<One Month Time Skip>
Exactly a month had passed since Sasuke's birthday. Today was my day off of training, but I already had set plans for the day. I was so excited.
Tachi told me that watching Sasuke and I reminded him of when he was younger and first started liking Izumi Uchiha (picture). The two had been official for a while now, and he wanted to introduce me to her! AHHH I was so excited to meet her omg. He also said he wanted Sasuke to tag along as well for a bit before he had to leave for the Academy.
That wasn't the only thing I had planned for the day, Shisui said he wanted to spend time with me and take me somewhere special. I was obviously excited for that as well.
I hastily got ready that morning to meet Izumi. Tachi told me to meet him at the lake (yes, THE lake) in the Uchiha training grounds. I finished my breakfast quickly and just went straight to the lake and told Sasuke to meet me there after he ate.
Approaching them, I noticed how perfect Izumi and Itachi looked together. She was so beautiful and had really pretty, long brown hair. They saw me and smiled.
I smiled back and as I sat down with them, I greeted her, "Hi, you must be Izumi! I'm Natalia; Tachi's told me looottttsss about you."
She giggled, "He's told me lots about you too. It's nice to meet you! You're absolutely adorable."
I smiled, "thank you, and you're really pretty!" She gave me a nice big smile. My eyes widened, "Oh! And we have the same beauty mark!!" I exclaimed while pointing to mine.
Her jaw dropped, "oh my gosh, we do!"
We looked at Tachi with amazed expressions and he chuckled, "I noticed that too." He smiled at us. We smiled back.
Izumi then spoke to him, "Well I'm glad this one actually likes me."
I was really confused but then remembered the flashbacks from the anime of Sasuke crying as a baby whenever Izumi tried to carry him.
"Wait, are you talking about Sasuke?" I asked and they nodded. "He still doesn't like you? I thought that was only a thing when he was a baby. How could he not like you! That makes no sense." Tachi raised an eyebrow at me because he knew he never told me that. I mouthed to him "TBK". He silently sighed.
Izumi didn't notice, "I have no idea!"
I then asked them, "are you sure he doesn't?"
Tachi then said, "you'll see". I raised an eyebrow then nodded skeptically.
With practically impeccable timing, we saw Sasuke approaching the lake. His eyes landed on me and smiled, I smiled back, and then his eyes landed on Izumi. His expression instantly became sour. My jaw actually dropped.
"Told you." Tachi muttered.
"What the heck!" I whispered. He chuckled.
I noticed Izumi grow kinda tense. Why was he so rude to her?
I stood up when Sasuke got to us. "Sasuke, can I speak with you for a moment? Alone." Without letting him answer, I immediately grabbed his hand and pulled him away to begin my lecture. Izumi and Tachi just blinked.
Once we were a little further away from them, I stopped, let go of his hand and put my hands on my hips. "Why on earth do you hate Izumi?!"
"I don't hate her, I just don't like her." He answered simply.
"Okay.... well why do you not like her?" I asked.
"She takes time away from him that he should be spending with me!" He answered.
I raised a brow, "does that mean you don't like me either?" I inquired. He looked confused so I clarified, "I take time away from him too sometimes when he trains me privately."
He averted his eyes away from me and said, "that's different. And it's not constant like it is with her."
I rolled my eyes, "you can't be mad at her for that. They are lovers they have to spend time with each other, because they love each other. If you love someone like that, you want to spend as much time with them as possible."
He blushed a little for some reason, "I guess you're right."
I ignored his blush because maybe he was just embarrassed, "and that doesn't mean he doesn't care for you. He enjoys spending time with you as well. He just needs to make sure he can make enough time for her too, because we both know how busy he is all the time." He nodded in understanding. "Okay, let's just leave them alone and I'll walk with you to school." He smiled and nodded.
Oh yea, for the past month I've been walking him to school more often because the fangirls don't even dare approach me anymore.
I went over to Tachi and Izumi, "I'm gonna walk Sasuke to school and meet with Gramps. Oh Izumi, I call the Hokage Gramps by the way if you're confused." She nodded. "It was nice meeting you!"
She smiled, "It was nice meeting you too, Natalia." I smiled too.
"Okay well, bye! I'll leave you two to have your alone time." I said knowingly, smirking. Their eyes widened and they blushed, making me snort and run towards Sasuke.
He smiled when I got to him, and he instantly went to hold my hand. This made me smile and we began walking to the Academy.
