29.

"What are you doing here?" Yuna asked, without even lifting her eyes from her breakfast.

Izuna pulled himself a chair and sat down without asking for permission and smiled. Yuna sighed and slurped her morning miso soup.

It was strangely disturbing to see Izuna smile like that after his confessions from the night before. Secrets are always a good way to bond people together.

"Well we're going on a weeklong mission! So eat up, pack and meet me at the front gate in twenty minutes!" He informed her happily. Yuna yawned loudly and groaned in annoyance.

What she desired was to curl up in a private corner and sleep. Still, she was glad to get out of the compound for a while.

Lately there had been too much excessive drama for her liking (even if she had caused most of it) but Yuna would choose the mission with Izuna over sitting and watching Chinatsu read anytime.

Before she could move her brain cells enough to come up with an acceptable response Izuna had already sprinted away to attend everything that needed his attention.

She yawned once more and finished her routine breakfast as quickly as she could before dragging herself sluggishly through the polished halls. It was strangely calm; no one was rushing around. Usually everyone was in a hurry to get to the cafeteria as fast as possible to get the rice with the most chicken in it.

The first arrivals always got to choose their tray and would choose the one that had the most meat.

It was one of the small, childish pleasures the Uchiha men were allowed to enjoy. Yuna found it pointless at first, but through time she learned that small joys like that helped the men through the day, made it easier.

She reached her shared room, surprised to find a half-asleep Harue still under the covers and not outside warming up.

He was on his back with the blanket not covering his torso and his feet; Harue hadn't even bothered to put a shirt on. Yuna closed the door and giggled before covering his feet, causing him to wake up again.

"It's one of those days for you as well?" She asked jokingly and grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes in it along with some scrolls and supplies that she guessed might prove useful. After all the ever helpful Izuna had been quite terse about briefing her.

"You're going on a mission? With who?" Harue asked and lazily pushed himself into a sitting position while leaning against the wall, he even opened one eye for that.

Yuna snorted and put her bag on the ground before violently punching everything inside so she could close the zipper quickly.

"I'm going on a seven-day mission with Izuna. Don't ask, even I don't know."

She put on a thicker jacket, picked up her pack and walked to the door. Yuna was about to leave when she remembered something.

"Also, try to look sad since everyone thinks we're lovers now." Yuna added jokingly with a wink before she hurried out of the door.

Harue sighed and shook his head, but it went unnoticed by Yuna.


Izuna's twenty minute limit was long over. He was waiting for her impatiently, but unlike other people, he stayed perfectly still and occupied himself with something else.

Izuna never had a twitchy finger or foot. His eyes were focused on the tree branches, or at least he was trying to do so.

They're getting foggier.

His eyes shifted, his focus broken when he heard Yuna running down the hall. He smiled politely, it was a habit carved into his reflexes.

Ever since he was a kid, he learned to smile to mislead the people around him, and it worked most of the time, until his perfect façade slipped and Yuna saw his true colours.

It was a one-time thing; because Izuna could promise Yuna that he isn't actually that brutal, she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yuna reached him in just a few seconds and walked right past him, stepping outside on the frozen road. Surprisingly they weren't as slippery as she had expected.

She couldn't help but to smile, feeling the early-winter sun caress her cheeks. The ground, trees, buildings and roads were all covered by a thin layer of snow that glittered like diamonds under the sun.

"Can you see this?" Yuna asked Izuna as she squatted down to touch the snow with her small hand.

The girl took a small fistful and waited for it to melt. She liked the burning sensation in her palms that the snow gave her. It was a strange, partially masochistic habit of hers.

"You know they say that we have most of our nerves in our hands, especially at the tips of our fingers. That's why even blind people can read, because the tips of our fingers are so sensitive." She explained, suddenly remembering something from her biology lessons from a long time ago.

Yuna was never really into biology, she fancied literature over anything else. It was regretful that she couldn't read as often as she desired after the divorce.

Now her free time was filled with lessons with Harue, Chinatsu and Madara. Those three were suddenly always there, making her feel cornered and breathless.

Izuna rolled his eyes and walked past her, "Let's go, I'll explain the mission to you on the way." was his curt response.

The man decided to ignore Yuna's question completely. That wasn't her business. What concerned Madara was her business; everything else on the other hand wasn't her concern.

Gloomy, that's what Izuna sounded like. Yuna's smile didn't budge; surprisingly she was in a very good mood, which didn't happen often lately.

Yuna straightened up and wiped her hands on her jacket before putting on some black gloves and ran after Izuna. Yuna slowed down to the Uchiha's pace when she caught up with him, he gave one look at her direction before chuckling.

