Chapter 13 - Kyouka POV

"You are taking the afternoon off, Kyouka?"

A dull female voice echoed in the changing room, followed by the sound of the door slamming shut.

"Mm-hum," Kyouka hummed, not even bothering to look at the newcomer, instead concentrating on wrapping the black obi around her waist.

"Really?" The newcomer, however, doesn't seem to notice, or simply doesn't care, about her interlocutor's lack of interest in a conversation as she continues. "Didn't you take more night shifts lately? I thought you were in urgent need of money, or did you already buy all the cosmetics you wished for, thus you don't have to work anymore?"

"Mm-hum," Kyouka hummed once more, as she took a pair of shinobi shoes from her locker, sat on a bench, and put them on. They are identical to those she just took off—exactly the same shape, size, and the same dark blue color.

She used to get irked by this practice of wearing different clothes at work, even if those clothes were identical to every day's. But now, while it is still annoying, she can understand the reasoning behind it, especially for her. As a member of the Criminal Investigation Division, she visits many crime scenes, and it isn't uncommon to get residue from those places on oneself. Furthermore, switching to work clothes also helps lessen the destruction or shrouding of evidence, intentionally or otherwise.

"Too bad," the woman said, unconcerned about being ignored, as she sat on the bench opposite Kyouka's, crossed her arms, and put one leg on top of the other. "There is this shop not far from here, I heard they make up to fifty percent discount on weekends. I thought we could check it out together."

As if...

Signing, Kyouka raised her head; her black, cold eyes bore into the annoying and rude woman in front of her.

Assistant Administrator Sato Reine is of average height and slender build with long, unkempt dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and dark circles under her sleepy blue eyes. She wears a pair of rectangular-rimmed glasses and formal attire consisting of a white shirt and black skirt.

Sato Reine isn't a Kunoichi, nor does she have any blood ties to the clan. Contrary to popular belief, not all Konoha Military Police personnel are from the Uchiha clan, nor are they necessarily all shinobi. There are fields that shinobi aren't good at or have simply decided are beneath them; administration is one such annoyance.

"What do you want, Sato-san?" Kyouka spoke, her voice as cold as her eyes.

Sato Reine, completely unfazed by Kyouka's literal display of cold shoulder, tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. "Do I need a reason to hang out with a friend?"

The frown on Kyouka's face deepened. She kept staring at the undoubtedly scheming woman until the other side raised both hands.

"Alright, alright," Sato signed with closed eyes. "But honestly, can you blame me? I just wanted to hear your opinion on the Okidasu case."

Kyouka's eyes opened wide, despite herself, before she narrowed them as she realized. "The results are out?"

"Eh?" With surprise on her face, Sato said, "You didn't know?"

Kyouka scoffed. She would, without a shred of hesitation, bet her family's heirloom on the fact the expression the other side is showing is as true as a Hyuga's mustache.

'... and those pretentious pricks have even less facial hair than women.'

"What did it say?" Kyouka asked, unwilling to play in the unpleasant woman's game.

She could, of course, return to the office and check the results herself; after all, the case was hers. But she understands herself too well to know that in case she opened the folder, the weekend would be over.

'The pleasant night patrol would come to an end as well.'

Most of her colleagues, mostly from her clan, showed a strong dislike for patrols in general. They feel it's beneath them. While Kyouka herself — well, she also finds it a chore; the nighttime ones, though, aren't that bad.

'Because everyone is asleep.'

The night is when the village is at its most vulnerable; her efforts strongly contribute to the protection of everybody.

Instead of liking it, she felt more fulfilled—she was protecting everyone who couldn't protect themselves. Isn't that why she joined the police in the first place?

... Granted, she would probably join even if she lacked such naive inspiration.

"What are you asking, Kyouka?" Sato put her palm on her cheek and said, seemingly bewildered. "How is the paper pusher supposed to access the content of such a restricted document?"

"Humph." Kyouka scoffed once more at those pathetic acting skills.

"...."

"...."

"Well, maybe I overheard something—unintentionally, of course."

Kyouka pursed her lips and waited for her to continue. She already guessed the civilian woman hadn't brought up the subject simply for unnecessary gossip.

