CHAPTER 5

Pages of Sulphur

"Try movin' it slowly along with my hands." she said holding Izuna's foot and started moving it in all directions. "Does it hurt?"

"Not much. I-I think it's alright now, I can move; w-we should start moving out. We need to catch up with big brother." he said a little nervously.

"Okay then." she got up, "Come on, get up. We have to leave."

"Really?!" said Izuna all excited and got up at once and then fell immediately with a sharp groan.

Sayura knelt down to him and said, "You thought I won't be able to see this through? I very well know your condition. You can't move own your own yet. You need to rest more."

"But what about big brother?!"

"I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself. And you are in no position to worry about anyone except yourself."

She helped him sit back in his initial position-against the wall. His legs were stretched out straight. She then pulled her sleeves and sat beside his foot and began to rotate it again, gently in circular motion. Izuna was sitting quietly without uttering a single word. Suddenly his gaze fell upon her hand, more like her wrist. It was the sane wrist and it was the same thing that Madara had noticed a night earlier-the worn bracelet.

"Where did you get that?" He pointed towards it."It seems familiar."

Sayura stopped the exercise for an instance and glanced over the bracelet. She was at a loss of words. She didn't know what to say. She remained silent for a fraction of a moment and then recollected herself and said:

"Well you must've seen it at the market. These things are easily available there." There was slight tint of nervousness in her voice.

She got back to her work immediately. All her life she has been hiding things and deceiving people; yet this time it was a little hard because it was something she had always wanted to say to someone to feel lighter but couldn't. Though she had written it all in her little diary when she was a teenager, it did help but she still felt the burden of it.

"No." he thought, "I have seen it somewhere near to me."

He paused and started concentrating. His eyebrows contracted and his face grew a little dark. Suddenly, then the brows relaxed and the eyes widened and he thought, "Yes I have seen it at the cupboard in big brother's room. In fact, there were three of them!" He gazed over her and wondered, "Why do I get a feeling she's hiding something?"

His eyes caught the sight of a silhouette of Chairomaru, who had just arrived at the mouth of the cave.

"It's your little cub, right?" he said pointing with his chin.

She looked at the cave entrance and saw Chairomaru coming. She put his foot on the ground lightly and went towards Chairomaru. She knelt back down near it and pets him.

"What happened? Why are you alone?" She looked back at the entrance trying to catch a glimpse of anyone, "Where are they?"

Chairomaru narrated the whole incident in detail to her. He told her that after meeting the men from the unit and reading their scroll, they decided to go along with them. But it was told to return back to inform her this, as Daichi wants to meet her. She pets it once again as an appreciation for the work he had performed, she thanked him and then he poofed away.

She immediately got up went outside and informed the men outside that she was setting out and they have to take care of Izuna. She came back inside in hurry. She picked up her scabbard and placed it on her obi. She picked up her pouch and was putting some essentials inside it when she saw Izuna trying to get up. Her body moved to support him. And just when he was about to fall, she caught him.

"What on Earth are you tryin' to do?!" she yelled.

"I am going as well!" he declared.

"Have you lost your mind?! How will you go when you can't even walk properly?!"

"I will somehow, I can move a little."

"Don't be insane." she placed her down slowly, "If you are recovering, if you rest for a few more hours you will be able to move again." she cajoled him. "And there are a lot of people, nothing will happen to Madara."

Izuna didn't say anything but disagreement was painted all over his face. Sayura saw this but there was nothing she could do. She tied her pouch and her hairs and went out.

A few moments after Izuna noticed a small black colored notebook lying on the floor near him. He picked it up and opened it. The first page read: 'Uchiha Sayura'. It was her diary.

It had fallen from her pouch when she had come to prevent Izuna from falling. It didn't catch her attention due to the whole conversation.

