoughtfully. 

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama." 

"It really is fortunate we were able to get her before she died. The others... not all of them were so lucky." 

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama. Very fortunate indeed." Kabuto replied. "It has been awhile, now. Her body is well preserved." 

"Good, good." The man seemed to be nodding from the way his voice seemed to be shaking. "Do you suppose Sasuke-kun knows this girl, Kabuto?"

"They are from the same clan, Orochimaru-sama, it is very possible. She is the same age as that other one... Itachi, was it?" 

Sasuke-kun? Itachi-kun's little brother? Oh no, not only was Izumi captured, but they had Sasuke-kun too. Poor Itachi... 

"Yes, it was Itachi." Orochimaru's voice grew cold. "The one vessel i could not obtain." 

"He was a genius, that one." Kabuto agreed. "He would've made an excellent vessel. I suppose we have to adjust to our young Sasuke-kun, ne?" 

The creepy one was silent. Then, "I suppose so, Kabuto. Now, I have things to do. Will you take care of little Izumi-chan for me? If this thing with Sasuke-kun doesn't work as planned, I could take her instead, as a backup of the backup." 

That's all well and good, but who's the backup?

"A double backup plan. Smart, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto replied. 

"I must be to outsmart my enemies. I will show myself out. Excellent work here, Kabuto." The man was gone after that, and Izumi heaved a sigh of relief. 

"Izumi Uchiha..." Kabuto repeated thoughtfully. "Izumi. Izumi. Izumi." Then his voice changed into a new one. It sounded like Itachi-kun, telling her to wake up.

"Izumi, Izumi, Izumi!" The dream faded away and Izumi's eyes opened. She was in a medium sized room, laying on a comfortable bed. There was a black sky outside, and Izumi could just barely make out the moon from her angle, the window-sill was covering a little bit of it. A cheerful girl with bubblegum pink hair was humming, wetting a towel and squeezing the water out from it. When she noticed Izumi's eyes opened, she smiled at her. "Ah, so you're awake. How are you feeling, Izumi-nee-chan?" 

Big sister. It's been forever since she heard that. 

"Where am i?" Her voice was croaky, like she hadn't had a drink in months. She probably hadn't. The strange, pink haired girl smiled wider and handed Izumi a cup of water. 

"Here you go." The girl lifted Izumi's head off the bed, held the cup up to her mouth, and tipped it just so the water would trickle down Izumi's throat, not go gushing all over her outfit. Whoever this little woman was, she knew what she was doing. Izumi sighed in delight as the cold water soothed her irritated throat. "I'm Sakura, by the way. I'm a friend, don't worry." 

"I'm... Izumi Uchiha." Izumi introduced herself, forcing a smile. Now that she had water, she was feeling better, and was getting more confused by the second. 

"I know, Izumi-nee." The girl-- Sakura-- dipped her head in a sign of respect. "I've heard a lot about you." She pulled the cup back and set it on the table beside her, that held the dish of water and the towel Sakura was using to wipe Izumi's head. 

Izumi looked down, and found that she had changed out of her clothes. She was currently wearing ninja pants and a sweatshirt, with a shirt underneath. And she also found changes on her body. She'd grown taller, she noticed. And her hair was longer than she remembered it to be. "What happened?" 

"Izumi-nee, do you remember anything about the night the Uchiha Clan Massacre happened?" Sakura scooched her chair, leaning forward and showing that she was paying attention.

"Massacre?" Izumi's heart beat faster. "How many died? Are my parents alright?" 

"Izumi-nee... All of them died." Sakura's face contorted in sadness. "All except three."

"All... all of them?" Izumi whispered, horror making it's way into her heart. All of the Uchiha, the prosperous Konoha Police... all dead. In one night. By one ninja. It sounded like a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that she was trapped in, as if some day she would wake up and the Uchiha would all be there, her parents would be safe. Everything would be okay.

"All of them." Sakura confirmed, her arms wrapping around Izumi in a comforting manner. "I'm so sorry, Izumi-nee." 

Tears made their way down Izumi's cheeks, and she excepted Sakura's embrace. "Who... who were the other survivors, do you know, Sakura-chan?" 

