Azumi's POV
"Mother! I'm going to see Sasuke!"
Running through our homes corridor I made my way to the entrance, clumsily putting on my shoes.
"Azumi!" My mother's voice rings through the house causing me to stop in my tracks. Pouting I turn towards the direction of her voice already knowing what she's about to say.
"Someone will escort you! You know you're not allowed out of the compound alone" mother says as she makes her way to me. Her eyebrow is raised as she looks down at me causing me to look up sheepishly at her.
"But mom-" I start, my 6 year old self ready with a mental list of reasons why I don't need a guard just to go to the Uchiha Compound. My mother simply gives me a look that tells me whatever it is I say to her won't matter. I turn around and glare towards the exit.
What's taking this guard so long?
This is the last day I get to freely hang out with Sasuke before he has to join the academy and I'll be stuck at home alone. As if sensing my growing frustrations one of our clans ninja appear before us. He's clad in the regular ninja attire consisting of long black pants and black top, a green vest secured over it. However, on the his right shoulder of his top, our clans symbol is there for everyone to see. He is a ninja of the Kurokawa Clan.
"Okay goodbye!" I yell, grabbing the ninjas hand and dragging him towards the direction of the Uchiha Clan.
"You took too long" my 6 year old self said to the ninja pouting however, it didn't really matter to me as we were finally on our way to see my dear friend.
It has been a while since I first met Sasuke and because of the tomato incident we didn't get along very well. Unfortunately for us at the time our mothers had made it a priority for them to spend more time together so we had to run into each other more times than we would've liked. I smile to myself as I remember the incident that motivated us to befriend each other.
Flashback
"Azumi dear, could you please go and call Sasuke in to have lunch? Itachi's gone on a mission and your brother's not here" Mikoto said popping her head in through the door as I was playing outside with some of the wild flowers I had found in Mikoto's backyard.
"Okay Mikoto-san"
I carefully put down my poor attempt of a bouquet, pulling myself off the grass and making my way into the forest towards the area Sasuke and Itachi normally train. We had been to the Uchiha Compound multiple times now and I would normally go into the training area to watch Itachi and brother train. I continue my walk through the trees before I find myself at the clearing, stopping in my tracks to stare at the young Uchiha boy practicing throwing shuriken, the last one hitting the target right in the middle.
"Wow Sasuke-san ! You're so good at that !" I yell excitedly before running closer to have a better look. The onyx-haired boy turning around quickly having not noticed my presence until then.
"Hn" is the only sound that comes from him before he turns around and throws another one, hitting the target again. I'm so impressed that I didn't realise I had moved so close that I was standing right behind him.
"Agh ! Can you not stand so close? I'm trying to train and you're disturbing me!" Sasuke yells after the last three shuriken he threw completely missed the target and landed on the ground behind it. I take a step back from him as I smile sheepishly at him, a nervous hand scratching the back of my head.
"Hehe, sorry Sasuke-san.. I've never really seen you train before and you were doing so good! You were so cool!" I grin, putting both my thumbs up.
"Y-you thought that was cool?" the shocked look on the Uchiha's face is enough to make me giggle before I nod my head fiercely.
"The coolest! You could be better than brother and you're just my age!" I say, unknowingly boosting his ego.
"You're right, I am the coolest! You didn't notice that before?" he says with a smirk, pointing proudly at himself. I just laugh in response.
"By the way what are you even doing out here alone" Sasuke asks. My eyes go wide as I remember the whole reason I had come in search of him in the first place. Sasuke seems to notice the look in my face as he's beginning to look scared too.
"Mikoto-san called us in for lunch! Oh no it's been so long we're dead!" I yell as I turn towards the direction of the house and begin to make a run for it.
"H-hey wait for me! This is your fault for not saying anything earlier!" Sasuke yells out, quickly picking up his shuriken from the ground and the target and running after me. I turn to look back at Sasuke running after me and can't help but laugh at him and the situation we're in.
End of Flashback
I smile as I remember the memory before noticing we've finally reached the Uchiha Compound. The guard drops me off to the house before I thank him and he takes his leave.
"Good Morning Mikoto-san" I call out, removing my shoes at the entrance to their home.
"Good morning Azumi, Sasuke's out at the back, I'll get some snacks for you two"
Mikoto calls out, I thank her before making my way to the back of their house. I find Sasuke near the back of their home sitting on the engawa and looking out at the sky.
