Chapter Text
Sakura’s most vivid memory of Sasuke was when he stood up in front of the entire class and recited his report on the Uchiha Rebellion. Most specifically, Sasuke covered the Night of Tears, where the treacherous clan had been executed. Kana and Hiroshi had other parts of the Rebellion they gave reports on, but Sasuke’s analytical delivery of the night the Uchiha clan was put to death for conspiring against Konoha stayed with Sakura most vividly.
There were Uchiha about Sakura’s age who hadn’t been killed. They were young enough to have not been involved, and Konoha had mercifully taken them in. They had new families, and none of them had the last name Uchiha. Still, everyone knew which kids were Uchiha. They all had the same dark-haired, pale-faced look. There was something about their eyes that screamed Uchiha, even before they displayed the Sharingan.
The Night of Tears, Sasuke had said, was a cleansing. It had been a rebirth for Konoha, and a necessary sacrifice to keep the village strong. The Uchiha and their rebellious ambitions had been a cankerous sore slowly destroying Konoha. Sasuke gave the figures of the body counts, but not the spared. No one knew how many Uchiha still lived. There were about five in the Academy, and a couple more gennin and chuunin. Sasuke had been only weeks old on the Night, by Sakura’s reckoning, so he was the youngest Uchiha. Kana and Hiroshi were only months older than Sasuke was, and Sakura knew there was one Uchiha who was at least sixteen now, which meant she had been only four at the cleansing.
That wasn’t to say children hadn’t been killed. Parents, realizing what was happening, had murdered their own children. When Sasuke mentioned them, he simply read a number and said they were children killed by their parents, rather than surrendering them to Konoha. Of course, with the oldest not-really-Uchiha being sixteen now, four at the time of the Night of Tears, there were other children, old enough to remember their parents and their clan and already indoctrinated, but still young. They hadn’t died.
They had become Dogs.
Sasuke was a most diligent student. He and Sakura battled for top marks, but he routinely beat her in the field training. Sasuke had a fevered drive and devotion that left no room for friends. He and his distant cousins never spoke, though they were all just as driven and despised him for his better scores. He didn’t play with the other children, even when they had first started the Academy and their teachers had encouraged their childish sparring and games.
The only thing that mattered to Sasuke was being the best shinobi he could be.
“Once you get the Sharingan, you’ll be able to beat us all, right?” Kiba had said one day. The statement was careless, as no one acknowledged the Uchiha’s status as Uchiha or talked about the Sharingan they would inevitably develop.
Sakura expected Sasuke to ignore the statement since it was rude and Sasuke ignored many things he didn’t want to deal with.
“No. I don’t want the Sharingan.” Sasuke said it firmly. Crisp and matter-of-fact as he kept wrapping his wrists for sparring.
“Why not?” Sakura asked, shocked to hear the words from her own mouth.
“Why would I?” Sasuke returned her question. Sasuke didn’t answer personal questions about his life or anything. If you weren’t here to discuss training techniques or jutsu or anything like that, he found somewhere else to be. Sakura felt rather flushed and grateful for the response, even if it was supposed to be rude. She knew that, but she got it too.
Who would want undeniable proof they were exactly what they hated most?
~
There was a Dog who lived in Sakura’s neighborhood.
She had always heard whispers about that, but then one day she saw a curly-haired man out shopping and watched how everyone avoided him. He wore his uniform pristinely correct, even as he shopped for soaps. It had seemed a little strange at the time, and Sakura had stood staring at the man until he turned and smiled at her. He had a nice smile, wide and carefully friendly and warm. Sakura had smiled back without thinking before her mother grabbed her arm and drew her away, scolding her for staring.
“Don’t you know what he was?” she hissed.
Sakura saw the Dog periodically. After starting the Academy and meeting the other Uchiha, she tried to find similarities between them. His hair was more brown than black, rich and red undertones rather than the blue-black of Sasuke’s. His face seemed less delicate, and his nose was crooked. It had been broken, Sakura later realized, and no one had set it correctly.
She silently mapped out the Dog’s patterns, passing by the shops he visited on the way home and to the Academy. The longer she was in the Academy, the more she noticed about him. He smiled at everyone. He moved slowly and carefully. He always let other people go ahead of him in any line. If a shop was crowded, he would not go in but would return later when it was not so full. He did not browse often, but came in, grabbed what he had obviously pre-determined he needed, and left. If he lingered, it was over soap or cosmetics, oddly enough, and Sakura had seen him slip a pretty but inexpensive barrette into his pocket once.
A few times over the years Sakura saw ANBU silently approach the Dog. The first time she was conveniently buying new hair bands and froze when she saw what was happening. It was less a desire to eavesdrop, and more a desire not to move. She knew the ANBU had seen her, but the woman didn’t care.