'She is too sly for that.' While she might not be cut out for acting, her mind is not to be underestimated.

"Your instincts hit the mark," Sato said, a shadow smile on her face. "It wasn't an accident."

Kyouka exhaled in relief. She wasn't too overjoyed to hear that, though. Rather, she is now even more annoyed.

'Two months. Two fucking months wasted. Those fucking... tsk.'

The investigation should have gotten underway much sooner—the moment the corpse was found, to be exact. Yet, with all the new unnecessary and convoluted procedures, it got dragged on and on until some indolent fucker decided that the stick they put in the police wheel had reached its wheel-switching time.

'Bastards.'

It hadn't been like this before—before the Nine-tails attack. Sure, the Anbu did, and still do, try to steal, put off, and hinder the work every now and then.

Now, however, things are irritatingly bureaucratic and cumbersome. Every step they had to take was accompanied by filling out a two-page application form, writing a vile report, and then, then you have to fucking wait for them to deem your intended actions aren't... well, who knows?

As far as Kyouka is concerned, the obstructions to the investigation are merely one of many foul schemes the village's higher-ups employ to oppress her clan and isolate the clan from the village further.

And she, undoubtedly, isn't the only one who has that opinion...

Kyouka's mind wandered to the recent clan's secret meeting for a brief moment before eventually standing up; wakizashi in hand, she made her way to the door.

"You're already leaving, Kyouka? And here I thought I could ask something from a dear friend."

Kyouka halted as she opened the door and looked over her shoulder, waiting for the cunning woman to finally reveal what she was after.

"Izuna-san started school a week ago, right? I wondered if you could—"

Slam.

Kyouka violently banged the door shut behind her.

She didn't need to hear her to figure out what that bitch was thinking. In fact, she already gave the full picture of her intention by the way she referred to him.

'Izuna-san? -san?... She would only act cordial if there was fruit to be plucked.'

It's certainly not something rare or unusual, though. Her outstanding clan is one of the four noble clans and, undoubtedly, the strongest. It's inevitable that it would incite fear, envy, and awe from inside or outside Konoha, be they shinobi or civilians.

... and, often among the civilians, there are those who are greedy and dare to see her clan as a shortcut, an effortless opportunity to rise in status.

'Leeches. All of them.'

And Sato is one such parasite: a shamelessly ambitious woman who wouldn't hesitate to target a kid two decades younger than her to fulfill her worthless drive.

Kyouka felt a headache coming on as she walked down the long and empty corridors leading to the main exit of the HQ.

'... marriage, huh?'

She's been hearing that cursed word a lot lately, whenever she is with her idiot cousin, but this is the first time she's heard it at work.

It's all because of him. Kyouka thought. Even with all of Sato's insidious ways, she would never have that shameless idea if that little idiot wasn't spouting bullshit whenever he saw a woman.

'The little shit doesn't even know what is the physical difference between a man and a woman...'

Yet, it hadn't prevented him from causing unnecessary trouble. The degrading memory of her having to quell the anger of a short-tempered husband who, right in front of him, had his wife asked into marriage by a six-year-old boy, is not something she enjoys recollecting. Sure, she only had to look at the man for him to buckle, yet still...

'I swear, it's as though he is trying to alienate everyone around him... as if his late father's poor reputation isn't enough, already.'

Kyouka shook her head, trying to get the dead out of her mind and back to the odd behavior of her cousin.

'Hopefully, it will get better soon.'

The academy would have a hand in that, specifically, the other kids. Kyouka would bet that by hanging out with other kids his age and making friends—something you couldn't have in times of war—he would change for the better.

... or at least she hoped, but then Izuna's indifferent and dull look flashed through her mind and, suddenly, she felt as though her expectations are way farfetched.

"...."

'No... everything will go for the better.'

Kyouka reassured herself, but as her thoughts lingered on her young cousin, the doubts about his ability to make friends soon twisted into worries and frustrations.

She wants to fucking break something; placid slicing won't be near enough to quell her irritated nerves.

Ever since the Kyuubi attack, nothing has been the same. The deaths, the ruins, the unjust mistrust and mistreatment directed at her proud clan. Her blood boils whenever she recalls that bloody night. And how the bastards ordered the Uchiha to remain outside while their home was destroyed and fellow villagers were brutally murdered.

