Chapter Text
Thank you so much to Never_Stray for Beta reading the first two chapters of this and giving me feedback! I love her writing and highly recommend checking it out <3
***
The Land of Snow was a beautiful and cruel mistress. Wading through snow, Shisui had never been quite as grateful to be smothered by heavy fabrics than at this moment. At first, it had seemed ridiculous how much dead weight they were expected to lug around during their track to and from the Kazahana Castle. Izumi had questioned the crew outright about the necessity of four heavy layers and how it would affect their mobility to wear so much clothing.
‘Skimp on the gear and bits of ya’ won’t be movin’ at all, shrimp.’ Was the blunt answer she received from the sailor explaining the purpose of each new piece they needed to wear before landing in the harbor of the coldest country in the world. Shisui had quickly learnt what that meant when he neglected to cover his nose and nearly lost the tip of it to frostbite. Without the thick overall and thermal tights between him and the merciless February cold of this god forsaken place his other tip was unlikely to make it home with him. He shuddered at the thought – such disappointment it would cause, and not just to himself. The clan would lose their almost-most-desirable bachelor! And for what? A resentment against wool stockings? Surely, he was a bigger man than that.
Big enough to be of use, at least. Izumi was quite cheery, happily using him as her personal plow while she casually strolled in the path he blazed through the snow.
“We’re almost there, look!” Izumi shouted behind him.
Sure enough, the cabin was just as promised. Small and unassuming, but sturdy and standing stubbornly against the wind on its little hill. The brown timber was flecked with snow and the roof had long spikes of ice hanging off the edges, threatening to fall and stab innocent ninja who dared venture below at the wrong moment. All in all, it was a lovely place.
The interior, however, was somehow less cozy than the outside. Stark and minimalistic, there was nothing in terms of decoration except for an old rug on the floor. The centerpiece was a cast-iron stove with a tall chimney leading all the way out the ceiling and the only furniture was a table and an old-fashioned chest with a flat lid that he supposed was meant to double as a bench. At least the triple-paned window let in some light and a quite magical view of the distant forest, sparkling with frost and crystalized snow so heavy it bent the branches of even the tallest and sturdiest of evergreens breaking through the frozen wasteland that Shisui thought was all there was to this country.
On a map, it was pure white. Standing in the middle of it, there was plenty of dark green and grey to break the monotony.
As much as he loved his home and disliked the cold, he had to admit that at least visually this place had a beauty to it. Speaking of beauty though, Izumi lifted her scarf away from her face and beat off the layer of frost left by her breath on it.
Shisui gave her a look. “Don’t undress yet – we still need to check the firewood stash and prepare for the night.”
She shook her head, unleashing the long cascade of her hair from the confines of the back of her jacket. Shisui tried not to stare at it, as enrapturing a sight as it was. “I know! I just want to not inhale my own stale air for a moment!”
He shrugged with a smile, leaving his backpack at the table, and headed out to find the firewood.
Arms stacked with dry chunks of pine, he turned the corner of the cabin to find Izumi staring down the spikes of ice. She heard his crunching steps in the snow and turned towards him. First her eyes took in the firewood, then they shot up to his and lit up with unguarded excitement. Shisui paused. There was something about that look that seemed familiar, though for some reason he wound up focusing more on how sweet it was than where he might have seen it before.
“We’ll need to knock these down or they could fall at any moment.” She started, eyeing the bits of firewood again, “let’s make it a game. It could be just like target practice!”
He cracked a smile at her. “Sure, but if you lose you’ve got to be the plow when we leave.” She laughed, throwing a long strand of hair from her shoulder to her back.
“You’re on! I bet it’s a pretty good work-out!”
Ice cracked and exploded against heavy timber, a loud THUNK announcing the strike of wood on ice before it snapped and hit the wall of the cabin. Shisui whistled at a particularly impressive blow against three consecutive spikes, sending them to shatter like glass. “Nice, Izumi-chan!”
“Yes!!” She cheered in turn, fetching the piece of firewood she just threw and waving it victoriously in the air. Shisui laughed and twirled his own current weapon-of-choice in the air. They walked around the corner to the last of the outer walls, Shisui examining the remaining spikes and calculating his throw.
Seven spikes – one piece of firewood. A straight trajectory, although the targets varied in size. He aimed and threw.
ThuthuuThuThunnnk!
The spikes snapped easily under the force of the projectile, sending them sideways and away from the wall. They buried somewhere in the deep snow a couple of meters away from the cabin, leaving faint traces where they pierced the course top layer and vanished into the dense fluff underneath.
“Wow!!” Izumi exclaimed, though when he turned to her to announce his victory she was steaming. “You hit them differently this time! It’s way easier to beat down a lot of them if they don’t have to hit the wall…”
Shisui laughed. “Well yeah, I thought I should give you that work-out you wanted.” She crossed her arms, shaking her head and sending her hair flying from side to side along her back. The sun was setting by now – there was only four hours of daylight up here at this time of year and they had wasted quite a bit messing around already. Even so, it seemed quite worth it to get a chance to laugh with her.
They made their way back towards the door when Izumi suddenly grasped his arm. He looked at her, tipping his head at the sudden touch. She directed him to turn around and he automatically followed.
“Look.” Her whisper came soft and low, let out with a small, stunned breath. Shisui blinked before he tore his eyes away from her, and faced the landscape.
The pure white had transformed with the sun. A cloak of snow and frost coating the land shone as pink as a peach, the shadows marked by darker colors and the light spots glittering a thousand more. Taken with the sudden beauty of the white place he had grown to dislike, a thought passed through his occupied mind and he let his Eyes spin to life. Through the heightened sight of the Sharingan he captured the image in all of its perfect detail – and when he traced them over Izumi he realized she had done the same.