"This isn't a school field trip you know." He said mockingly, eyeing her gloves.

"I'd rather not freeze my hands off thank you very much."

Izuna stifled a laugh: "Are you a ninja or not? Those are mittens! How are you planning on forming seals with those?" He questioned her without much curiosity in his voice.

Instead, he sounded like a father scolding his child.

Yuna pouted and chose to stare at her boots before she sighed, "Well I'll be even more useless when I have no fingers to speak of. You're just jealous of my beautiful gloves!"

Izuna rolled his eyes and mumbled, "As if," under his breath before stuffing his hands deep into his pockets.

"I'm going to start my mission tonight. I'll spy some gangs and gather information. Lastly, after a few days I will also spy on one of their meetings. They aren't a real threat to the clan, but they are slowly starting to interfere and get in the clan's way." Izuna explained to Yuna, switching the subject randomly.

Nevertheless, he manages to accomplish this without being awkward. The mitten discussion was over either way. Everything was so white Yuna still had trouble adjusting to the brightness and tried not to open her eyes fully.

While trying to save her eyes from being burnt out, she did manage to pay attention, what Izuna said and process it as well and she found the odd error in his calculations.

"That won't take a week. It could be accomplished within three days maximum, also why am I not included in the plan…Are you plotting something or this is just your sick way to play a prank on me?" She questioned him. Izuna glanced towards her with a strange look, but it vanished moments later.

"You know Yuna…The only person, most likely in the entire world, who can spice Madara's drinks without him noticing, is me. Since he's too stubborn to take medicine I just have to force it down quietly." It sounded as if Izuna was planning to poison Madara with some foreign new drug.

Yuna knew better now. He would never do something like that…He might use something more harmless.

"Did you find something to remedy his eyesight? Are you sure that it's safe?" Yuna questioned. Izuna pushed down the urge to roll his eyes. Still, Yuna's questions only proved her worry for Madara.

"Of course it's safe. I did a whole lot of research before I chose someone to contact. The medicine is supposed to slow it down, the loss of sight if not stop Madara's sight growing worse.

If it works then Madara will notice. What I am interested in is will he say anything about it?" He left the question hanging in the air.

Yuna shrugged casually, trying to picture it. He would probably throw a fit before realising that it's actually good, or he will skip the rage chapter and jump right to the part where Madara thanks Izuna and everyone's happy once again.

As if that would happen.

"I think that he will try to kick your teeth in for trampling with his pride." She stated blatantly.

Izuna chuckled,

"Sounds like him…Did you know that when the Senju first offered a truce Madara refused, but the clan forced him to accept. Everyone's tired of fighting with the Senju."

"Are you tired as well? Or did you choose to follow your brother?"

Izuna hesitated before answering. Would she keep pestering him if he refused to answer?

"I'm exhausted, but along with everyone else I reasoned with Madara. He can't put his own desires ahead, he may be right about fighting until the Senju disappear but if he doesn't have men willing to die for that reason then it's pointless. Madara knows that but sometimes he forgets."

Yuna smiled softly while dancing on the frozen ground lightly.

When she was a child, she wanted to be so light that she wouldn't leave traces on the snow. While Izuna seemed to walk in a straight line with balanced steps, Yuna's footprints were chaotic with signs of her twirling and jumping around like a ballerina.

"Anyone can forget the basics sometimes. Also you still failed to enlighten me, what is my purpose here?"

"You are the one who will find the old hag to get the medicine. She can't know that it's the Uchiha that she'll be helping. So I've been writing letters with her, playing a character named Kanako.

I brought copies of the letters I've exchanged with her so you could catch up. There are only about four though. That's your mission this time." Yuna could hear the hopes that Izuna had concealed deep inside of him.

He wanted a magic drug that to appear so badly. If someone required him to give up his limbs as a result, he damn well would have.

Yuna's smile disappeared and was replaced by a puzzled expression. Madara was not to know about this. Izuna was wrapping her into his schemes.

"You're going to get caught one day because you lie so much." Izuna flexed his muscles before yawning.

That was something strange, Yuna had never witnessed him show anything remotely human besides his outburst long time ago. Who would have guessed?

"Do you really have this little faith in me? I don't lie that often actually."

After a little pause, Yuna shook her head before laughing.

"Liar," she smirked, her point proven.

The edge of Izuna's mouth twitched as he tried to suppress the smile that wanted to creep onto his face.

Lies, they were something no one could honestly detect. He left that thought to ponder over it later on a sleepless night.

"Let's speed up; we have to reach the town by nightfall. We'll check in the hotel before I go."

