A voice ... I hear a voice ... the Moon ... it is so beautiful, barely hidden by the branches of a cherry tree filled with delicate pink flowers ... They remind me...

"MITSUKI! MITSUKI!"

Am I being called? Where does that come from? But... That's Kakashi's voice! Kakashi?

"Damn it! Wake up!"

Wake up? But I am awake! Everything is so beautiful here... Like that night with Ita... Shit...

The Genjutsu Mitsuki was immersed in broke as she realized that what she was seeing wasn't real. The cherry branches were still there, but all leaves, and the moon, just as full, seemed less bright than in her 'dream'.

"Mitsuki! You've come to?!" Kakashi continued to shake her, looking deeply worried.

Suddenly, everything came back into the she-wolf's head. The Uchiha district, Aruna's farewell, Itachi's words, the kisses they exchanged, and...

"ITACHI!" Mitsuki shouted as she jumped to her feet.

He hadn't done that, had he? He wouldn't have left her in the village before he ran off? She tried to run after him, but arms held her tight. She slid her red eyes, drowned in tears she'd let escape without even realizing it, to Kakashi's livid face.

"Mitsuki... You can't go back there... Not yet." he whispered to her as softly as possible.

He misunderstood her intentions, thinking that she wanted to return to the Uchiha district. Itachi's words came back to her mind: she shouldn't tell anyone about what she knew.

The she-wolf's face darkened as she thought about everything she had lost.

"Let me go... Aruna..." she asked, her voice choking as she spoke her brother's name.

"It's over, Mitsuki... He's gone, they're all gone..." Kakashi said, still softly, before pulling her against him.

He put his arms around the she-wolf, pulling her into a painful embrace. Mitsuki let out a sob, shuddering as she replayed every scene from that gruesome evening in her head. The ANBU awkwardly stroked the beautiful brunette's back, finding no other way to ease her pain.

"I'm here," he whispered in her ear, as the she-wolf's hands clutched at her top.

A few minutes passed before Mitsuki finally remembered one last detail.

"Sasuke?" she questioned the grey-haired young man as he lifted his wet face.

He stared at her in surprise.

"How do you know?" he asked her in turn, confused.

"I... He told me. I bumped into him, as he was leaving the village..." Mitsuki stammered, realizing too late that she had made a mistake.

"I'm sure he's the one who put you in this state, but what else do you know?"

Kakashi's empathy suddenly disappeared behind his elite ninja duties. Mitsuki looked at him sadly, as he waited for an answer.

"Mitsuki, there's going to be an investigation, you might as well say everything you know right now. You might get in trouble..." the ANBU pointed out curtly.

"But I don't know anything, Kakashi! I don't know anything at all! I chased him after I found Aruna, he only told me he did...that... only to measure his strength. And that Sasuke was still alive, too weak in his eyes to bother with him. Then, I guess he locked me in a Genjutsu, and there I was, with you," Mitsuki told him, shaking.

She hated herself for having to lie to him, but Itachi had insisted that she not reveal his secret. It broke her inside, for the terrible burden the Uchiha had agreed to carry on his shoulders so as not to sully his clan's name seemed deeply unfair. But she accepted it, for his sake.

Kakashi looked at her doubtfully before sighing softly.

"Sasuke is in the hospital, he was found unconscious, but safe at home. Many of the bodies seem to be missing, and a team is busy...cleaning...the rest. That's all I know for now," the young man in the mask reported.

"Okay... I'll go to the hospital then." Mitsuki announced, but the ANBU held her back again.

He explained when she finally glared at him:

"You should... you should get cleaned up, first. If he wakes up and sees you like this..."

Mitsuki looked down at her arms full of her brother's blood. The ANBU was right, she didn't want to confuse Sasuke any further.

"You told me I couldn't go home..." she pointed out.

"Yes... But you can come to my house, if you want. You'll need a place to stay until...things settle down," Kakashi offered awkwardly, unaccustomed to letting anyone into his privacy.

Mitsuki noticed his discomfort, but agreed anyway. She didn't have much of a choice. Kakashi invited her to follow him, leading her to his flat, which she had known since their dinner. At the time, she was too preoccupied with this strange invitation to dwell on the contents of the flat. It was basic, but clean. It had a decent living room, leading to a small terrace overlooking the rooftops of Konoha, a small kitchen, and a bedroom with a single bed with green sheets adorned with shuriken.

"Shinobi one day..." sighed Mitsuki, noticing the ANBU's meager decoration.

"Sorry, I don't really take the time to take care of this flat, I only come here to rest between missions, so..." Kakashi justified himself, noticing the desperate face of his guest.

"You should take some time to think about yourself sometimes... It's nice to come home to a real home..." Mitsuki remarked, before wincing as she remembered that her home would never be the same again.

