Itachi has never been so idle before. Before this, before this world, he was always on the move, always a criminal just waiting for his head to be lopped off. Now, with all of that out of the way during his death, he has nothing to do. Nothing to keep him going other than Sasuke.

Itachi sits cross-legged on the couch, watching the muted TV. He enjoys the silence, but not the idleness of it. He needs to take a walk, somewhere far, somewhere different than this house.

[Name] waltz in, bringing him his third cup of tea. Itachi senses the kindness in her, but also something else, something off-putting but he can't tell what it is.

"Is there something wrong, Itachi?" She asks. Even his name sounds foreign to him. If his life as he knew it is a lie, then is his name really Itachi?

"No," he mumbles. His eyes widen at how easily he told [Name] the truth. "I mean, yes!"

[Name] takes the seat next to him. With a sigh and a smile, she says, "Existential crisis?"

Itachi peers down at his hands, the hands that used to murder people without a second thought. But that was a lie. He never killed anyone. Not a child, not a woman nor a man, not even his family.

His whole life as he knew it is fake.

"Yes," his voice is small, almost scared even. "I never murdered my family, but I did."

"Think of it as one long nightmare."

"I... Killed."

[Name] shrugs. "But you didn't."

Itachi turns his head, and his dead, cold black eyes stare into her soul. "I could kill you."

If this hadn't come from the soft boy that loves his baby brother so much, then [Name] might've been scared.

"But you won't," she says gently. "You don't know the first rule about this world, and I'm your rule book. If you destroy the rule book, you'll never learn."

Itachi takes her hand, finding comfort in her soft palms. His hands were shaking, and [Name] hears the tremble in his voice. "Just a bad dream, right?"

[Name] nods, a smile growing on her face. "Just a bad dream."

...

Sasuke's been flexing his left arm for the past day. Cooped up in [Name's] room, he's been alone with his thoughts. He lost his arm in the war, the war he was so close to finishing until... His mind his blank. What exactly did happen?

He remembers Naruto, and thanking Sakura and then... Nothing. His brain goes muddy at the thought.

He hears a knock and turns his head to the door.

"Can I come in my own room?" [Name] jokes, strutting in. "Whatcha doing in here? Flexing like an eboy in the mirror?"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "What's an eboy?"

"Never mind."

Sasuke stays quiet, moving his fingers again. "Was Naruto ever real?"

"Existential crisis?" She says, plopping down next to him. She chuckles and lets out a long breath through her nose. "Besides the people that dress up as him, he's not real in the slightest. I'm sorry bud, your friend, your lover as I like to call him, is completely fake."

"Sakura? Kakashi? Karin? Suigetsu?" He asks, his voice wobbling with each name that passes his lips. "Orochimaru?"

"None of it is real. I'm sorry," [Name] says, patting Sasuke's back. "All you sacrificed had been for naught, especially since your bro is alive."

"At least I have him," he mumbles, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Look on the bright side, your family never actually died," [Name] exclaims trying to cheer him up.

"Hn."

He's back to his usual, nontalkative self, which means his crisis is over.

"Do you need a shoulder to lean on?" She asks.

"I'm not interested."

"Pfft! Not with me, dumbass. Your brother's having a hard time too. You two should comfort each other," she explains. Her hand reachs up to ruffle his hair, but Sasuke stops her midway.

"Don't. I'm not a child."

She smirks, dropping her hand to the side.

"Heh, to me you are."

...

Dinner time and boy do these guys eat! Thankfully, Itachi and Shisui help out, setting a spread across the dining room table. They all say they're thanks before eating.

If these guys were little kids, she'd think they're cute with their cheeks full with food, but since they're grown men, they're just...kinda cute.

[Name] places her phone down on the table, face down. She takes a bite of steamed broccoli and rice. Once again, Madara compliments her on her cooking skills in which she thanks him awkwardly. She takes another forkful while listening to the deafening silence.

They're not a talkative bunch, are they? [Name] thinks as she observes them curiously.

Her phone vibrates the table, and they all stare at it. [Name] doesn't move to pick it up and instead continues eating.

"I wanna answer!" Shisui says. He snatches the phone before [Name] can see the caller ID, and curiously presses the green button. "Hello?"

"Who the hell is this?"

"That's quite rude, but I'm Shisui."

"Where the hell is [Name]! Tell her to get her ass over here!"

"I don't think I will. You sound really mean."