(Short Third POV)
As the couple watched Natalia and Sasuke walk away together holding hands, Izumi asked, "they don't realize it yet, do they?"
Itachi chuckled. "I think they definitely do, they just don't understand it. Kinda like us when we were younger."
She smiled and nodded, then pointed out, "I can tell you care a lot about Natalia."
Itachi nodded, "yes, I really do. She's brought a lot of happiness into our household. Like Sasuke, I feel the need to protect her, as if she were my little sister. And although he's never said it, Shisui feels the same about her."
"Oh right, you did tell me about how they've gotten close and somehow both say that extremely odd word." Izumi replied.
Itachi laughed, "it surprises me that they aren't actually related. They're so similar in so many ways, not only their quirks, but they're both talented ninjas and still have the ability to take things seriously when needed."
"I did notice she seems pretty mature for her age." Izumi noted.
"She is, which never fails to impress everyone who meets her. Even my father." Itachi said.
Izumi's eyes widened, "woah even Fugaku? Wow." Itachi smiled and nodded.
The two continued to appreciate their time together for the rest of the morning, and talked about anything and everything that came to mind. They both loved each other deeply, and knew someday the two children they saw earlier would experience it too.
(Natalia's POV)
After I dropped off Sasuke at the Academy and gave him a tight hug goodbye, I decided to pick up some dango and tea to go, for Gramps and I.
I walked into the dango shop and ordered. They prepared it fairly quickly today, which I was thankful for. I made my way over to Gramps' office and as I was about to knock, the door opened as a man stepped out.
I froze.
Was I feeling scared? Furious? Nervous? I couldn't decide.
Danzo was the man walking out of Gramps' office.
He asked me, "shouldn't you be at the Academy?" He didn't say it in a mean way though. I mean why would he? He didn't know me.
I gulped, "no. I don't attend the academy, because I'm only in the village temporarily."
He narrowed his eye at me then turned to Gramps.
Gramps spoke up, "This is Natalia, she's Tsunade's daughter who's been staying in our village to get to know where she's from."
"I never knew Tsunade had a daughter...And her father?" Bastard-I mean Danzo asked.
I needed to intervene because I didn't know what Gramps would say, "we don't know. And I don't really care to. He was just some random man I guess...you must know of my mother's drinking and gambling habits, so that's basically why."
Danzo raised his brow, "very well. I'll leave you two to speak." I nodded and smiled. I knew he was suspicious of me so I needed to act as normal as possible around him. Even if it was hard to because of everything I know about him. I hate to admit it, but I am actually excited for Sasuke to kill him in the future.
He left and I closed the door behind him as I entered the room.
I let out a deep breathe I didn't notice I was holding.
"I wasn't going to tell him, Natalia." Gramps said to me as I sat down in my chair. "Though is there any particular reason you didn't want him to know? I sensed the tension that built up within you while in his presence."
"I don't trust him at all." I said simply. He raised an eyebrow. "I can't tell you why because of TBK. I just really don't trust him nor like him." He nodded in understanding. I then noticed his eyes landed on the paper bag I was holding.
I excitedly announced, "I bought us some dango and tea! I always make you prepare tea for me, so I figured I'd just buy it today." I smiled at him.
"That was very kind of you." He smiled.
I then laid out our treats on the desk for us to eat, and we began to talk.
I told him about my introduction of Izumi and my plans for the day with Shisui. He listened intently as I spoke. After that, like we always do, we worked on some paperwork. I liked making his job easier, even if it was just simple documents to stamp or sign. (He lets me sign things with his approval).
Once it was the afternoon, I left to meet Shisui at the Uchiha training grounds.
He was sitting on the floor under the tree resting his eyes, waiting for me.
I walked up to him, and apparently he wasn't resting his eyes. He was asleep. Aw he looked so peaceful. I sat down beside him and tapped his nose a couple times. His eyes fluttered open and landed on mine.
He smiled, "Oh, sorry I didn't realize I fell asleep." He stood up and I did as well. "Alright. I know this is technically your day off, but I came up with a training game I thought you'd like." My eyes lit up in curiosity. "It's a body flicker game. It's gonna be like Tag, except there's no running involved, you're only allowed to use the body flicker technique."
"Okay, that sounds SO fun, where are we gonna play?" I asked eagerly. This would be really good practice for me. It's actually incredibly clever. It will pressure me into using the technique more often and quicker as if I were in an actual battle.
"The entire village." He answered making my eyes go EXTREMELY wide.