Sakura nodded. "And i think you know them." 

Then the door opened. "Izumi-nee-chan! I thought you'd never wake up!" Sasuke called, strutting in like he owned the place, a fake smile on his face. "How are you feeling?" 

"Sasuke-kun?" Izumi asked, disbelief entering her mind. "What are... you were one of the survivors?" 

"Hai, Izumi-chan." Someone else entered the room. "And so was I." 

Shisui. 

"Please, forgive me, Izumi..." 

"Itachi-kun, it's okay..." Izumi had a sword driven through her. "Even if I'm not here anymore, you'll always remain in my heart. And Shisui and I, we'll always be in your heart." Itachi rested his head on her shoulder and she felt a few tears drop onto the fabric. "Do what you need to do." 

She was back, and there, standing in front of her, was Itachi. The cute little prodigy she'd always had a crush on when they were little. She was then aware that he wasn't thirteen anymore... He had a more wise expression, like someone who'd been through a lot and lived to tell the tale. It honestly only made him more... grown up in her point of view. He was still undeniably hot. 

"My my my, Sasuke-kun, look at you! How old are you now?" Izumi asked, stepping out of Itachi's way and going to wrap her arms around the little kid that wasn't a little kid anymore, Sasuke. "You're looking good! Still cute," She grabbed his cheeks and jostled his head around. 

"Izumi-nee!" Sasuke complained, embarrassed. Izumi turned when she saw what he was looking at. 

"Sakura? You have a crush on my nurse? Well then, Sakura-chan, we have to talk." 

Sakura stopped laughing and started blushing. 

"And Shisui? Is that you?" Izumi turned to Shisui and threw her arms around him too. "I thought you were dead! And I'm serious, we all thought you were dead." She giggled. 

Shisui shrugged into her embrace. "You know me, I have a bad habit of not dying when people want me to." 

"I'm not certain that'd be a bad habit," Izumi laughed, trying to ignore Itachi until she figured out how she would handle him. She'd hugged the other boys, so she would have to hug him too, but if he is anything like he was a long time ago, than he didn't like public displays of affection. 

Then, a black haired girl came running into the room and into Itachi's arms. "Hey, Itachi-jii! I heard noise. Who's this? Izumi-baa-san?"

Aunt Izumi now? What all did she miss...? "Who are you, hon?" Izumi asked, marveling as Itachi, instead of avoiding the affection, lifted her onto his shoulders. "And what have you done to Itachi-kun?" She added playfully.

"Hey, Aunt Izumi!" The girl waved enthusiastically. "I'm Sarada, Sasuke's daughter!" 

Izumi swiveled to the boy. "Sasuke," She said in a fake sweet voice. "How old are you?" 

He gulped. "Sixteen." He replied. Izumi noticed Sakura blushing, and she lifted her hand. She was about to backhand her little brother figure. 

"How DARE you, Sasuke Uchiha! What would Mikoto-san say!?" Izumi scolded. Then she counted up the ages. "OH MY GOODNESS, OH MY KAMI. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" 

"Izumi," Itachi said for the first time. "Sarada is my niece from the future." 

Izumi froze mid-backhand. "Future? What has happened while I was out of it!? Someone tell me, now!!!" 

"Well... Izumi-san..." a blonde kid about Sakura and Sasuke's age walked in randomly. "You were asleep for ten years." 

Izumi froze. 

"Wow, way to break it to her, Naruto, good job." Sakura groaned. "Go get older Sasuke-kun, please." She kicked the blonde out of the room. "And for your information, it was eight. Stop exaggerating. And hurry up, since this is your mess in the first place." 

Izumi sat back down on the bed and put her head in her hands, contemplating this new information. 

"Well it's not my fault, dattebayo! It's.... it's.... the ramen's fault! Yeah. The ramen i ate for lunch. It was bad. So it's messing with my... err..... communication skills." Naruto explained, clearly faking it. 

Sakura folded her hands to her chest. "You'd better do something useful and fast, before i make sure i hit you so hard, Boruto is never born." 

Naruto whimpered. "You're a monster." 

