Chapter 12: Woven by Fate
Izumi was sitting in the corner of the terrace leaning on the external wall of the house and embracing her knees while not taking her eyes off the young Sasuke. She held something red in her hands. Sasuke walked across the wooden floor and stood at a safe distance while examining the girl.
Itachi and his father left at dawn to perform their duties in the police and ANBU, while his mother went to the city with Akira to get to know her better and slowly introduce her to life in Konoha. Izumi refused to leave the house and holed up, still shy and scared inside the house. After a while, however, feeling the peace and quiet of the place, she decided to put her head outside.
She has always loved spending time outdoors, among nature, and the more beautiful views of the Uchiha garden encouraged her to do so. But she didn't have the strength or the will to get up, not just yet. The events of the previous days were still overwhelming her, she still couldn't process them all. The night before, the charred bones showed up again, driving the sleep from her eyes. At the same time, a strange new energy churned in her belly, the 7-Tails reminding herself of its existence.
'What do you have there?' The boy finally asked, unable to hide his childish curiosity.
Izumi stopped squeezing her hands nervously and unrolled the red ribbon that she was playing with. She stared at her for a moment, and then her little chin began to twitch. But she swallowed and cleared her throat. She wasn't going to get emotional, not now, not with him.
My mom gave me this thread. she trailed off, feeling a deep pain at the word 'mom'. 'She said it had a special power.' Sasuke curiously came closer and sat next to Izumi, every now and then looking down, but returning the gaze back to the girl. Intrigued, Sasuke waited for the story to develop.
'When two people have a piece of it, even if they are separated, their destiny will always help them find each other again, no matter what happens.'
'And that's it?' The boy winced in disappointment. He definitely wasn't counting on a romantic story.
'What do you mean!' Izumi raised her voice shocked by his answer. Suddenly embarrassed of being too close to a boy who wasn't even sitting very close, he just... existed next to her, and was... a boy, which Izumi seemed to have forgotten for a moment, got up hastily and ran inside the house, leaving him alone in bewilderment.
x
In the days that followed, she watched him from a distance, clutching the ribbon that was now wrapped around her wrist. When she was down, she would press her fist to her chest, reminding herself: you carry the Light within you, as long as you feel it, the Darkness will not be afraid of you.
Izumi was very intrigued by the boy Sasuke and the other men in the Uchiha house, observing every detail of their appearance, comparing them with women's charms and being stunned by the differences.
Once, when Sasuke was sitting on the porch waiting for his older brother, she crawled close to him, not taking her eyes off his smooth cheeks and deep black eyes. Surprise painted Sasuke's face as if he had an alien in front of him, so he also felt this way. The girl sat motionless, examining him, then reached out her hand to touch his face. The skin was warm and soft like hers. Sasuke immediately blushed and threw himself backwards, not expecting this sudden and very awkward physical contact with the girl. Izumi made surprised eyes and sat on her knees, looking at him questioningly.
'What are you doing?!'
'I wanted to check if we are the same. Your face is warm too' she smiled radiantly at such an obvious fact. Sasuke completely baffled stared at her still with a crooked face.
It took some time for them to get used to each other. However, the younger siblings gradually began to spend more and more time together and found a lot of joy in playing together, whenever the older ones could not accompany them.
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The girls, at first stressed, shy and withdrawn, quite quickly settled into the friendly family. Akira would receive a lot of support from Mikoto and Itachi, while Izumi would play with Sasuke and their dog. The girls were settling into life when men and women coexisted in harmony, which was a new and exciting experience for both.
Sasuke didn't like Izumi at first, he was jealous of Itachi as well and didn't want girls in the house. However, when Itachi left to train, Izumi and Akira accompanied him and, willy-nilly, he slowly began to grow fond of the Little Moth. She loved teasing Sasuke, tickling him as he had an offended face or hugging and laughing when he was blushing and breaking away from her.
Izumi always managed to lighten the atmosphere. Some nights, she would wake up screaming from nightmares, but during the day she perfectly masked her stress with a smile and a happy disposition - she would always say that her mother told her not to forget about the light she carries here - she would put her little fist on her heart. No matter what happens in life, as long as she carries the Light, shadows will not be a threat to her... Even when Midori is no longer there.