It only occurred to her later that Izuna would've been forced to spill his secrets to her, even without her probing. How else would he have found the perfect Kanako.


Greetings,

I would like to start by thanking you for taking the time to read this letter. My name is Ishikawa Kanako. I'm writing you because of my sister, Sanae, whose eyesight is starting to fade. Before this, she was at good health without any big problems besides an occasional cold in the winters, but even that wasn't consistent. Do you have anything to help her? She isn't blind, but her eyesight isn't sharp anymore and has turned blurry. We live quite far away, so we apologize for not coming to visit you in person, but a trip like that can be very hard. Though if you have a cure, I'm more than willing to come and pick it up.

Sincerely,

Ishikawa Kanako


Good Day,

It saddens me to hear about your sister's condition. It is indeed curious that her condition has appeared despite her being healthy her entire life. Developing a cure without seeing her in person is going to be difficult and we can only hope that it helps. It's going to need a lot of willpower and luck to beat something like that. I assume that your sister is quite young to have a problem like that. I will try my best to work on a cure, but I'm sadly positive that bringing back her eyesight to perfection may be impossible. We can try to slow it down if not stop it, but that's our best gamble. Please send me a letter after three weeks to update me on her condition, meanwhile I'll try to find a treatment for her.

Masako


Good Day Masako-Sama,

How've you been lately? The weather has gone colder; I believe that we may see snow soon. Sanae isn't getting better at all. During this short period of time, her eyesight has gone worse. It's gone blurrier, but she said that it's barely noticeable. Even so, it's making her everyday life difficult. Have you found a cure for her? I also must know if it has any side effects. Even the minor ones count. I'm more than ready to come to you to your village. I can't stand seeing my sister suffer like that.

Ishikawa Kanako


Dear Kanako,

I'm glad to deliver the news that I've mixed a medicine for your sister. I can't guarantee that it will work effectively and instantly, but give it time and patience and if it doesn't work, please contact me and we'll try something else. I will be waiting you along with a payment. Drop by any time, the door is always open for those in need.

Masako


Yuna finished the letters while sucking a sour lollipop. She hadn't had anything else to eat through the entire day and she was looking forward to Izuna returning because he promised to bring something other than soldier pills.

She was on her bed, lying flat on her stomach with her feet bouncing against the wall repeatedly in a slow pace.

She folded the letters and stuffed them back in the envelope in which they came.

So this time her role was to be Ishikawa Kanako who's worried about her sister Sanae. A sharp pain hit her when she thought about her own sister, Eiko.

She hadn't been able to save her. The blurry images that she had sealed away deep in her mind came back like a wave and suddenly the muted screams and faded lines sharpened within seconds.

With just a few short seconds, all the emotions that she had worked so hard to bury in her chest emerged.

She could recall every detail from that crude day, the dry blood decorating Eiko's body wrists and feet, her thin hair and sickly grey skin and the smell that lingered in the tiny cave. In the background, the beautiful sound of a waterfall. Did it make it any more peaceful?

Most likely not.

She put the letters into a drawer near her bed. Yuna found herself needing some fresh air, and completely ignoring Izuna's warnings she opened the second-floor windows and stepped on the small balcony.

The snow hurt her bare feet as she stood there in the cold. Her jaw started clacking unwillingly and her hands started to twitch on the railing. Even so she made no movement to leave.

It was her deranged logic to stand there until the pictures would freeze, until the sounds would blur and scents would be replaced with fresh air once again. In the background she could hear some men cheering in a nearby bar, celebrating their friend's birthday and countless of other small noises that were too far away to register.

The flashback had given her a headache.

Yuna rubbed her temples and breathed out slowly. She was most likely going to catch a cold unless she went inside, but the plain room of the cheap hotel didn't seem very appealing in comparison with the large full moon, dark velvet skies drowned in the shining stars and a glittering silver-white world that looked as if it was brought to life from a fairy-tale.

It seemed so mysterious.

In this world, Yuna's world, there is no pain but laughter and adventures and the worst thing that could happen to you is ripping a hole in your pants or spilling some tea.

The forest in the distance was almost calling Yuna's name, enticing her to go and explore this fictional world that she had constructed in her mind.

Very tempting indeed.


Merry Christmas everyone! I am extremely sorry for the late update. But here's a Christmas present for you :P You'll see the next chapter on the 31st. I'd love to thank my lovely beta Fate's Design for finding time to beta 3 chapters for me even with the holidays coming up etc. (: We are a little uncoordinated but at least it's fun XD So I hope you liked this chapter and if you have the time post a little review =3?