From Darkness to Light (The Little Senju Series Book Two): A Naruto Fanfiction

Izumi and the Confession

Naruto's POV

I burst through another door panting. He wasn't in this one either, "Isn't here..." I breathed out before pulling myself from the door once more.

"That's it for the rooms on this floor." Sai informed coolly, "Let's go on to the next."

"Yeah." I agreed quickly as I started to run off once more only stopping as I skidded to the floor, "Guh!

"Naruto..." Izumi was already at my side, "There's no need to rush here, you know?" I tried to get up myself only to lurch back to the floor of the hideout, "You're still weakened from earlier, right?" I looked up at the girl squinting one eye, "Don't give me that look; I understand I screwed up big time..." She placed my arm around her shoulders, "I don't want anything to happen to you, so let's cool it for a moment, "We have Captain Yamato and Sakura backing us up as well.

. . .

The three of us were now rested against the wall, "Sorry, I can't do much at the moment..." Izumi mentioned biting at her lower lip as her eyes flashed green for a moment, "I'm almost clean out right now." Her eyes went back to normal as she leaned against the wall huffing a bit.

"Izumi, I get it." I replied giving her a soft expression, "We're all tired, so let's rest as you said."

"...Oh geez..." Izumi and I looked up at Sai Quizzical in expression, "You two are so alike." The dark-haired boy pulled out the picture book from before, "You and my brother... He was impatient, loud, unrefined, and his..." He stared at the book an almost peaceful face, "But still... Yeah... Just like you, he took on anything he did with everything he had, and watching you somehow brings back memories of..." He paused as his eyes widened and he pulled the brush from his bag before placing it to the center pages.

"Is that...?" I smiled as the boy worked.

"I remembered..." Sai stumbled out as he smiled and this time it didn't seem fake, "I wanted to show my brother this... This picture of our dream..." It revealed a picture of the two boys smiling and holding hands.

"That's so..." Us two boys turned to Izumi who had her face lowered into her hands, "That's so precious..." A stream of tears dribbled down her chin, "My gosh... What is wrong with me...?" She rubbed the back of her hands across her eyes while shaking her head., "Naruto, if we're going to be resting here, we need to talk about earlier..." Her body shook as her fingers slipped around my hand gracefully, "I'm not going to excuse myself here... I've been more than awful recently. Don't feel obliged to be nice to me." She fell silent as I deadpanned at her swallowing as her touch against my hand tightened, "I told myself that I was done second-guessing this decision I'd made, and if she was still alive I probably wouldn't be in this situation."

"Izumi..." I squeezed back as the moisture in the blue-haired girl's eyes reformed, "Izumi, what's bothering you?"

"Hmm..." Her voice went raspy as she hid her eyes with her opposite hand, "Sai, I have to thank you too." She removed the hand from her face as she grabbed the dark-haired boy's shoulder, "Your actions since earlier... Blimey, you inspire me." The boy was almost wide-eyed as Izumi looked forward seemingly counting the cracks in the wall. She gave another swallow as she drew both hands back to herself threading themselves together, "If I admit this... Please, don't laugh at me..." I shook my head as I stared at her almost desperate for answers, "I Just... I have to hate Sasuke." I tensed biting my tongue as I waited for the next words out of Izumi's mouth, "If I don't hate him, I just might love him... and that just sounds so painful..."

"Izumi...!" I squeezed the girl between my arms, "I'm sorry..." I said softly as she whimpered and shuddered against my touch, "You've been going through a lot, right?" She nodded with a small pout, "You care just as much about Sasuke as me, right?" Another nod as Sai could only stare at the two of us, "You just don't want to lose me too? Well, I don't want to lose you either Izumi, so you don't have to hide it anymore. You can just say how you feel from now on.

The girl sniffled to herself as she pulled away from me and brought her arms around herself, "I hate crying..." She grumbled rubbing her eyes again, "Mmm... My eyes hurt... I think I want to get going again..."

The three of us looked up suddenly as a pair of footsteps approached us, "Well then..." Orochimaru replied, "Sai, which side do you intend to take?" A flourish of snakes appeared from the man's sleeve causing the lot of us to sprint away with a leap, "Hmm, look like you chose to side with them... Sai, or whoever you are."

Well, that was a lot, and I'm sleepy. Very, very sleepy. Am I going to go to sleep? No, of course, I'm not because why would I do the smart thing. Welp, someone's getting hella loopy now. Bye,bye! Until next time!

--Amy