"The ENTIRE village?! This sounds like it's gonna be very tiresome... but verryyy fun at the same time." I tapped my fingers against each other like an evil praying mantis. He laughed at my little sadistic side coming out.
I mean, come on. Everyone's gonna see us and get completely confused. Imagine seeing two people teleporting everywhere at rapid speeds all around the village.. we'll most likely cause a little bit of mayhem because of it. I'm excited.
He explained a couple more rules like how we can't go inside certain buildings, and then we got started.
I instantly teleported out of the Uchiha district, which he predicted as he appeared right in front of me and almost touched me, making me teleport away from him and then to the middle of the village. (He's already taught me long distance) Oh by the way, he was "it" if you couldn't already tell.
Because I had almost the same amount of chakra as him at this point, because of how much I trained, we both lasted a really long time body flickering around the village without growing tired.
At one point I teleported to Izumo and Kotetsu and hid behind them for a bit because I started getting scared of Shisui. He somehow managed to predict exactly where I was going to teleport and he was so intimidating. His body flicker is obviously much better than mine so it's really hard to get away from him without having the ability to run, when he gets too close.
I'm actually surprised I didn't awaken my third tomoe during this, because I actually thought I was gonna die or something if he caught me. The amount of times I squealed out of fear that he was going to catch me, was almost as much as Sasuke's fangirls squeal in a day for him. And every time I did, it slowed Shisui down just a little bit because he couldn't hold in his laughter at me.
As I predicted, everyone in the village grew cautious and weary of their surroundings, because word had spread that we were teleporting everywhere. It was so funny to watch people get startled when we popped up out of nowhere in front of them. From the outside, it must have looked like the village was being attacked or something because of how many people screamed today. It was absolutely HYSTERICAL. Even Shisui thought it was funny, because I caught him laughing at people who'd jump up out of fear when he teleported in front of them.
We continued for a couple hours until he finally caught me in the dango shop.
"How dare the dango shop betray me like this?!" I cried anime tears as Shisui held onto my arm that he caught.
He laughed, "okay I think that's enough for today. Next time we play you'll be 'it'." I sadly nodded. That was so much fun I couldn't even describe how much I enjoyed it. I was really tired though at that point, so I was fine with stopping. He added, "I'm gonna buy us some dango and then I'm taking you to that place I mentioned." I smiled hugely and nodded rapidly.
Dango sounded really good at that moment. I already had some earlier, but you can never have too much dango. I sat down patiently at one of the tables, waiting for him to order and for the dango to be ready. Once we got the dango, we walked out of the shop and Shisui bent down in front of me gesturing for me to get on his back, and I instantly obliged. He then walked to the Uchiha District and into an area of the woods where I've never been. It was on the opposite side of the district where the Nakano Shrine was.
Oh wait. I mentally face palmed. He must be taking me to the place where he and Tachi always go to that only they know of.
I tried not to physically tense up as we approached the designated location, but I failed. I realized this is where it happens.
Shisui obviously noticed and asked me, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just kinda scared of heights." I lied, looking at the cliff that looks down on the Nakano River.
"Oh, okay I'll make sure we don't get too close to the cliff, don't worry." He said and smiled reassuringly. I gave a small smile in return.
'I still have time, I still have time'. I repeated in my head.
I then climbed down his back as he stopped walking, and sat down on the floor with him.
"So why'd you bring me here?" I questioned.
He smiled and looked up at the sky, "Only Itachi and I know of this place. It's a place we come to where we can clear our minds and forget about all of the issues that go on within the Clan and the village, which I know you're aware of, I can tell."
"Yea I know everything that goes on and what the Clan thinks and does." I admitted.
He sighed, "I figured you'd appreciate this place as well because of that. I can sense when you're stressed or worried about stuff, Natalia. And it's been showing more recently. I also know that your stress is greater than ours because of TBK, even if you don't want to admit it."
I looked up at the sky as well, "I hate that you can read me so well. How do you do that?"
He lightly chuckled, "I honestly don't know. Maybe because of how close we are? I can read Itachi pretty well too and I think of him as my little brother. I guess it's the same with you."
My eyes widened and I snapped my head at him, "you think of me as your little sister?" He smiled and simply nodded. My eyes started watering and I threw myself onto him and gave him a tight hug. "I think of you as my big brother too, so that means a lot Shisui." He hugged me back tightly as well, and unbeknownst to me, he was smiling warmly at me and had tears filling his eyes as well.
