Chapter Three

"You are to hand in a report on Sasuke's weekly activities," the chuunin stated, handing over a form and pen to Izumi across the counter. "Any interactions he has with strangers, civilians, and even his schoolmates, goes into the report."

Izumi has to force down the growl growing in her throat, as she snatched the report from the chuunin. In her mind, she scoffed at the idea that they still demanded her to fill out forms despite her no longer being a shinobi.

"Do I tell him about this?"

"Preferably not. Kid's already unstable as it is, I wouldn't add to the stress if I were you."

Izumi wanted to reach across the counter and through the glass to throttle the chuunin, demanding that someone at least cared that she was being forced into this position.

She instead took deep steady breaths to calm herself. No good would come out of forcing anything in the Hokage tower.

"And a reminder, you're free to claim your belongings whenever you're ready. Just give a heads up, preferably a day beforehand so we'll have someone ready to escort you there. Will that be all for today?"

"Yes," Izumi spat.


Dinner was deathly quiet between the two Uchihas. It unnerved Izumi as she occasionally stole a couple of glances towards Sasuke when he wasn't looking. The boy that she had to supposedly look after. The boy that took her future from her.

Her fingers held her chopsticks tightly, as she went back to tearing angrily at her dinner.

"Tomorrow's the weekend," Izumi muttered aloud.

"... And?" Sasuke mumbled back, not bothering to look into her eyes.

"It'll be the best time to retrieve our stuff."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He doesn't say anything more though and goes back to eating. Izumi is the first to finish her meal, tossing the disposables into the bin.

"I don't want to go back there yet," Sasuke finally said quietly.

Izumi quirked an eyebrow questioningly. But after a couple of seconds, it clicked for her.

"We're not going to the compound," she assured him. "It'll be at the Hokage tower. That's where they are currently storing the Uchiha belongings."

"Oh... What time?"

"Whenever you wake up."

It looked like Sasuke wanted to ask another question, but stopped. Izumi cringed. She hadn't exactly been hiding the fact that she's been sleeping in till noon as of late. The urge to just lie in bed all day was still at the back of her mind. She shook the thought away.

"I'll be up on time. Don't stay up late. I'll be in my room if you need me."

Not that I want you to, goes unsaid.

Izumi disappeared into her room.

Sasuke doesn't come knocking.

And Izumi remained content because of that.


That night Izumi dreamed a happy dream. A world where her parents were both alive. A world where Itachi Uchiha was by her side, happy and without a trace of darkness to be seen. The two children were sitting by the koi pond, sharing stories and jokes without a care in the world. Itachi would laugh, his eyes lighting up with life.

He turned towards Izumi, happy and gentle.

Then the sky started to bleed red.

The peaceful compound was replaced with a ghost town. The winds picked up into a hurricane. Izumi panicked as Itachi's eyes slowly turned into the evolved sharingan, a gleaming sinister smile on his face as he reached a bloodied hand to caress her cheek, smearing the blood.

"Never forget, what I did."

Izumi woke up with a startled scream. She grasped at her head, eyes wide and tears swelling at her eyes. Cold sweat trickled down her skin. The full moon shone from the window, a chilly glow over the serenity that was Konoha, still peaceful and at rest.

Izumi curled herself into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest. She could only lay trembling, too scared to try and fall asleep.


Her eyelids were heavy as the chuunin led both Sasuke and Izumi to a room in the Hokage tower. It was a simple basement room with no windows, lit only by lights embedded in the ceilings.

"Thank you, we'll take it from here," Izumi dismissed the chuunin. Nodding, he bowed and left the two children to sort out the piles of belongings salvaged from the Uchiha compound.

Izumi wanted to make a snarky comment that almost everything had looked like it had been carelessly thrown into piles. There was no order, no worry about anything fragile; and it really ground her gears. She was tempted to hunt down whoever moved all these things and to give them a piece of her mind.

She sighed.

"I'll start from the left wall," she told Sasuke, rolling up the sleeves of her purple jacket. She tied her long brown hair into a ponytail.

"Hn."

She took that as an 'okay' from the boy.

Going through piles of belongings was a grueling and time-consuming task. Scattered remains of books, old furniture, countless scrolls. But it was the amounts of photos that really got to her. Families smiling innocently in group photos, too proud achievements of children who beamed at the camera.

Then one photo frame caught her interest, sitting harmlessly on a bedstead. She removed it from the bronze frame, rubbing her thumb softly against the polaroid.

A young Izumi smiling brightly, arm slung around a red and sheepish Itachi. She had seemed too happy, a peace sign held proudly. Shisui had taken this on Itachi's 10th birthday. Just a few days before he became a chuunin.

"Never forget, what I did."

She swallowed.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke peered at the girl from across the room.

Izumi immediately held the photo frame behind her, spinning around.

"Nothing's wrong."

"You weren't moving. You said you wanted to go through this mess before the end of today."

Izumi scoffed, offended at the thought. She marched past the bedstead, continuing to sift through the countless objects.

"Well nothing is wrong," she murmured. "I was just thinking."

"And… letting me do all the work?"

"It was only for a few seconds. It wasn't going to make a huge difference."

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer but thought better of it. He slowly closed his mouth.

"Forget it," Sasuke finally said after a few awkward seconds, spinning around and moving back over to his side of the room. "It's not important."

Izumi watched as Sasuke refused to look back at her.

More photos had been piling up in her pockets, she recognised her father's handy work anywhere (most of them were framed to make her mother look beautiful). Clothes, books. Her mother hadn't been much of a hoarder, so her things remained at a minimum. She did however find her parent's rings amongst a stash of jewelry, immediately recognising the gold band engraved with streaks of ruby red.