Izuna turned the page over, and started reading. Although the first thought that came into his mind was to put it away as it didn't belong to him. But his curiosity and anger (towards Sayura as she didn't let him go) gave him various reasons as to why he should read it. The first few pages were torn but the writing was stable and neat. The pages were old as told by their sulphur like pale yellow colour. The first sentence started quite abruptly. The sentence had, probably, started on one of the torn pages and continued to the one still intact. It read as:

"during that time father was the commander-in-chief, so he often used to visit their home. My brother sometimes used to tag along with him as my brother had a keen interest in all the strategy and planning stuff. I had always insisted to go too, but was denied saying that I would get bored. But one fine day, father finally took me with him. It was a big house, like ours, with a house garden and a pond. It was spring I guess because the flowers were all blooming. I think I then straight way went near the flowers or maybe father told me to, either way, I went towards a bush. That was when I met Naozumi. He was also there. I don't recall what interaction we had but we became good friends after that. One day, if I remember correctly, I and Shoma were passing by his home on our way to our playing spot and I thought of calling him too. After that he used to come to play with us. One day his elder brother came along with him, and that's when I met Madara."

Izuna gasped. His big brother had another brother! He had no idea. Why he was never told about it? And he certainly had no remembrance of this 'Naozumi'. And he was there, and then what happened to him? He continued reading, hoping he'd find out.

"I was sort of vagrant from the start. So was Naozumi. As a matter of fact, we're quite alike, and hence became best friends. We used to spend a lot of time playing, talking and training. Most of my friends didn't like my way of interacting but he always found it amusing and fun, that's one more reason why we jibed**. We used to share everything with each other, almost I mean. Ha-ha.

Two years passed like this. But on an unfortunate winter day, nearly two days before Madara's birthday, Naozumi told me he had seen beautiful flowers in the nearby forest area, which was quite rare in deadly winters. He wished to gift them to his big brother on his birthday, as he thought that Madara didn't received any gifts since his Christmas gifts became his birthday presents. He asked me to come with him and I agreed; but I shouldn't have, instead I should have stopped him as well. But I didn't. We went there together, but when we arrived there we heard war noises-two clans were fighting nearby. I asked him to return back immediately but he told me that he'd do it quickly; he'd just go pluck them and return back, after all the war was being fought a little away from our location. But somethings don't go the way we have planned them. And it was one of those things. He went and the next moment someone attacked him. Before I could do anything, I saw a man coming towards me with a sword. I was extremely terrified, I couldn't move, I thought it was my end. I don't know what happened next, it just blacked out.

Next time when I woke up, I found my brother beside me. Later I came to know that father had arrived just in time to save me. But they couldn't save Naozumi.

That year nobody celebrated Christmas and Madara never celebrated his birthday. He blamed me for Naozumi's death, with which I can't disagree, I was to be blamed. What kind of friend was I?! How did I let him do this?! We didn't play after that, no one did. I didn't have the courage or the will to do so. Nobody could go either, our warmth in that brute winter was gone. Madara grew even more concerned about his two-year -old brother, Izuna. He was often spotted working his back off in the bizarre cold. All of my friends were always seen either inside their homes or in training ground, but always with a frown, all of them had removed their bracelets as it only hurt them. And all this because of me. Father kept giving me hope that it'd get better with time, but the opposite happened.

The news of father's death came in after a few months. I was devastated, completely broken. I had lost the one person who was supporting me. I had no one to run to. At that time, elder brother was already appointed at the intel unit, and after father's death, that's where I went.

And now here I am lamenting over everything. This bracelet that I wear is not only a memory of Naozumi but also a reminder that no child shall ever die on my watch. I wish nothing like this would have happened, but I'd make sure nothing like this in future does. Only if I"

The sentence was never finished. It was written unfinished, unattended. The page had impressions of dried tear drops all over it, showing the inability to write any further.

Izuna closed it and put it back on the ground. I drew a deep breath.

"So that's why I didn't remember him." he thought.

It was clear now. Clear yet there were a few things that clouded Izuna's mind but they could only be cleared after Sayura returns.

"I would have to wait for her to arrive, I guess."

He closed his eyes and put his head back, thinking.