We stayed in the hug for a while, and I ended up falling asleep in his arms.
(Shisui's POV)
As I felt Natalia's breathing slow down, I realized she had fallen asleep. A small child fell asleep in my arms and I thought it was so adorable. This kinda of thing never happened with Itachi when he was younger, but even if it did, I doubt it would have felt like this. I really thought of her as my baby sister. Well... very mature baby sister.
I decided it was best for me to take her home, since I knew it was getting late and she was tired from our hilarious game.
I carefully held onto her sleeping form as I stood up. I then made my way to her current home.
While walking through the district, I noticed some men giving me odd looks and women either giving me heart eyes or just confused expressions. I ignored them.
When I got to my destination, I knocked on the door making sure it was loud enough to hear but not too loud where it could wake Natalia up. To my surprise, Itachi was the one who opened the door.
I think he noticed my confusion, because he said, "I had a day off today, that's why I'm here." I nodded. "She fell asleep?" I nodded once again. "Come, you can take her to her bed." I nodded...again.
We entered her room and he helped me tuck her into bed, since I've never done anything like this before, whereas he's done it probably a million times with both Sasuke and Natalia.
After we finished, I asked him, "can I talk to you?" He nodded. We walked out of her room and went outside for a walk.
"So what'd you wanna talk to me about?" He inquired.
I then explained Natalia and I's day and what we said at our spot above the Nakano River, which made him smile warmly. But then I brought up something that's been bothering me.
"Look, because I think of her as my little sister, I'm worried about her and I want your input on the situation because I know you care for her too." I started. He gestured for me to continue. "I think the burden that's been placed on her, is taking a tole on her mental health and possibly her physical well-being at this point. I can tell she tries to distract herself from it by training nonstop and spending time with many people as much as possible. I know you see it too, that she almost never allows herself to be alone with her thoughts. Recently she's been more on edge, especially when she's walking around in the district. She told me she's aware of what's going on within the clan, and I know that she knows something's gonna happen in the future because of it. But I think she's in denial." I finished.
Itachi thought for a moment and then said, "I know exactly what you mean. I've noticed it as well. I don't know what we could possibly do to help though. If we try to talk to her about it, she's either going to change the subject or say something that's entirely vague about the future and then get sad. For some reason, it hurts her to think about the future."
I deeply sighed, knowing he's right. It made sense why they called it a burden. "I just can't help but wonder what she's going to encounter in the future and not be able to do something about it."
Itachi shrugged, "I have no idea either." He paused for a few moments, "We'll just have to wait and see and be there for her." I nodded in agreement. "In the meantime, let's just make the present worthwhile for our little Natalia."
I smiled and agreed with him, "You're right. If only you mastered the body flicker technique, then you'd be able to play our game with us."
"Tch. I wouldn't want to play that anyways. You two practically terrified the villagers and caused a lot chaos today. I'd prefer to keep my reputation intact." He replied.
I jokingly gasped and put my hand on my chest as if I were deeply offended, "are you implying that I've ruined my reputation just for playing an innocent game of body flicker tag with Natalia?" He gave me a flat look and nodded. I sweatdropped.
"I'm sure it's fine." I waved it off. He rolled his eyes. "Well I better get going, I have a mission tomorrow morning and I'm sure you do too." I said.
He nodded, "I do. Goodnight Shisui."
"Night." We waved goodbye and went to our homes.
I was lost in my thoughts the entire way...
I sure hope I can be there for Natalia when she needs me. Something about it worries me though, as if I fear I won't be able to help her for some reason. I mean, what could I possibly do to help when the time comes? She knows the future but can't talk about it, can't change it, and has to witness it. Most would think that's awesome, but it's been named as a burden on her because of the harsh events she knows of. What does one do in a situation like that? That's exactly why I have no idea how to help her...I really want to be the big brother that's always there for her, but something tells me that won't happen. Nevertheless, I will try my hardest because I love and care for her.
So like, I'm crying a little from this chapter.. Natalia and Shisui's brother/sister relationship is so cute. I love them so much!
How will Natalia prepare for Shisui's death? How will she deal with it? Will it crush her? She is destined to experience great pain in her life no matter what...
On another kinda less depressing note, Izumi Uchiha actually was Itachi's girlfriend, if you didn't know. You should look her up so you can learn more about her!
I've been reading the comments and I'm really glad you're enjoying this story! It means a lot to me to see those comments.
Next 2 chapters will be some fun ones! See ya! :)