Sutures || Kakuzu

Epilogue

It was early in the afternoon as Nozomi walked down the main street of Amegakure. The day felt perfect, not too hot and not too cold, so she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment. She just had a little shopping to do and she'd be on her way back home. Suddenly a breeze blew past her as she heard quickened footsteps followed by screaming.

"That's why the monster's going to get you with his terrifying tendrils of doom! Ruby can't save you now!"

"Waah! Get away!"

Nozomi opened her eyes in irritation before placing her hands on her hips. The moment of serenity quickly came to an end as she was forced back into reality. "Ryuji! Leave Anka alone!"

The little boy, who donned short, spiky brown hair, turned around to look at the older woman with a groan and crossed his arms. "If she's going to live in this world, then she can't be scared. I'm only helping her face her fears."

With an exasperated sigh, Nozomi walked over and picked up Anka, a blond-haired little girl with two short high pigtails who was clutching her stuffed elephant, Ruby, to her chest as tears trailed down her cheeks from her rust-colored eyes. She then flicked Ryuji in his forehead. "How is a seven year old going to teach a three year old about life?"

"I just can." He scowled as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm the man of the house after all!"

"And who would want to learn from an idiot like you?"

Ryuji turned towards the new voice, glaring at a small girl with long, white hair in a braid and thick-rimmed glasses, who was standing next to Nozomi. "You're stupider than me, Sorano!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Enough!" Nozomi rolled her eyes. "If you can't behave, then you'll be going back home. Now let's go. We have a shopping list to check off."

The group entered the market and Nozomi pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. If that was one thing she learned in these last five years, it was to stick to a budget, especially since she now had extra mouths to feed. As they navigated the crowd, their bags began to fill with groceries.

"Ah, Miss Shidou! How nice to see you today! I see you brought the children." An elderly lady by the name of Sachiko called out to the blond. Immediately, the younger female smiled and approached her fish cart.

"You look well, Ms. Sachiko! I figured they would like to come with me, but I may have been in a little over my head. Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing half the time." Nozomi laughed as she pointed out a couple pieces of fish that she would like.

Sachiko chuckled to herself and started packing up her order. "That's how life is, sweetheart. The children will grow with you and learn from you as time passes, and you'll learn from them too. Taking them off the street was the best thing for them."

Nozomi thought to herself about the children as she tended to Anka. Five years ago, she wouldn't have seen this as her future. After she had paid her debt to Kakuzu, she took Pain's offer and became a citizen of Amegakure. The first two years, she worked as a seamstress and built relationships with the other civilians in the village. Afterwards, she moved into a cabin outside of Amegakure, but she still frequently visited. One day when she was getting groceries, she had her bag stolen from her by Ryuji. There was a long chase through the streets but once she caught him, she found out that he was an orphan who had lost his parents in an accident and had no place to stay. The boy had peculiar heterochromatic eyes, the right being green and the left colored red. The color scheme reminded her of a certain someone and any annoyance she felt for him before slowly melted away. Wanting to help him, she offered him a chance to go home with her.