oh, fire spirit
promise me, you will be there
and watch over me.
— ○ —
09 | n i n e.
Izumi was currently running down the streets, looking for the certain curly haired Uchiha again. It's been a few days after their intense ninjutsu training, and for now, she'd have to train and perfect those jutsus. Yes, she learnt them that day, but to be able to use them perfectly everytime, she'd have to practice a lot.
But as always, the girl got distracted because another certain jutsu seemed to amaze her.
"Shisui!" The brunette called the boy's name as soon as she saw him. He was training all by himself. Izumi loved this about him; he was always very hardworking. He has a few days off and he's using that to improve his already amazing skills.
"Huh? Izumi, hello!" He greeted when he saw her running towards him. "What's up? Have you learnt the new jutsus yet?"
"Well.." She sweat dropped, smiling a bit. "I can use them but they're not at their best form yet. But don't worry, I'll be able to use them perfectly in no time."
"Alright," Shisui chuckled. "So, what brings you here?"
"I want to learn the summoning jutsu!"
"Summoning jutsu?" He raised his eyebrows. "You haven't learnt it yet?"
Izumi frowned. She graduated as a genin earlier than other students, albeit not as early as Itachi. In this short time, no one really taught her the summoning jutsu. So she said, "No, I haven't."
"Alright then, I'll teach you!" The older said with a grin.
"Thank you.." Izumi was still frowning.
Shisui noticed it of course, and he understood why. She felt insecure about not knowing the jutsu after all this time.
"Chin up, Izumi." Shisui spoke, placing a hand on the said girl's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it. Rather, tell me what animal you want to summon."
The brunette's expression lit up as she heard his words, and she placed a finger under her chin as she thought. What animal would be the best?
Izumi's Sharingan didn't really support her when it came to ninjutsu or taijutsu. While using genjutsu, she could use Shisui's crows. She could also use them for defense. So not thinking much further, she decided to choose crows as her summoning.
"I think crows would be the best," She said. "That way both you and Itachi could teach me how to use them."
"Good choice." The male winked and bit his thumb. He immediately summoned a crow, preparing to make Izumi's contract.
— ○ —
"I don't want to hear any of your nonsense. Just tell me how much progress you've made." A certain, black haired man spoke.
"I apologize, my Lord. We've made quite good progress. The target's entire background check has been done. It definitely has a completely different type of kekkei genkai." The man's one of many minions said. "This kekkei genkai was seen before, quite a few years ago, but that was a result of an experiment. This one, however, came out completely naturally so chances are this one is stronger."
"Are you sure it has the visual prowess?"
"We can't be completely certain about it before the target starts using it. But considering its ancestors, it will most likely happen."
The black haired man sighed and stood up. He always had this sick smile plastered to his lips that even disgusted his own loyal minions. He chuckled this time and said, "Alright, good work. Keep observing the target. When the kekkei genkai shows up, retrieve it at once. I don't care about the target being alive or not, just make sure you have the eyes."
"Understood, my Lord."
"Dismissed."
The female stood up and started heading out of the room. She had a lot of work to do, and if she's unsuccessful by any chance, she's done for.
She let out a small sigh and got to work quickly.
— ○ —
"All I could summon was a little egg!" Izumi exclaimed with a pout on her lips, to which Shisui replied with a laugh. "Don't laugh! Did you see how scary the mother looked? I thought she was going to peck my hair out."
"Don't worry about it too much. It's just the first day; you should relax, Izumi." The curly haired boy said, smiling and ruffling the girl's hair. "Oh? Aren't those Itachi and Sasuke?"
"Hm?" Izumi followed her cousin's gaze to find two more of her cousins, the sight lighting her mood up. "Yes, they are!"
"Itachi's back already! Let's talk to them about his mission!" Shisui announced and started running towards the other males, signaling Izumi to do so as well.
"Itachi! Sasuke!" Shisui called. The two mentioned boys turned to them.
"You guys!" Itachi said with a smile. "I heard from Sasuke that Shisui was teaching Izumi the summoning jutsu. How did it go?" He asked.
"Well," Izumi spoke, placing her hand on the back of her neck. "I chose crows, just like you and Shisui. And it's just the first day, so I didn't make much progress." She chuckled nervously.
"And you guys won't guess what happened here!" Suddenly Sasuke piped up. "Big brother's mission wasn't supposed to end before nightfall, but he was so strong, he defeated all the enemies and managed to head back so soon!"
