❁𝐈𝐙𝐔𝐌𝐈'𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘- 𝘈 𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘉𝘓𝘖𝘚𝘚𝘖𝘔 𝘖𝘍 𝘏𝘖𝘗𝘌 ✔︎

Chapter 5, Part 5

Blue eyes met red ones. Both powerful and full of different meanings.

Izumi clenched her teeth and looked down at Ayame, angry.

"Exactly who is she? Her chakra is so powerful and ominous." Izumi thought to herself as she kept her composure.

Ayame smiled at Izumi. Then she circled her chair and spoke softly. "Listen, sweetheart. I do not want to fight you. Or, more specifically, fighting is not something I want from either of us. Peace is what I want between us. We share a similar past..."

Izumi's eyes widened slightly as she spoke. She felt as if she was listening to a high-ranking criminal attempting to justify their actions after all the murders they had committed!

"Our clans were slaughtered. The man I once loved slaughtered mine. He belonged to another clan, and I had a lot of trust in him. He was ordered to protect me, but he eventually betrayed me. Killed my parents, my relatives, and my clan. However, I was a vessel...I had power that surpassed even his! So, years later, I killed him out of vengeance. It was necessary. Love should never come first; it should always be power," Ayame said coldly, staring deeply into Izumi's red eyes.

"No, you are mistaken! I do not want to do that, and you are wrong! After everything my clan went through when it was slaughtered, the man I loved repented of his sins, and I forgive him! Would I have avenged it before he did? Yes, but he would have had a choice! In the end, I was a coward, and I could not bring myself to let them kill him. My feelings for him were too strong, and my love for him was too great! He did have a reason. But, I would never have done it!" Izumi exclaimed.

Ayame looked down at her, unimpressed. No matter how much she explained, Ayame only grew to hate her more.

"That sounds like bullshit. Avenging your people should have always been your number one priority, along with seizing power. Power is always required to be accepted, and you obviously lacked it. You did not have enough hate to make it happen, so you let everyone down!" Ayame spoke coldly to Izumi.

Izumi's eyes filled up with tears. "No. I did not let anyone down," Izumi quickly defended herself, looking up at Ayame with her Sharigan activated.

"No one accepted me, but I do not need theirs! But when he accepted me, I fell even harder for him than I had before! When he slaughtered everyone, I refused to believe it, but was not that also your first thought? I chose to fight and defend his name because I knew he had a reason for it; he was unlike everyone else! But you did not even give your former lover a chance! What if he was trying to protect you but instead jumped to conclusions just because you wanted power and acceptance because you were a vessel-" Izumi yelped in surprise as she received a slap.

Ayame's breathing became raspy, and she was clearly tired of Izumi's rambling. "I wanted peace, not a whining girl, during my interrogation. I thought letting you live and forcing you to join me would change your mind, but you are simply ignorant!" She turned to Kuro with hatred in her eyes. It even terrified him.

"Kuro! Kill this girl now! Having her in my presence will only make me angrier than ever before!" She exclaimed as she stormed out of the room.

Kuro smiled at Izumi as the door slammed shut.

He had never considered it in the manner in which Izumi spoke. Ayame was only sacrificing people because she believed that killing one member of the Hoshizoro clan would be insufficient to compensate for what one person had done to her. She did not even let him reason for himself, instead killing him without hesitation to gain more power for herself.

Ayame was selfish, and he had just realized it. Even his feelings for her could not ignore the small voice in the back of his mind that tried to reason with him.

Izumi gave him an angry look. "What are you waiting for? I have fulfilled my duty as a shinobi, and everything about the leaf will remain classified! I will not speak further about my friends because I told the truth! If anything, she is the ignorant one!" Izumi shouted once more.

She looked to the ground, exhausted.

"Lady Ayame was looked down on from the moment she was born. She believed that because she was the vessel and the only special person in her clan who possessed the Hoshigan, she would be accepted and viewed favorably. I was her friend, and I was always watching as she tried to become powerful enough to be seen by the elders and members of her clan. After her clan was wiped out, Ayame Hoshizora believed she needed more to impress everyone. She believed that the sacrifices she read in the book of her eyes of fate would make her stronger and show that she was not a monster." Kuro responded calmly. He took out his kunai and held it in the palm of his hand as he looked down at her for the last time.

"But you are the only one who has ever made her mad with the truth." My only responsibility is to protect her because I will be the only friend who defends her reputation. She did nothing wrong, and everything ended up being necessary. Only death can make us stronger, and that is what will happen to me now. Goodnight, Izumi Uchiha," Kuro said as he threw the kunai.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the room fell silent.