The Way It Was Meant To Be

Chapter twenty four

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

"May I borrow a Kunai?" He would have preferred his tanto, but it got taken by the senju.

Catching the kunai that izuna threw at him, he murmured. "Thank you."

"Don't hold back."

Shisui's lips formed a straight line. He was not happy by how things turned out. It didn't even seem like a part of training anymore.

"Ready?" Izuna seemed all to prepared to start. His katana still sheathed and form relaxed. He looked completely unconcerned. But shisui knew that wasn't the case. He knew that was his deadly stance.

And that worried shisui. This was supposed to be a 'friendly' spar, not a battle.

"Before that," he called out quickly, and walked towards him. "There is something I want us to do before that."

Izuna stared at his two outstretched finger in confusion. "What's this?"

Shisui explained. "This symbolizes friendship from a spar between two shinobi, and it honors our combatant."

This was done after the spar though. But he needed to remind izuna that this was a spar. He was fighting with someone who will hopefully become close to him one day, not an enemy.

When he finished explaining, izuna didn't move at all. Some part of him thought he was going to slap his hand away, but to his surprise, izuna very, very slowly touched his two fingers with his. Shisui's two finger reflexively hooked slightly around his. The wind ruffled their clothes making this scene more dramatic. And shisui lips curled into a warm smile.

***

Shisui lost.

That wasn't really a surprise. What was a surprise is that it had been a long spar. Possibly almost two hours, much longer than when itachi and him sparred. Izuna was in another level from him and itachi, and had been obviously holding back. Of course he had been holding back as well, but not as much as izuna had been. He didn't hesitate from using his shunshin, which made izuna sweat.

But the most surprising part of all, it was the fact that he really enjoyed it.

He caught himself smiling to himself many times during their spar. And he wasn't the only one...he had seen izuna smirk to himself as well.

It wasn't so bad after all.

Other than sparring with itachi, he has never enjoyed himself in a spar so much before. Of course he had to take care of his neck from being sliced away from his body, but nothing can be perfect.

He slumped against the tree panting hard. His body sweaty from head to toe and his body was also aching slightly from such an intense spar. But he was very happy. He couldn't remember the last time since he had such a great spar.

He watched in satisfaction at seeing izuna's chest go up and down in rapid motions. He wasn't as sweaty nor in a mess like he was, but it still gave him pride at seeing someone as great as izuna so out of breath because of him.

"T-that was a good spar." He commented still panting.

"Hn."

They stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, the only noise was Shisui's panting. The air ruffled their clothes and shisui closed his eyes enjoying how refreshing it felt. He was the most relaxed he had ever been in a long time. He could almost pretend there were not problems waiting for him.

But of course there is.

Since the fight with hashirama, he's been sleeping warily. Afraid that one day he'll wake up to hashirama kicking him out. Or worse, tobirama. But he was currently on a mission, so that won't happen any time soon.