This didn't escape Kakashi, who looked at her sadly, finding nothing to do but divert the conversation:

"The bathroom is over there. You'll find towels there, and everything you need to wash yourself. Make yourself at home, use whatever you want," he explained as he opened the door to the bathroom.

"I thank you, Kakashi. Really," she said, before locking herself inside.

Kakashi took advantage of being alone to put away the few things he had lying around. He thought about what had happened to the Uchiha clan. He was sure Mitsuki was hiding something, something that was tearing her apart at the core. She seemed troubled by what had happened, obviously, but she hadn't broken down yet, and that worried the ANBU, who knew she was rather sensitive.

In the bathroom, Mitsuki let the hot water run over her body for a long time, making the traces of that horrible evening disappear in a pool of glowing water. In her head, one sentence kept repeating itself:

Aruna is dead.

A tear escaped from her eyes, quickly mixing with the water that ran down her face.

Aruna is dead.

Her fingers clenched, digging their nails into the flesh of her hands.

Aruna is dead...

And he wasn't the only one. They were all gone, Mikoto, Fugaku, Izumi, Shisui... All the Uchiha had passed on.

Itachi, her best friend, her first love, he wasn't dead, but he wasn't there anymore either. And she was sure of it, the fate he knew was much worse than that. He was moving forward, alone, through the darkness he had married in spite of himself, with only the weight of guilt for company.

Itachi... where was he now? Would she ever see him again? Was he going to change by taking on this new life? The she-wolf ran her fingers over her lips mechanically. Nothing was going the way she wanted it to. Just as she had confessed her feelings to him after the terrible loss of Shisui, he had finally confessed his to her as their lives fell apart. She would have dreamed of sharing that kiss under different circumstances, of not feeling the salty taste of the Uchiha's tears crossing the barrier of her lips, and instead hearing Aruna's mockery when he would one day catch them sharing more than just a friendship. But that would never happen. Itachi was gone, and Aruna would never come back.

She turned off the water, and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her chest. She suddenly realized she had nothing to wear, and as if he'd guessed, Kakashi knocked gently on the door. Mitsuki opened it, letting only her wet head slip through the crack.

"I went to your house to get you some clean clothes..." he said, handing her some clothes.

She gave him a surprised look before retrieving her things:

"Thank you..." she breathed to him as she closed the door.

When she was dry and dressed, she went out shyly. A sweet smell of food wafted through the air, she approached the ANBU who was busy cooking.

"Here, have some food," he ordered, placing a plate on the table next to her.

"Sorry Kakashi, it's beautiful and it smells wonderful, but I'm not really hungry... I'd like to go see Sasuke if you don't mind..." Mitsuki apologized.

"It's dark, the hospital is closed to visitors, and you haven't eaten in a while. Please sit down and try to eat a little bit," Kakashi insisted worriedly.

His dedication made the she-wolf grimace with sadness, reminding her of all the times Aruna had waited for her at the table when she came home from work.

"Mitsuki, do you want to talk about it?" Kakashi offered, even more bothered as he saw his guest's red pupils fade, frozen in a void.

The she-wolf looked up at him without seeing him, before slowly shaking her head. Kakashi sighed, distraught.

"I work at the hospital, they'll probably let me in... I can't leave Sasuke alone... Not after what happened... He's so young..." Mitsuki persisted.

"Mitsuki... I promise to take you to see Sasuke after you've had some food. He's unconscious, and may not wake up anytime soon... Itachi put him in a very powerful Genjutsu, it could take him several days to fully recover... We'll go see him, but I don't want you to stay by his bedside tonight. He is in very good hands. You need to rest, too. I can accept that you don't want to talk about your feelings with me, but there's no way I'm leaving you alone. So, we'll go check on Sasuke, and come back here to sleep," Kakashi stated.

"I can't leave him alone..." Mitsuki protested.

"He's not alone. Eat, and you can see for yourself," Kakashi ordered.

Mitsuki relented. She sat down in front of her plate before dipping her spoon in. She brought it to her mouth, before swallowing the contents with difficulty.

"Is it that bad?" Kakashi worried.

"No, of course not Kakashi... But I'm really not hungry..." Mitsuki assured him.

"Pfff... Well, let's not push it any further, we'll see about that when we get home. Maybe seeing Sasuke will give you an appetite, come on, let's go." the ANBU gave up.

Mitsuki jumped out of her chair before rushing towards the hospital, Kakashi on her heels. Just as she'd expected, she was let in without any trouble. In the corridors, however, she had to deal with the pitying looks and murmurs of gossip as she passed. At one door she was almost certain that she had heard of a curse that had led to the disappearance of two great clans. She paid no further attention to it, her thoughts guided only by the concern she felt for Itachi's younger brother.

What he had just gone through was far more difficult than Mitsuki. He had lost his entire family, his real family, to his own brother. He had no ties to anything, and Mitsuki wanted to prove to him that he could always count on her.