"Sasuke," Itachi spoke. His face was the tiniest shade of red.
The other ones chuckled at Sasuke's cuteness, but they still acknowledged his words. Itachi truly was amazing. It was only about an hour before sunset, and he had already finished his work.
A true prodigy.
"That's great!" Izumi spoke, her voice a little bit higher than usual. "Let's celebrate, shall we?" She turned to Itachi.
"Celebrate? It's not that big of a deal—" Itachi started to speak, but he got cut off by the other cheerful male.
"Yes! We should celebrate, let's go!"
So the small group ended up heading to a tea shop. Itachi's old teammate, Shinko used to work here. They all remembered the shop too well, especially Itachi and Izumi. This was the shop where Itachi had told Izumi what he truly thought about her abilities. That was a few years ago, and they all have improved a lot.
Izumi wondered, what would Itachi say now?
"Izumi's treat!" Sasuke and Shisui both exclaimed, making Itachi chuckle.
"What?" Izumi dragged out the word. "Why me?"
"Because Itachi obviously 'forgot' his wallet," Shisui said sarcastically, "that sly devil, so you have to pay! You're a reason for us celebrating too, right?"
Izumi brought out her purse, peeped inside, and gulped. Then she sighed and said, "Alright, fine. You guys can go all out."
"Yes!" Sasuke cheered.
The four Uchihas had a lot of fun. It was mostly Sasuke and Shisui bickering about who was the strongest in their group, Itachi sometimes making witty remarks and Izumi trying to say that she was strong too. They hadn't had this much fun in a while with one another, so they made perfect use of this chance. They enjoyed themselves fully and of course, the boys remembered to empty out the brunette's entire purse.
After eating to their full capacity in different shops, the group decided to call it a day.
"I'm so full. I don't think I can eat dinner today..." Izumi spoke.
"Me neither." Sasuke said, shaking his head.
"But hey, we had a lot of fun!" Shisui chirped with a smile.
"Yes, that's right. We haven't hung out in a while." Itachi replied. "We should go out more like this."
"Yeah, we should." Shisui nodded. "Now, let's go home. Both Itachi and Izumi should rest."
The four Uchihas started heading home. They were gossiping for a while about everyone's expressions when they ate, and laughing about it. But at one point, tiredness seemed to take over all of them and they became silent. They just walked normally, enjoying the cool breeze of the summer night.
Sasuke was ahead of everyone, looking around at things and sometimes recalling the hand signs for some jutsus to help himself the next day in class. Itachi and Izumi were in the middle, silently walking beside each other. And Shisui was last, taking his time to walk.
"Izumi." Itachi said the brunette girl's name.
"Yeah?" Izumi replied, taking her eyes off of the ground and turning to Itachi.
"I wanted to say.. That I'm sorry."
"What?" Izumi was shocked. "Why?"
"Remember when you became a genin?" He said, not making eye contact. "We had visited Shinko's tea shop."
"Yeah.." Izumi replied. She knew where this was going, but she wanted to let Itachi say everything. So she said, "What about it?"
Itachi's eyebrows furrowed. He stared at the ground and said, "That day I had told you a lot of rude things about how you were weak, I even made you cry." He looked up this time, then said, "I'm really sorry for that."
Izumi chuckled a bit. "It's fine. I really was weak back then."
"No!" Itachi suddenly exclaimed. "I mean, you've grown so much. No one would dare to call you weak now, because you're not. So what I said was wrong."
"Itachi," Izumi said his name softly. "Let me be honest with you. Yes, what you said that day did hurt me, but it's something I really needed. Your words lit up this fire inside me, and I knew I couldn't give up before I proved you wrong." She giggled a bit. "Your words encouraged me to go further. And I did, which is why I'm here today, able to put up a fight, albeit small, against you and sometimes even Shisui."
"Izumi..." Itachi mumbled, not knowing what to say.
"So I want to thank you. And please, watch over me from now on. I want you to stay with me and help me grow."
Izumi's eyes held a sparkle in them as she said those words. Itachi was surprised, he never thought his words would affect the girl in this way. For that, he was glad. He smiled a bit.
"I will. I'll help you as much as I can, and as long as I can." He said.
Izumi grinned at him, her eyes turning into crescents.
"Thank you!"
— ○ —
a/n : hello
so this story is no longer being edited, it's ongoing now. yay.
could you guys please tell me if i made any of the characters ooc? i feel like i have...
p. s. autocorrect keeps changing 'shinko' into 'stinko' and i can't stop laughing