After that, the instructor began to teach me something else: reading and writing were the foundations of her instruction, but they were crossed with history and mathematics. Kirin attended the first hour of class before another woman Uchiha take her aside to follow her own lessons.

I had become curious about what she could teach my sister. In the evening, once our parents left us in our room, I always questioned Kirin. She was bored a lot, she didn't want to think about what she had learned, she wanted to play. But by dint of determination and a rude blackmail, she ends up showing me her workbook.

"I don't recognize these words." I confessed to my sister who was still pout. But it made her laugh and the temptations I felt broke. "It says "Uchiha Women's Code"" My eyebrows are frowning as my sister showed the title of her lesson. "I don't understand. What's that?" Kirin hummed then her chubby hand passed to the first point "1: A woman must be perfectly presentable. For example: Uh..." She looked at her writing and turned her eyes to me: "I don't know anymore what we wrote"

But I did so I put my hand next to her to help her follow the words "a woman cannot wear trousers, her kimono must exceed her knees. Any inferior garment is unworthy of the title of the daughter of the clan leader." Kirin smiled at me "Hmhm that's right!"

I wasn't smiling though, "is that okay?" Her eyes filled with confusion as she looked at me. "Why don't I be okay, Nii-Chan?"

"Well, wearing all the time a kimono it's not practical to be a Shinobi." There was a silence before Kirin did stoop her hand to point 5: "The daughter of the clan leader cannot be a Shinobi." My eyes grew by surprise, I crossed her gaze before reading the sentence myself but it was written.

"Kirin, I thought you wanted to become a Shinobi ?" Why did I think that? We had never talked about it! Yet my mind was persuaded that she would be by my side when I started the Academy. Since my teacher told me about this establishment, I saw us Kirin and I go there. It never occurred to me that I would be alone.

"Suzaku wants me to be a Shinobi ? I knew, by her silence and her strangely calm eyes, she felt my panic. I should not insist, she would not be endangered as a civilian, she will live a calm and happy life... Yet most of me wanted her by my side.

"Yes."

One day perhaps I would regret this decision.

Want to make Kirin a Shinobi was easier said than done. Our father immediately imposed his veto. But our mother had not said anything, she had looked at me with so much confusion, astonishment and something I had not immediately identified. It is when she comes to me after my lessons, alone, that I understood: She was proud of me.

Yet even with the silent approval of my mother whose father was undoubtedly aware, I still could not convince him but I was not close to giving up. Kirin and I were only a little over two years old, we still had time. The most important was whether she learns to read and write, the academy would take charge of its delay on history and all other things considered fundamental.

"Suzaku-Kun, Kirin-Chan, your mother and I would like to share an important news."

That spring day, father and mother seemed astonishingly cheerful. They shared eyes and smiles complicit, it was those moments, so unnoticeable and yet very real, that reminded me that they shared a sincere love. The Uchiha clan was not known for arranging weddings, unlike other clans of Konoha.

Kirin and I were sharing a secret grimace. I could be smart, seeing my parents so much in love was very strange. My sister hide her eyes, mother laughed, even father allowed himself to smile.

"-you're going to have a little brother or a little sister!"

The announcement calms us both – a second of silence before the excited cry of Kirin expresses our two emotions. An extra family member, a little one who... will depend on us. We'll have to protect him, take care of him, be by his side, teach him everything he or she needs to know. I felt the responsibility growing on my shoulders – I had to be good, I had to improve myself to protect him, always, all the time and no matter what.

A sweet smile, one becoming so rare, showed up on my face.

I will protect this child, but above all I will love him with all my heart.

"Suzaku-Sama, we are your new instructors: I will teach you the arts Shinobi Practice so much say that my colleague will teach you the theory." The two men were Uchiha, of course. My father left us in the training area of our neighborhood with a nod.

All I could think of when Tatsumi-San was starting to show me stretching was that I had to teach it to Kirin at all costs.

The physical part was more than simple, running, jumping, stretching, rolling. All this was a way to prepare the body, to soften it and to strengthen it. The complicated part was the sound – do not breathe loudly, make as little noise as possible by jumping or running. I couldn't get it at once, of course, but I confessed that I thought it was going to be harder than that.

