𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

Nee-chan

"Nee-chan!"

I smiled weakly as I walked through the front door of the Happiness House, a horde of small children running towards me and each taking a load off of my hands.

The children that had each taken a bag from me scurried away to the kitchen, yelling out for the Director, Kyoko, and leaving me behind with a couple of the older children; Miho, eleven, and Yuudai, twelve.

"Nee-chan, you haven't been visiting us as often!" whined Miho, pouting and wrapping her arms around my waist. I laughed and patted the back of her head, holding out my other arm to Yuudai, who hesitantly came forward and joined the hug. I sighed and closed my eyes for a while, taking in their scents.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I've been busy lately." We three were the eldest children raised by the Happiness House, an orphanage in South Konoha run by the Director, a woman named Kyoko Nakamura. In total, there were thirteen of us; two of those were mere infants, while a further three were all aged between one and five. At eighteen, I'd had to leave the House, having never been adopted out, but it didn't stop me from coming back every day before heading to my own small, run down apartment further down the block after classes. Now, I had been out of the House for two years, and had slowly been saving up through my numerous part time jobs to move into a more decent home, where the children could visit me as much as I visited them.

"Nee-chan, nee-chan, nee-chan!" came cries from the hallway. I opened my eyes and let go of Miho and Yuudai to see some of the younger children, Yuki, Ryo, and Kurumi, running towards me with their hands waving in the air.

"Ahh, how are you guys!" I laughed loudly, bending down and receiving all three children in my arms. Ryo, five years old, frowned, and slapped his hands on either side of my face.

"Kyoko wants to see you in her office," he said in a serious tone, frowning at me. I frowned back, pinching his cheeks.

"Really? Okay," I said, continuing to frown at Ryo and taking his hands off of my face. His serious facade dropped, and as I straightened up, he burst into giggles and ran away with Yuki and Kurumi to the play area.

I proceeded to look at Miho and Yuudai with a mischievous gleam in my eyes.

"I may or may not have sneaked a treat for everyone in the shopping," I said in a singsong voice, making the two's mouths drop in excitement.

"Uwaaa- really, nee-chan?!"

"Go share the treats with everyone, okay?" I instructed with a laugh, patting their heads before sending them on their way.

"Okay!" I watched the two oldest race each other to the kitchen, and smiled at them before heading up the nearby staircase to Kyoko's office. Upon reaching the door, I huffed and walked in, seeing Kyoko pacing nervously around her cramped office.

"Is everything alright, Kyoko-ba?" I asked anxiously, shutting the door behind me. Kyoko would never usually be locked up in her office; most of the time, she'd be downstairs with the kids, leaving whatever paperwork she had for after everyone was asleep.

"No," she said forlornly, stopping in her tracks and looking up at me. I frowned, and crossed my arms.

"What do you mean? What's happened?" I asked, brow creasing in ever growing worry. Kyoko looked at me with distraught eyes, her aging gaze unsettling me.

"The head recruitment officer stopped by this afternoon," she said softly. "He and his partner informed us that they would be returning tomorrow to carry out tests on the children."

"Tests? What kind of tests?!" I exclaimed, already beginning to feel riled up at the prospect of my younger siblings being used as experimental guinea pigs.

"They said something about... chakra tests," she said mournfully, shaking her head. "They're going through the orphanages first, to identify children who possess formidable... chakra."

"How do they test for that?" I asked, thinking about the worst case scenario. Kyoko shook her head, throwing her hands into the air.

"Who knows!? All I know, is that if any of our children pass, they'll almost definitely be sent to fight!" she wailed, slapping her hands over her face. I stepped forward and placed a hand on Kyoko's shoulder, then pulled her into a hug as she broke into tears.

"They're so young! Why do they have to do this to us?!" she cried, digging her nails into my back. I bit my lip, too angry at the state of things to even think about shedding tears.

"Tomorrow, you say?" I asked, attempting to calm down the frantic woman. "What time?"

"I-In the morning, I would as-assume," stuttered Kyoko, making me sigh.

"What about Ino and Sai? Do they know about it?" I asked, inquiring about the two other part time volunteers. Kyoko spluttered before pulling herself away from me, wiping her face dry.

"Y-Yes," she choked out. "A-All staff have to be present tomorrow-ow." I sighed and scratched the back of my head.

"How annoying," I muttered, mentally thinking about every way in which I could annihilate the stupid Uchiha and their stupid chakra or whatever they were after. "Looks like I have no choice but to show up, no?"