𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘉𝘌𝘋𝘌𝘝𝘐𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘓𝘌𝘎𝘈𝘊𝘠 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

✧

The next few days proceeded as they usually would after a large battle. Funerals, delivering bad news to the living family members, and getting wounds taken care of. The healers were still busy tending to those who had a longer recovery process ahead, but after a few days, things were beginning to return to normal. Or what could be considered normal, since life would never be the same for those with empty spots at their dining tables.

Asami was fine and made it out unscathed compared to many others. She did have trouble sleeping—she would find herself rolling over and pressing on the stab wounds in just the right spot for her to wake up in pain. But that was a small price to pay in comparison to people who didn't come home at all. She could put up with some discomfort for a while.

Dressed in a black yukata, Asami walked down the hall heading towards the dining room. She could hear Madara and Izuna talking over breakfast, but she had just gotten up and got dressed, so she hadn't gotten the chance to leave her room and join the world yet.

She turned the corner, coming up on an open door leading into the eating area. Madara sat on the opposite side of Izuna, his eyes downcast as he read over a scroll. Izuna was eating a bowl of rice and vegetables, another bowl full of food placed next to him.

Asami came over to the table, Izuna turning his attention to her. Madara continued to read, engrossed in the contents of the scroll.

Izuna gave her a smile, "Good morning."

"Good morning," She replied. She glanced at Madara, before pointing to the bowl next to Izuna. "Is this for me?"

Izuna gave the bowl a gentle push, nodding his head. "Yeah, I figured you were going to be up soon so I made you breakfast too."

"Ah," Asami came over and dropped next to him, beginning to eat. "Thank you."

Izuna didn't say anything else, eating his food. He took a few bites, before giving her a look out of the corner of his eye. Asami could feel him looking at her, but she didn't jump to acknowledge it. Izuna could just be... weird sometimes, so it could have been he was thinking about something unrelated and looking at her.

But after a few move glances, she turned her head, giving him a strange look. "What are you doing?" She asked

Izuna stared back at her, blinking slowly. Asami didn't relax her face, still giving him a strange look. Noticing the interaction, Madara slowly lowered his scroll and looked between the both of them as the silence continued to settle in the room. It was just awkward.

"What are you doing, Izuna?" Asked Madara, raising a brow at him.

Izuna hummed, leaning back and lowering his hand holding his chopsticks against the table. He looked to Madara, meeting his gaze, before glancing at Asami again. He paused carefully as though he was figuring out the delivery of what he was going to say.

"Today is your birthday, you know." He said finally, eyes not straying from her face. "You're seventeen now."

Asami suddenly felt sick, her hand dropping to the surface of the table. She wasn't even sure how to respond, her brain unable to form words. She looked at the grain of the wooden table as her mouth felt dry.

Today was her birthday. She hadn't even realized that.... today was her first birthday alone. With the battle and the aftermath of it, she hadn't had any time to think about her upcoming birthday. Her life lately had been fast-paced to the point where her days became jumbled, so it had totally slipped her mind.