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[lostmylight]

He's a wanderer.

Ever since the traumatic day when everything was taken from him, he's been a wanderer. Nothing more, nothing less. A shinobi? Only in the barest terms. A crimson band of cloth covers the ruin of his sockets, hiding the shame from the world; his memories of receiving basic medical care from a civilian village are fogged by the fever that ravaged him during those days.

Ever since then, he's wandered. Slowly learning to survive, slowly adapting, he now moves with some trace of his old grace and confidence, as though he has some perception of the world beyond the reach of his hands. The snakes have taught him, and experience, the slow and bitter sensei, has taught him.

But he will never again be what he once was.

He's entering another village, he knows that; where it is, what its name is, he doesn't know. Doesn't entirely care. Perhaps they'll feed him, perhaps he can trade some manual labor for a few coins, and then move on again. That's all he can hope for anymore.

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[lostmylight]

Home. He wanted to be close to her. But with so many strangers -- so many not-strangers, so many people he wanted to stay far from -- could he bear it?

"I want to stay close to you, Mom," he admitted quietly. "I don't want to lose you again." The thought of sparring with her was uncertain, though, and he hesitated over it. "I... I haven't fought since..." A gesture to the blindfold.

[proudofmybaby]

"And you were too young to start blind training when I died." She sighed softly. "All the more reason then. It's a thing, in the family, to learn blind fighting. I did when I was about ten or so since everyone knows to go for an Uchiha's eyes. But you don't have to if you don't want to."

[lostmylight]

Blind training? He'd had no idea that that was something the clan even specifically taught. So many things had been lost forever in that night of horror...

"... Maybe," he admitted quietly. "I don't know..." He didn't know anything - didn't know what he wanted, had no direction.

[proudofmybaby]

"Okay. We'll sort it out." She took his hands as she eased back. "Come on. We'll figure out how to sort out the room situation, okay?"

[lostmylight]

His hands tensed in hers, but he couldn't make himself pull away again. "How?" How could they sort it out -- the presence of Itachi, of multiple incarnations of Itachi, the presence of Naruto, fuck, the last person he could allow to see him in such a state.

[proudofmybaby]

"By doing it." She tightened her fingers in a gentle squeeze. "I know I've made mistakes before... but trust me with this?"

[lostmylight]

Trust her. The one person in all the world he had to believe. The one person who - at least as much as he knew, as much as he still hoped - was truly on his side.

He couldn't speak, just nodded, throat tight. The prospect of being in the same house as... as them was terrifying, but it would be worth it to be close to her.

[proudofmybaby]

She hugged him close, resting her cheek on his hair. "It'll work out Baby, it will. Just have to figure out where to put you. The top floor has gone Uzumaki I'm afraid."

[lostmylight]

Baby. There that was again. He hadn't been anyone's baby in a very long time. But maybe, just maybe, he could be again. Could put himself in his mother's hands and soak up a little of the tenderness that had been denied him since he was so small.

"Close to you," he murmured quietly, fingers curling in her clothing, holding onto her. That was all he wanted -- to be close to the mother he'd lost so long ago.

[proudofmybaby]

"I'm on the bottom floor and there aren't actually any rooms left down there." There was a beat of pause, and her tone turned wry. "And I don't think you'd want to live in my closet."

[lostmylight]

"I don't need to be that close," he answered. It was a point that let him rein himself in again, the struggle between wanting to be close to her, to cling to the mother he'd needed and not had for so many years, and wanting to be an adult, to be hold himself above the need to cling to her so closely.

[proudofmybaby]

"I think there's a room just up the stairs from mine, how does that sound? Direct line to the kitchen and back door from there as well."

[lostmylight]

"That sounds fine." Close to her, and a direct way out. He didn't intend to spend much time interacting with the other denizens of the house. Even with Mikoto's presence drawing him in, theirs made him wary. The last people he wanted to confront...

[proudofmybaby]

She nodded and stroked his back. "Alright, then that's settled. Might as well show you where it is then."

[lostmylight]

It seemed like they were settled; he nodded and drew back from her. "Please. It... would be good to rest a while." He'd been wandering for so long...

[proudofmybaby]

She touched his shoulder, then took his hand and turned to head for home. Time to get her son settled.