“Why are you here?” The ANBU said as she stood too close to the Dog. He smiled. Sakura knew that without seeing his face.
“Because Itachi doesn’t shop, and we’re completely out of food,” The Dog replied smoothly.
“Did you get permission to shop here?” The ANBU went on.
“I did not know we needed permission to enter businesses now.” The Dog said lowly.
“Your presence is a deterrent to anyone else to come into this place. You should be more considerate,” The ANBU seemed to just be heckling the man.
“Most businesses put out a sign if they don’t want Dog patronage,” The Dog went on. “Did you receive a complaint?”
The calm, patient logic of the Dog seemed reasonable to Sakura. No one liked that he was here, but like her, they had all accepted that he must shop somewhere. He didn’t bother anyone, and he left as soon as he was done. There was an odd sense of acceptance in the community for “their Dog” who was well mannered and deferential. Sakura wondered if she should step out and say something, but she was more frightened of the ANBU than of the Dog.
“Don’t play your mind games with me, Uchiha. I know where you live and this is far from there.” The Dog had stepped back against the shelving, and the ANBU was almost chest to chest with him, pale mask close to his face. “Who are you meeting here?”
The Dog had lost his smile but stayed impassive. “All the businesses near where I live, as I said, clearly make the preference to not serve my kind abundantly clear with signs.” The Dog made a slow hand motion to indicate the building. “This--”
The Dog’s hand was suddenly pinned to the shelving. He did not cry out. He did not flinch.
“Watch. Yourself.” The words were cold and clipped.
“Would you like to shop somewhere else, honorable ANBU?” The Dog asked, completely serious. Sakura expected him to threaten the ANBU. Most of the ninja she knew would have.
“No.” The ANBU ripped the kunai out of the man’s hand in a way Sakura knew would cause more damage than necessary. “I’m lodging two offenses against you. You’re outside your range, and you were insubordinate.” The Dog did not reply to that, and the ANBU, quicker than Sakura could see, knocked the Dog’s basket of groceries from his hand and to the ground. The ANBU took two quick steps and then vanished.
The dog stayed leaned against the shelf for a good five minutes, dripping blood before he sighed and knelt to clean the mess. Before he left the store he wiped all the blood up as well.
The other altercations with ANBU went the same. They asked why the Dog was here. They baited him. Sometimes they injured him. The Dog just submitted, staying affable and servile no matter what they did or said. He did not beg. He did not grovel. He accepted their punishment with a stoic pride. Sakura found, despite knowing she shouldn’t, that she admired him.
Ino was the first person Sakura told about the Dog. Ino was all at once disgusted, disturbed, and intrigued. She asked if Sakura had followed the Dog back to his home, but Sakura hadn’t worked up the courage for that. For one she was very sure, being an Uchiha, the Dog was a good ninja and Sakura had just started at the Academy. Ino kept badgering, though, and Sakura gave in. Sakura made up her mind to do this so Ino wouldn’t think her a coward when she saw something that shocked her.
The Dog was with someone.
The younger Uchiha reminded Sakura sharply of Sasuke. Now she saw that the other Uchiha looked alike because they acted alike and moved in the same way, but this Dog looked like Sasuke. His hair was black-blue, face sharp and pretty. His eyes were the right dark grey, and he looked at the other Dog with bored attention. He was obviously younger, obviously a ninja in the way he stood, but he wore all black instead of a jumpsuit and flak vest. They stood close and spoke in whispers, hushed tones that seemed unbearably intimate.
The smaller one suddenly lifted his head and looked straight at her. His gaze was anything but affable. It was sharp and pointed and it grabbed her. Sakura suddenly understood a great deal more about why people were afraid of Dogs.
The older Dog poked the young one. “Ne, don’t stare, Itachi.” He whispered, not harshly, but mostly amused. The young one, Itachi, looked back to the older and then back to Sakura. She hadn’t moved. She probably should have run. She saw there was a barrette in the younger’s hair, holding bits back in a braid. She recognized it. She had seen that silly barrette go into the older Dog’s pocket.
“She’s staring.” Itachi said. He got another poke in the side.
“Everyone stares at us--especially her, now pay attention. I won’t be here for two months and you’ll starve unless you shop. You can’t live on ramen and dango.” As Sakura hurried on, the older Dog looked up at her and winked. Sakura flushed.
Had Sakura not been placed on a team with Sasuke, she doubted she would have ever learned anything more about the Uchiha, but she was. When Sasuke activated his Sharingan, Kakashi informed them only another Sharingan user could train Sasuke. Sakura assumed it would be one of the older Uchiha who trained Sasuke.
It was not.