At this point, Shisui is trolling the guy he barely knows over the phone.

"Excuse me?! You tell [Name] to-"

Shisui pulls the phone away from his ear and presses the red button.

"Adam, I assume," [Name] says after he hands back the phone.

"If Adam is the man that sounds like a prepubescent boy, then yes, that was Adam," Shisui says with a smile.

"Watch it, that's my boyfriend, and no one insults him but me," she hisses, scooping more rice on to her fork.

The word boyfriend doesn't settle right in their stomachs. It's like soggy bread on a sandwich, just plain wrong!

"You? Have a boyfriend?" Shisui asks, his once cheery tone gone with the wind. "He must be lucky."

[Name] scoffs and takes a sip of water. "He doesn't act like it. We're fighting."

"Couples shouldn't fight," Itachi says. "He should be making you happy."

She glares. "Oh thanks, I should be taking advice from the family murderer."

[Name] gets defensive when Adam is the subject matter. She doesn't like it when Adam is put in a negative light by all onlookers, but no one besides [Name] has seen his sweet side. To [Name], his kindness is beyond anything in the world, and if he'd just apologize, all will be forgiven again, and she'll come home. Leave all this behind. Leave these four here.

The phone rings again, vibrating in [Name's] hand. She answers before Shisui can get to it.

"What Adam?" Her voice is harsh, but it died nothing to scare Adam. He knows she's a pushover and uses that to his advantage.

She hears him growl. "You know exactly what. Get over here! Our little piss fight is over!"

"Not until you stop speaking to me like that. You haven't even said sorry," [Name] says, getting up to have a private conversation in the other room. She feels their eyes on her as she walks out, leaving her plate of food to grow cold.

For they're trained ninjas, they follow silently behind her, hearing her curse Adam's name and begging him to apologize.

"God! You're so selfish, Adam!" [Name] cries and throws down her phone. She screams in frustration, and wills herself not to cry, not while there are guests here. She turns on her heel, seeing the four men she wants to see the least. "What?! What the hell are you looking at?!"

She barrels past them, heading for her room. Shisui calls after her but to no avail.

"Maybe she's on her period," Sasuke says, biting into some bread. Itachi smacks his arm.

"Whatever it is, the woman is upset over this Adam boy," Madara says, but he couldn't care less about her relationship affairs.

Shisui picks up the phone, seeing Adam is still on the receiver. He presses the phone to his ear, hearing Adam spew curses from his unfiltered mouth. Shisui hears the word whore and slut slip out, and his chest wells up in anger.

"Look here, you poor excuse of a man, no matter what you never talk to a woman like that!" Shisui barks out his time dangerously low. "Don't call ever again!"

He presses the red button to stop Adam from speaking. He places her phone on the counter, his frown leaving and replaced with a smile. While Shisui told Adam off, Madara returned to the dinner table to finish his food along with Sasuke. Itachi stayed behind to care for his cousin.

"Why were you so worked up about that?" Itachi asks.

"There are just some things you don't do, Itachi. Never, no matter what, call a woman out of her name. That boy has no tact," Shisui explains, folding his arms over his chest. "I should check on her."

"You'd defend every woman's honor, wouldn't you?" Itachi's question is rhetorical, but Shisui answers anyways.

"If every woman were like [Name], I would. But there's only one of me, and I'm new to this world."

...

A knock comes to [Name's] door, but she doesn't look up from her pillow. Her blood-red eyes insinuate that she's crying. Silently crying.

The door opens and Sasuke waltz in. He plops down at the edge of her bed.

"Are you having one of those... existential crises?" He asks.

"No Sasuke," she sighs, wiping her tears that leak shamelessly from her eyes.

"Pretend he's fake. Like Naruto's fake. Or Kakashi's fake. My mom and dad's fake," he says, using her own advice against her.

"I can't. He's real and," [Name] pauses as she chokes on her next words. "And I love him."

"He's not worth it," Sasuke grumbles.

"Don't-"

"Where are we going to sleep?"

The audacity of this boy, she muses bitterly, but the amusement dances in her eyes. She sees he's trying to cheer her up by changing subjects.

[Name] turns over to her side and ignores him. Her body language tells him to figure it out. He grunts, stealing one of her blankets and lies down on the floor.

"You're gonna need a pillow kid," she said and throws a pillow directly on his head. He mutters in distaste but takes it.

Everything will be better in the morning. Or so she hopes.