They gave such cold orders when they keenly knew the chief's Sharingan could've prevented the carnage.

Kyouka sighed, attempting to dispel these unpleasant feelings. Her thoughts intuitively went back to her young cousin, or more precisely, to his sickly condition.

While she lacks tangible evidence, it's easy to draw her conjectures about her cousin's sickness back to that accursed night. In other words, the Kyuubi.

The shy and lively Izuna was found unconscious, supposedly due to awakening his Sharingan. But then he spent nearly one month in a coma, and when he woke up, there was no more liveliness or reticence towards strangers.

But that was understandable. She initially assumed. War had that effect on people, and furthermore, he lost his father. Despite the fact that they rarely interact—twice a year at most—he is still his father.

So Kyouka as a reliable and responsible Onee-san spent some of her time trying to make him open up with words, pranks, or the often effective fist in the head. Needless to say, it woefully ended without success.

Her cousin lost not only his goofy smile, but he also became quiet, distant, and apathetic, keeping to himself, not speaking if not spoken to, barely holding eye contact with her, and annoyingly polite.

He is still foolish and pesky, though, albeit to a lesser extent.

Falling for her pranks, for instance, she could oftentimes hear him foolishly reciting the 'magical incantation that helps in training 100% not made up' while struggling in his training.

Sadly, he doesn't yell anymore whenever she Shunshins behind him, as before; that was one of her favorite tricks.

He also still has a stubborn and hardened head that calls for her fist like a magnet. The moment he received his inheritance came to mind. The little shit was adamant about not letting the wakizashi out of his hold; he even slept with it. She had to use more than one fist and a couple of tricks to get him to keep the short sword in his room until he learned to wield it.

Those couple of familiar behaviors on his part are what reassured her a bit about his condition.

Yet, her suspicion that the Kyuubi has somehow affected her cousin, while not confirmed, has been made stronger recently by a medical-nin.

— We never saw something like that before. It's as though someone unfit tried to seal a spirit in him that ended up backfiring. The Yin aspect of his chakra was irresponsibly inflated, and that in a short amount of time that the body couldn't keep up, causing an imbalance...

Admittedly, Kyouka used her helpful fists to make the quack drop his jargon and talk comprehensibly.

Fortunately, the clan intervened both financially and with its influence to devise an experimental medicine. Despite the fact that some were reluctant to help the son of a coward, their words, they nonetheless kept quiet.

After all, Izuna not only was able to awaken the clan's Dojutsu, he awakened all three tomoe at once—something that is usually only accomplished through rigorous training and familiarisation. Which was enough to shut any discontent voice.

Kyouka exited the HQ's gate. The sun's gleaming disk hung in the middle of the blue sky, and large, fluffy white clouds brushed past it, pushed by the cold wind.

She didn't waste more time; sending chakra to her legs, she then pushed, jumping to the nearest rooftop, and, as soon as her right foot nimbly touched the tiles, she pushed again, leaping once more.

With the grace of a cat and the speed of an arrow, Kyouka dashed from rooftop to rooftop, leaving only a dark, flickering silhouette in her wake.

It took her less than fifteen seconds to get from the police's HQ to the compound. Ending the [Body Flicker] Justu, Kyouka nimbly landed in the middle of the paved entryway. It would be extremely obnoxious to use Jutsu within the compound and outside of one's own home.

"Nice work, Kyouka-san."

Turning to the source of the voice, Kyouka smiled. "I thought you were out on a mission," she said. "Shisui-kun."

"I was," the younger Uchiha nodded with a smile of his own. "It was a short one; I got back last night."

Kyouka spent some time in casual conversation with the new prodigy. He is merely nine years old, yet he has already earned himself a name. Kyouka has no doubt; he may be a Genin for now, but with all the attention he is drawing, he will be promoted to Jounin in no time. Perhaps before he reaches the age of ten.

After five more minutes, they parted. Kyouka flounced her way home, annoyed at something Shisui mentioned about someone.

And that someone had better have a reasonable excuse or... Kyouka squeezed her fists.