[X] (Poor Itachi. He is so dead. XD He just woke up the Ultimate Plan-Ruiner.)
You are aware, in a vague sort of way, that your hands are bleeding. Ah, well. That's what happens when you clench your fists with pointed nails.
"... no offense, man," you say to Sasuke, voice shaking, "but your brother is a psychotic cuntbag who needs to die."
Sasuke's expression shifts at that. Some of the horror goes out of it, and some of the rage comes back in.
"You don't have to worry," he says hoarsely. "I'll never, ever fight you again, I promise; we don't even have to talk to each other, if you don't want to. And if Itachi comes back..." He glares at the ground. "... I'll deal with him myself."
"Fuck that noise!" you roar, grabbing the front of Sasuke's shirt and pulling him over to you. "He took my mind, Sasuke. I am one who will become the fifteenth head of the Yamanaka Clan, and this man put his filthy hands on my thoughts and made them what he wanted them to be. That is a sin equal to the extraction of a Sharingan, and there will be a reckoning for it."
"He slaughtered my family and stole their bodies!" Sasuke shouts in your face. "I can't even give them a proper funeral!"
"And there will be a reckoning for that as well!" You let go of his shirt. "Just don't expect me to let you hog all the vengeance for yourself. There's plenty of S-ranked Lollypop asshole to go around."
Menka manages to hide behind you just as a nurse throws the door wide open. "What on earth is going on in here?!"
"A private conversation," Sasuke says harshly.
"Well if you intend to keep it private perhaps you should lower the volume! It's 10:30, the other children on this floor are trying to sleep!"
And with that she's gone again.
"From what I saw on my way in, exactly two kids are actually sleeping," Menka remarks. "The rest either have radios under their pillows or flashlights and manga. The ones in the rooms on either side of you guys probably have their ears pressed against the wall to listen." He thumps on your headboard in code, and sure enough, there's a curious answering knock.
"I'm not letting you stop being my friend," you say, ignoring your cat's new conversational partner. "Not because your brother has some kind of twisted 'plan' for you. I swear, on my name, as the future family-head, I will discover the seed of this genjutsu, and when I do, I will tear it out by the roots." You pause. "And I'll do the same for you, if it turns out he put you under one too. If you'll let me," you add.
"... do you think he did?" Sasuke asks, frown deepening.
You shake your head. "I honestly don't know what Uchiha Itachi would or wouldn't, can or can't do now."
Sasuke sighs.
"So..." he says after a while. "We train. We study genjutsu, and get you fixed, and fix me if I need fixing. We get strong, stronger than anyone else in the village, and then... we go find him."
His tone of voice is one you haven't heard from Sasuke before; it's heavy, and bitter, and as grown up as an eight-year-old's voice can be.
"If you're serious about this," you say quietly, petting Menka, "you might want to start by coming with us on our morning runs. I'm pretty sure they're why Hinata's endurance has improved lately."
"... okay."
He says it in the same tone as 'thank you'.
=
Perhaps sensing you need some cheering up, your brain-guys show you the time Jigen-san caught a mermaid, Lupin met a yeti and got frozen in carbonite, whatever that means ("Lupin, for god's sake, stop corrupting the kid's vocabulary to make your stupidity look cool."), and Goemon-san slew a fucking dragon from the inside out.
It's pretty great.
=
For your first memory palace, Dad suggests using your hospital room. You're going to be here a few days more, after all, until they've finished up the tests; you might as well use a room whose details you can check just by opening your eyes.
You decide to use this test-run palace for remembering:
[X] The names of the capitals and major cities of the Elemental Nations. Start with something you already know, to get a feel for the process.
[X] Stitching patterns and their names. You're always mixing them up.
[X] Your promise to Sasuke. If this room should be remembered for anything, it's that.
=
You are Hyuuga Hinata, it is 11 pm, and you are supposed to be in bed.
You are instead reading every scroll the clan library has on genjutsu structural analysis. It's not a field that many Hyuuga choose to study, given the futility of using all but the most fiendish genjutsu against the Byakugan, but the few books there are on the subject are thorough and methodical in their approach.
The material is miles beyond your current skill level, and there are many words you don't understand.
You don't care. You write them down on a pad of paper, so you can look them up later.
A smiling, slightly lopsided stuffed rabbit sits in your lap, a hand-lettered tag reading "Happy Birthday Hinata-chan" still around its neck.
=
You're Nara Shikamaru.
You aren't apparently doing much of anything, beyond sitting at the kotatsu and staring into space.
But at the moment, you're thinking about yin-chakra, and Rikudo Sennin, and eyes that turn like pinwheels.
That's good. They're constructive thoughts that build on what you know, and show you a few different beneficial moves you could make.
It's much better than thinking about a tiny blonde girl in a hospital bed pretending to smile while she tells you she's going to be fine.
=
You are Kuwabara Ami, and you are a princess on a mission.
Someone - there's an unsubstantiated rumour that it was Sasuke's brother, but nothing concrete has been said - has killed the entire Uchiha Clan except for Sasuke.
Ino has not been in class for a week and a half.
Neither has Sasuke.
Again. Someone has wiped out the Uchiha, a clan it was your fondest hope to one day join, and probably put your two best friends in the hospital while they were at it.
Someone has just made an enemy.
You recognize, on some level, how stupid you're being. Anyone who can take out the entirety of Konoha's strongest clan in one afternoon is not someone who has to worry about a civilian-born Academy student. They'd probably laugh themself sick at the thought.
Unless they were smart, and remembered that two out of three Sannin are civilian-born orphans, and that the Yondaime's parents ran a sandal shop.
The classroom door opens, and Ino and Sasuke enter together. Conversations grind to a halt, and everyone stares.
Calmly, you get to your feet, and go to your friends.
The path of the rescued princess is closed to you now.
What new destiny will you forge?
[X] The Princess Knight. "I, Kuwabara Ami, do in this hour and place pledge my sword to the service of Uchiha Sasuke, in the name of the Will of Fire."
[X] The Princess Mage. *hug; whisper in ears* "When I find whoever hurt you guys, I will crush them."
[X] The Princess Rogue. "I'm dropping out of the Academy." Sasuke can get ninja-help from anyone, but only one person can one day put the Family's resources at his disposal.