𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

Goodbye

"You must be tired. Do you want me to look after Ayumi for the night?"

After we set up camp, Shisui came and sat next to me, beckoning for me to hand over a sleeping Ayumi. I raised an eyebrow at him and turned away, shaking my head.

"You need the sleep," I insisted, gently bouncing Ayumi in my arms. "Go."

With tired eyes, Shisui snapped his fingers and leaned away, saying, "Ahh, I knew you'd say that," with a loud sigh. He rolled away from my sleeping bag towards his, and lay on his back.

"I'll be off first then, I guess," he said sheepishly, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "Goodnight, Kohana-chan."

I smiled tenderly at the Uchiha, nodding my head.

"Goodnight, Shisui."

Around us, the Senju shinobi had arranged themselves in a circle, with Ayumi, Shisui and I in the center. They had all introduced themselves as they had set up, and I now had all their names on lock. Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Neji, and Hinata. And, of course, Tsunade and Kannon.

Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai were the on guard for the first half of the night. Neji and Hinata had already gone to sleep, preparing themselves for their shift soon. Tsunade and Kannon had yet to follow suit.

I watched Kannon curiously as she sat across from me on her sleeping bag, tapping away on her smartphone. It had been a long time since I'd seen one: it felt so surreal.

She must have sensed me looking, because she looked up at me and met my gaze with a warm smile. Getting to her feet, she walked towards me and sat on the end of my sleeping bag with no hesitation, leaning over to get a good look at Ayumi.

"She's beautiful," she cooed, reaching out and tugging on the edge of her blanket with a simpering smile. "What's her name?"

"Ayumi." As I said her name, my voice cracked, and I laughed in embarrassment. Kannon let out a small chuckle, and sat up straight.

"This is very interesting," she said suddenly, looking me up and down. "I never knew I would meet another relative... distant or not."

"So there are more of us out there?"

Kannon nodded vigorously.

"More, but not many," she said. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty. You?"

"I am twenty four. You're not the first relative I've met, aside from my parents. The first relative I met was a girl named Uzume. She would have been your age."

"Would?"

A forlorn look crossed Kannon's face, and she nodded solemnly.

"She died two years ago."

"Oh. What happened?" My voice was blunt, but I couldn't help it. I didn't know how else to speak to her.

"It's a really long story," she said. I tilted my head at her with a small grin.

"I have lots of time."

Kannon huffed, and crossed her arms.

"Where should I start..."

Kannon went on to tell me an intricate story of her life so far, starting first with her parents.

"My parents were nine and eleven when they escaped from the Land of Darkness... you'll be amazed at the amount of children who made it out by themselves. They made it to the Land of Earth, where they were taken in by a shinobi clan there, the Nakamura. They continued their training as shinobi, and when I was born, so was I.