She slowly opened the door to Sasuke's room, finding him unconscious and livid in bed. She walked over to him, and gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips. She sat down beside him, before holding his hand, which felt so cold.

"Sasuke...it's me, Mitsuki." she whispered, hoping he could hear her. "I'm so sorry for what's happening to you... I can only imagine the pain you must be feeling... But I want you to know that I'm here, Sasuke-kun... I will be there whenever you feel the need. I know I can't replace your family, but know that you are not alone. I'm waiting for you Sasuke-kun, come back to me soon... We will get through this together, trust me..."

She gently kissed the boy's forehead, letting a tear roll down her cheek. Kakashi, who had respectfully stayed back until then, squeezed her shoulder in a gesture of empathy. He left her for a few more minutes, during which she stroked the young Uchiha's hand tirelessly, like a mother wolf caring for her cub, before finally saying:

"We should go... The doctors unfortunately won't accept us here any longer..."

Mitsuki nodded, her heart heavy at having to leave the boy to his own devices.

"I'll be back in the morning, Sasuke-kun..." she promised him, before walking out with the ANBU.

They walked back to his house. Kakashi grabbed a blanket and a pillow, before telling his guest:

"Take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

"No, you're already doing enough for me! Keep your room!" Mitsuki flatly refused.

The ANBU rolled his eyes, before leaving for the living room, leaving her no choice but to keep the bed for herself.

Mitsuki changed her clothes, before lying down on her host's mattress. The room seemed very empty all of a sudden, and so dark and cold. Only the smell of Kakashi in the sheets gave her some comfort. She finally fell asleep, exhausted from the difficult night.

In the living room, Kakashi had not yet closed an eye. He could hear the she-wolf tossing and turning in her bed, surely in the grip of a nightmare. He hesitated a thousand times to go see her, but since she had been reluctant to confide in him, he finally chose to respect her privacy.

When in the middle of the night he heard her scream the name of the Academy's Sensei between sobs, he finally got up. It was too much for him, the pain she had tried to hide when she was awake was bursting out against her will in the middle of the night, and he knew that dreadful feeling all too well.

He gently opened the bedroom door, trying not to wake the pretty brunette. He saw her, trembling, full of cold sweat, her face distorted by the anguish that was eating away at her.He sat down on the edge of the bed, groping for her hand under the covers, in which she had wrapped herself. When he finally found it, the she-wolf woke up with a start, short of breath.

"It's me, Kakashi... You had a nightmare," the ANBU whispered calmly.

Mitsuki looked around in a daze, trying to find her place. She slowly came to her senses and looked around.

"I'm sorry I woke you up..." she apologized, ashamed.

"Don't worry, I wasn't sleeping. And that's exactly why I couldn't bring myself to leave you alone tonight," Kakashi reassured her, in a tender voice he didn't even know he had.

Mitsuki smiled ever so slightly, more to show her gratitude than anything else.

"Do you...do you want me to stay here until you fall asleep?" the gray-haired boy offered.

Mitsuki's cheeks flushed. She felt uncomfortable asking him so much, but his presence sincerely soothed her.

"I don't want to bother you..." she sighed reluctantly.

"You're not bothering me, Mitsuki. Don't be so awkward with me, we're friends, remember?" Kakashi asked her in a warm voice.

This time Mitsuki's smile was more sincere, before a shiver ran through her and she burst into uncontrollable sobs.

"Mitsuki... I...I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!" Kakashi panicked, not understanding what he could have said to put her in this state.

"It's just that... You know... I thought that..." Mitsuki stammered, unable to regain her composure.

A flash of insight flashed through the ANBU's brain, understanding what could have triggered the pretty she-wolf's torrent of tears. He remembered the words she herself had slipped into Sasuke's ear earlier.

"I'm here, Mitsuki. I'll be here whenever you feel the need. You're not alone. You still have friends in Konoha," he whispered to her as he pulled back a strand of hair that fell over the girl's wet face.

He framed her face with both hands, wiping the she-wolf's cheeks with his thumbs. He looked into her red pupils, and said again:

"I'm here, Mitsuki."

He then hugged her, letting her cry until she was exhausted. She'd broken down, it was hard, but all that tension she'd built up, taking every loss from those around her, all that tension was finally escaping from her shaking little body.

He laid her back on her pillow once she had finally fallen back asleep, after gently stroking her temples until she fell asleep. Hoping that her fragile sleep would not be disturbed again by another nightmare, he finally left her, unable to close his eyes. How could such a thing have happened? And how was it that Mitsuki was coincidentally away from the village during Itachi's actions... He was sure she hadn't told him everything, but how could he get her to talk to him, when her trust was shaken. All he could do for now was support her, as much as he had been when he had lost everything himself, and maybe even a little better.