She also found her old kunai set. A painful reminder that she probably won't be using them anytime soon either.

She sighed heavily, looking towards Sasuke who had much less than her. Just a couple of sets of old clothes, and a few toys. But no photos. Izumi didn't feel like asking as it was his decision on what he wanted to take back.

She talked to the overseeing chuunins there, informing them that they had everything they wanted. Izumi was just about to leave when she noticed Sasuke staring at a green dinosaur plushie in his hand. He had a grim expression as if wondering whether to throw it or not.

"What have you got there Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned to look at her, then back at the toy. "Mr. Kyoryu."

"Mr… Kyoryu?"

Izumi couldn't help it. She snickered at the adorableness of it, earning a death glare from Sasuke.

"I didn't come up with his name!" Sasuke yelled, but it caused Izumi to laugh even louder. Growling, Sasuke gave one final look at the toy ready to toss it away; but Izumi's hand snaked out at the last second to catch his arm.

"Don't mind me, just keep him if you want it," Izumi said sheepishly.

"I don't want him," Sasuke huffed. "He was—"

Sasuke stopped himself. "… I just don't want him anymore."

"And yet you picked him up," Izumi retorted, dropping her things and grabbing the plushie and eyeing it carefully. "It's worn and quite old, so you must have treasured it. What other reason do you have to throw it away?"

Sasuke eyed the dinosaur toy, before looking down at the ground. His eyes then lingered over the toy once more, as he bit his lip in thought.

"Because… it hurts…"

Izumi blinked. "What does? What hurts?"

"Holding Mr. Kyoryu hurts inside… but he… also makes bad dreams disappear."

"Never forget, what I did."

Izumi shook her head, refusing to not think about last night's dream.

Sasuke shuffled his feet nervously, eyes at the floor unable to look into Izumi's eyes. Her expression softened, as she stepped forward slowly, making sure not to intrude in his personal space.

"So do you want to keep Mr. Kyoryu or not?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. Izumi sighed heavily as she hung Mr. Kyoryu around her elbow, before picking up her things again.

"I'll keep it then," she said.

Sasuke flushed, hands starting to ball. "You don't need to pity—"

"I'm not."

The abrupt interruption silenced the boy.

"Don't mistake my intentions," Izumi said in a softer tone. "It's clear you have attachments to Mr. Kyoryu here, both good and bad. I'm keeping him until you decide whether you want to keep him or not. If it's important to you, throwing it away is not something that you should decide on immediately."

She paused. Sasuke didn't say anything, still unsure what to say.

After a few seconds, he silently nodded.


During the times when Sasuke was at the academy, Izumi would do two things. She would either mope about in the apartment and try to sleep or go on a walk. What was she supposed to do now that she wasn't a shinobi anymore? That was all she had ever known in life.

A knock sounded at the door. Rising up from the couch in a yawn, Izumi walked to the door and opened it without a care in the world. A dog-masked Anbu was at the door, plastic bag in hand.

"That for later tonight?" Izumi asked before she turned around and waved the silver-haired Anbu in. Quietly he does so and closes the door carefully. Izumi watched, humoured as the Anbu shinobi looked around the humble apartment.

"Right on the table," Izumi said casually.

The silver-haired Anbu perked up. He dropped the bags onto the bench, before looking toward the Uchiha girl.

"Do you usually open the door for everyone?" the Anbu asked. His voice was quiet and neutral.

Izumi peered over. "For any of you guys that want to come in? Yes."

"I see… I would recommend against doing that in the future."

"Does it matter if I do it or not?" Izumi spat aggressively. "Anbu are always watching Sasuke and me, I don't see a reason that it matters."

A brief silence passed the two before Izumi sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I just… I haven't been in a good mood as of late… well, when I woke up after the incident really."

"I can imagine."

No, you can't, Izumi wanted to shout back but bit her cheek to stay silent. She was not getting into an argument with what was basically a stranger. A stranger that was to protect her, but a stranger nonetheless.

The silver-haired Anbu looked Izumi up and down curiously, saying nothing. That dog mask of his nerve-racking with the blood-red ink on pale white. Izumi felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Is something wrong?"

Izumi shook her head. "No. I'm just uneasy."

"I see… from what?"

Izumi raised a questioning eyebrow at the man. She chuckled and shook her head, pulling out the plastic containers of food from within the bags. "You… are you supposed to be asking questions? I thought it was just, odd jobs and watching here and there."

"And how would you know what Anbu does?"

Izumi opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped. She frowned, placing down the container she had in her hand on the wooden table. Of course she knew, Itachi had been a part of them. Izumi shook her head sadly.

"I uh… I knew someone who worked there for a while."

"Hmm, that so?"

The masked Anbu's sounded legitimately curious. Though with the mask on it was hard to tell. Izumi went back to sorting out the dinner portions for both Sasuke and herself; neatly placing it on two plates.

"Were you close to Itachi?"

Izumi's eyes widened and she froze. She took a step back from the masked shinobi and glared at him.

The Anbu raised his hands defensively. "I didn't mean to pry."

"Well, you did," Izumi bit back with steel in her tone. She starts tearing into her dinner, without a care about how unkempt she appeared.

"If you're done here, go away. I don't want to see you again," she said after a few calming bites. "Just stay in the shadows like you're supposed to."

The shinobi gave her another look over. He finally nodded solemnly, before disappearing into a flutter of leaves.


A/N: Sorry I was late with this chapter, I was busy with assignments and wanted to focus more on them first. Apart from that, nothing else really happened, life's been pretty boring.