The theory was even easier, it related the Chakra that will awaken with the exercise of body and mind, and I took notes only for Kirin later this evening. I'll start by teaching her that until I can figure out how to get under our father's nose for physical training. I alone would probably succeed, but Kirin had not yet had an excuse to go out: I will have to create one.

I wasn't as good as I thought. I understood it by trying to teach my sister the theory about the Chakra. No matter how clear it was in my mind, I would not successful to find the right words for her to understand. She was asking questions that did not even come to my mind during my teacher's explanation. So I promised to know more for tomorrow night.

But the real test for me comes the next day, when I had to slip Kirin for our only free hour outside the house. Our father was miraculously absent, so we had managed to glide to the front door.

"Where are you two going?"

Our mother questioned, a basket of clothes in her arms. I calmed the panic of Kirin by shaking her hand, then I turned to my mother: she would not say no if I said I was going to train Kirin, however, she would be have to tell father.

"I wanted Kirin and I to visit the neighborhood, she never came out and I didn't see it all."

I knew very well to lie, the proof is that my instructors had thought that my questions had come to me later. But a mother always knew everything, I had no doubt that my own mother was no exception. However, she said nothing and nodded, her empty gaze betraying nothing.

"Come back on time for dinner."

As was my case, Kirin had no difficulty in following the few exercises I had received. I was doing everything with her.

"I take Suzaku and Kirin for a walk, we'll be back before dinner." My mother announced the next day to our father, he raised an eyebrow but nodded. We went out of the house to follow her silently, she led us to the hidden training ground that we had used the day before. "I won't say anything to your father."

My mother was a strong and caring woman, but more than that, she wanted her children to realize their own dream. It was a very rare kindness and wisdom at that time.

She spent the greater part of her pregnancy to accompany us out, no matter the time or energy she had. She never hesitated to get her hands dirty by wiping our scratches, judging our performances although she did not know much herself: she had seen enough Shinobi to know what we were doing was good or not. When Kirin felt the difference of level between me and her, mother was right next to her, comforting and encouraging.

I know that it was at about that time that Kirin and I started to see our mother as an important figure in our child's and Shinobi's life. Like most women from all over the world, our mother, despite being born into a clan, was destined to remain a civilian to care for the children and the household. To my knowledge, only the Inuzuka clan was run by women and they were strongly encouraged to become Shinobi since the dawn of time.

But this was not the case of the rest of the world, and our mother, if she had been someone else, would have been put off by the efforts of Kirin. She would have told her to stay home, do the laundry and the dishes. This is what the teacher of Kirin was saying, who now taught her how to play a musical instrument – my sister was of course excellent, but the more she grew, the more the flame, the light that I always saw in her, shone.

And it was fueled by none other than our mother, Akane, with her burning eyes of joy and hope saw a joyful future and full of adventures for her daughter. I think I would never fully understand the connection they both shared, but it was a link I admired from all my heart: A legacy, a will, a hot flame that like a torch in the dark night, illuminates all hhe surrounding area.

My father had probably not seen it coming – Kirin and I were fighting each other, my mother sat on the bench looking at us with pride and he, behind her eyes wide-eyed in a rare sign of emotion.

We were not quite at the same level, but we were equal: she was faster, I was stronger. she was more flexible, I was more strategic. As only twins could complement each other, our dance was in perfect symbiosis – no matter how much we changed our movements, the other could read it too easily, we were in the head of each other.

We ended our fight in a common agreement, a first glance towards our mother who applauds then our two pairs of black eyes turned to our father. This one closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them: "You are our children, both of you. I'm proud of you. Kirin will become a Shinobi of Konoha. »

She was not the first woman Shinobi of Konoha, more and more civilians were now following in the footsteps of Tsunade Senju and called herself Kunoichi. But she would be the first Shinobi Uchiha.

Kirin threw herself into the arms of our mother, paying close attention to her belly and she cried out of joy "We have succeeded Mom!"

The name Uchiha Kirin would be treasured in the history of our clan, like the first Kunoichi and the one that opened the path to all the other Uchiha.

That evening was a feast in our home.

Like what, the love of a mother is stronger than anything!

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