"Sasuke~ !"
"Azumi, when did you get here?" he replies, turning his head away from the sky and towards me as I take a seat next to him.
"Just now, I would've come a lot sooner but mother told me I had to wait for a guard to escort me" I huff. He nods in response before looking back into the sky. We continue to sit in comfortable silence, watching the clouds pass us by, occasionally breaking the silence when one of us finds a cloud shaped like something funny. Most of my time with Sasuke is spent in silence as he's not much of a talker but I wouldn't have it any other way. Something about the silence and calm that comes with him comforts me.
Our silence is broken when Mikoto brings out some food us.
Yum! Riceballs!
"Itadakimasu!" we say in unison, before we begin to eat the food.
"You two sure were hungry! Alright, enjoy your food and I'll leave you to it" Mikoto laughs before she makes her way back into the house.
"Thank you Mikoto-san!" I call out as I take another big bite out of the rice ball.
"Sasuke, are you looking forward to joining the academy?" I ask, looking up at him. He finishes off the riceball in his hand, reaching to the plate to grab another one before he replies to me.
"Hn, I don't want to spend too much there I like training here with brother and the academy looks boring" he says, taking another bite.
I'm about to respond before he speaks again.
"B-but if you entered I don't think I'd hate it" a tinge of red is on his cheeks. I stop myself from taking another bite as I stare at him. We may be best friends but it's so rare for me to hear him say anything remotely nice to me. The embarrassed look on his face brings a grin to my face, giggling happily. However, whatever I just did must've annoyed Sasuke because the next thing I know the rice ball which was once in Sasuke's hand is now all over my face.
I freeze as I stare at my friend sitting across from me, stunned that he would do something like this. The look on my face must be funny to him because he bursts out laughing, pointing at my face while also holding his stomach.
"You don't know what you've done" I glare, standing up and grabbing two rice balls from the plate. He stops laughing and quickly stands, understanding what I'm about to do and trying to escape. However he isn't fast enough and I manage to throw one of the rice balls at him, the impact catching him by surprise as he trips on his own two feet and lands on the floor. I stand over him with a smirk, the other rice ball still in my hand as he glares up at me.
"I win" I say, throwing the last rice ball down at him and poking him with my feet.
"I let you win!" he yells, shoving my feet away from him before standing up and dusting the food off. I start to laugh as I take in his appearance, grains of rice stuck in his hair and face. He seems to finally take in my appearance as well because he starts to join in.
Our ruckus must've caught Mikoto's attention because the next thing we know she's screaming out our names as she takes in the mess we've made.
"A-ah let's get out of here!" Sasuke yells fearfully, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the direction of the forest, escaping Mikoto's wrath.
"You two get back here!" her voice is already far behind us, causing a fit of giggles to leave my mouth, Sasuke smiling widely as he leads me further into the forest creating more distance between us and a very angry Mikoto.
~*~
We finally make our way to a dock, sitting at the edge with our bare feet hanging over it and in the water. The cooling sensation of the water causes a sigh to exit my mouth at the soothing sensation it brings to my feet after running through the forest without any shoes on. It was silent now, like most of my time spent like Sasuke, but it was comfortable.
I let out another sigh happily as I lean on the back of my hands and look up at the sky. The sun is still up high in the sky, its rays dancing over the body of water in front of us giving it the illusion of a glowing lake.
"Azumi.. you told me you couldn't attend the academy but you never told me why" Sasuke says, his voice breaking the silence and bringing up the topic we had been discussing earlier. I turn my face away from the sky and look at the boy sitting next to me. His dark hair still has grains of rice stuck in it, lightly blows in the wind. I smile at the sight, he narrows his eyes slightly before looking out at the water again.
"I don't know Sasuke, mother and father just told me that I can learn at home" I say with a sad smile. I didn't express it to anyone yet but I was sad. Sad that I wasn't able to join my best friend and other kids our age in attending the academy. They will all learn new things, make new friends and do some really cool stuff, and I will be alone at home.
"I see" is all Sasuke says, I can tell he wants to ask me more but he doesn't push it, and for that I'm grateful.
I'll ask them again when I get home I think determinedly.
"I think we should head back now, Mother is already furious and if we're gone too long she might really kill us" Sasuke says getting up from his seat on the dock. I look up at him to find him standing with his hand out to me, an invitation to help me up, I gladly accept.
With my hand in his we make our way back to his house.