"You're an inconsiderate idiot who has no feelings whatsoever. Which one is worse, huh?" Sakura scowled. "When are you gonna learn that you can't just say the things that come into your head?!" She looked over at Izumi, who was still processing the things she had just been told. 

"Well at least she wasn't asleep for 70 years!" Naruto complained. "And at least her water was liquified, not frozen solid." 

(If anyone gets that reference, you are awesome.)

"Naruto you idiot, just shut up before you make her feel worse!" Sasuke hit his best friend over the head. "She's twenty one now, and the last thing she remembers is being thirteen. Give her a break." 

"HMPH." Naruto stomped out of the room. "Fine then. I'm going to go hang out with my cool older self. Talk to you later, Izumi-nee."

"Thank God he's gone..." Sakura muttered, sitting next to Izumi. "Hey, nee-chan. How are you holding up?" 

Izumi lifted her head, looking over at her, than at the three Uchiha. "Ten years!?"

"Eight, nee-chan. He was exaggerating."

Shisui and Itachi winced. "Gee, thanks for the reminder that we're old now." 

"Now is NOT the time to joke, Shisui. I was just told that i missed ten--"

"--Eight--"

"--years of my life. Shut up and let me calculate how many birthday gifts i missed." Izumi scowled, partially playing, partially serious.

Itachi shut his eyes, then opened them again. "That's a lot of parties..."

"I know!" Izumi complained. "Who would waste ten perfectly good years of being a sociable human being like that?!" Sakura gave up on correcting her.

Itachi and Shisui raised their hands. Sasuke shook his head. "For me it was only three."

"I couldn't survive a month, to be honest." Sakura nodded. "I see your point there, Izumi-nee."

"SEE?" Izumi one-arm-hugged Sakura. "Sasuke's girlfriend gets me." 

"SHUT UP, IZUMI-NEE." Both of them called. 

"But in all seriousness, this is really bad." Izumi muttered. "What am i going to do now? I mean, my parents are dead, I don't necessarily have a place to stay, etc... etc... so, yeah, this isn't the best situation to be in right now." 

Everyone exchanged glances.

"My house is still under construction." Sakura called. 

"Mine..." Sasuke frowned. "I'm actually not sure what happened to mine..." 

"That leaves us two, and my house already has a bunch of guests in it." Shisui grinned at Itachi. "Though Izu-chan is basically a little sis to me... maybe I could make room. Whaddya think, Itachi?"

"She's staying with me when all this is over." Itachi said. "For now, I have to stay here to be with the people from the future, but when this is done, I'm taking Izumi and going far away from you, Shisui." He smirked. "Besides, Izumi likes me better." 

"You know, Itachi, I get that you and Sasuke wanna get a head start on re-making the clan and all... but that fast? Poor Izumi-chan..." Shisui wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You two have to stay here so I can keep a close eye on you." 

"SHUT UP, SHISUI." Izumi and Itachi called in monotone voices. Izumi had to smile-- they were sinking back into the old routine. Shisui would tease Izumi and Itachi, and they would have to tell him yet again that there was nothing between them. Blah blah blah. 

Sakura peeked her head outside the door, and started talking to someone outside. Izumi stopped paying attention to the boys' argument and tried to listen as best as she could on Sakura's conversation. She couldn't hear a thing. Fun. 

"Okay, Izumi," Sakura's head popped back in. "A bunch of people want to meet you. If you're sure you're all better, we can go downstairs and hang out with the family...?" 

"I'd love to," Izumi assured her. 

"But she's going to need your help with stuff, okay, Sakura?" Itachi asked, finally focusing in on the girls' conversation.

"Fine, I will babysit your kid for a few days, Mrs. Uchiha, sure, 50 ryo an hour would be fine." Sakura teased Itachi, nudging him in the ribs.

"Shhh." Itachi whispered. "I'm putting this all on Sasuke's tab." 

"You're horrible." Izumi laughed. 

"I missed you too, Izumi." Itachi smiled at her. "And i can see you're avoiding me, so you might as well stop." Izumi blushed. Busted again. She never could sneak anything past Itachi. "NOW, shall we meet the rest of the peoples?" He asked, leading the way downstairs.