Her eyes faded back into their normal dark state, round and vast and friendly as they always were. If she had any ideas of hiding her intentions she did not abide them, because he saw the handful of snow she tried to jam against the back of his head coming way too easily.
Parrying automatically, he sent it flying over his face as it shattered at the sudden stop. The cold flakes melted against his skin and she laughed as he widened his eyes. “I tried to make a snowball, but I guess it doesn’t work when it’s this cold.”
Smiling, Shisui bent down and kicked a wave of snow over her in retaliation. She was too busy enjoying herself to dodge, and he clutched his stomach laughing at the way her eyes widened as she got covered in icy glitter. “You look like a girly snowman!” he told her happily, and even with a long journey between him and his best friend his first thought was of how he could not wait to tell Itachi about it.
Stunned, she stomped her foot and sent some of it flying off her. A layer of ice crystals still covered her hair and face, and as a way to make amends he stepped closer so he could help brush the snow off her. “So sorry, I went a little overboard… Snowma’am.”
“Snowma’am?!” Izumi gasped, clearly insulted, and swatted his hand away. “No way! That will not become my nickname – it’s way too stupid!”
Shisui caught her gloved hand in his. “You know, Sasuke said the same thing about ‘Duckbutt’ and look what that got him. Every time he cuts his hair we get a new wave of people calling him just that.”
Izumi squeezed his hand before wrestling out of it. She was trying to look mad, but the little twitches at the corners of her mouth betrayed her real feelings. “If you call me Snowma’am in front of the clan then I will find a way to kick your ass for it. Just you wait.”
Grinning, he winked at her. “Got it, princess. For now let’s just focus on heating up the cabin before night falls.”
A large pile of firewood stacked against the wall by the door, fire cracking in the stove, and two layers lighter the two Uchiha shinobi were almost starting to feel at home. Izumi stirred a simple soup of grain and dried meat over the stove, and Shisui found a reindeer pelt stashed away in the chest with the flat lid. Seated on top of it, he watched her cook and thought about home.
They had been gone for a month. The travel alone took almost two weeks from their clan’s ancestral stronghold at the southern border of the Land of Fire. It was a lot of time to spend with just one person – even if they did know each other well. Hard not to, when your clan was the only company you had around when you were not on a mission.
She stirred rhythmically and he followed her hand with his eyes. Out of the cold and far out of earshot of anyone, he figured it was a good oppertunity to ask her about the person either of them knew better than each other: “what’s going on with you and Itachi?”
Izumi looked up from the pot, her face changing from relaxed to slightly tense and unsure. “What do you mean? It’s the same as always.”
Shisui sighed, resting with his back against the timber wall. “You know what I mean. Fugaku-san clearly still hopes for you to marry him, and yet you two keep skirting around the subject like it was a taboo.”
She bit her bottom lip, the skin turning white were she pinched it with her teeth. “It’s not taboo. It’s just… strange. I mean, neither of us have even had a boyfriend yet, and yet we’re expected to just settle down forever?” Izumi looked down at the soup, furrowing her brow and stirring it with more vigor. As if beating her frustrations into the contents of the pot. Shisui kept watching, patiently. “Itachi agrees with me. There’s more to life than following tradition and putting everything aside just to… attend meetings and have babies, I guess.”
“Is that something you want, then? To have a boyfriend?” Shisui asked bluntly. She frowned, her cheeks slightly pink.
“I want to know what it’s like, yeah. To choose someone, just because I want to, and not for some goal or practicality.” Izumi sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. “That can’t be too much to ask… I refuse to accept that.”
“Hm…” Shisui crossed his arms, turning his eyes to the ceiling and pondering her words. Truth be told, he never had fully wrapped his head around the mess that was his dear friends’ relationship and he suspected he never would. Partially due to how it seemed to never stop changing, and partially because he did not want to intrude upon it. “I get it. Though to be honest, if you asked Itachi for romance he would probably try his best to give you that.”
“Maybe, but I don’t want to. He would try for all the wrong reasons… for duty, not because he likes me.” Izumi paused, swallowing before continuing. “Besides – where’s the adventure in dating the guy everyone expects you to end up with anyway?” She ended with a wink and a lighthearted little smile.
“Adventure, huh?” Shisui chuckled, closing his eyes and smiling with his head tipped back. “I can’t blame you. He’s brilliant, but not exactly the adventurous type.”
“Right.” There was a ringing of metal against metal, and Shisui opened his eyes to Izumi taking the pot off the stove with her spoon as leverage. “Come on, if I boil this any longer it’ll thicken into meat pudding.”
“Sounds delicious.” Shisui quipped, grabbing his own utensil from his pack and joining her at the table. Side-by-side on the chest and spooning the soup right out of the pot, Shisui found himself enjoying the meal far more than the still chewy bits of meat and utterly bland flavor of it should allow for.
Darkness settled quickly. Alarmingly, it was accompanied by increasingly louder howling as the wind picked up with the dropping temperature. Izumi stood by the window, looking out with a worried crease between her brows. “Shisui-san, do you think we might get hit by a storm? Come look at the trees.”
Stepping up behind her and looking over her shoulder, he could only share her concern. The heavy evergreens waved in the wind outside, thick branches swaying and shedding their coats of snow.
“It’s possible if it keeps picking up. We will have to wait out the night and see what it’s like in the morning.”
Crossing her arms and hugging herself, she shuddered. Smiling apologetically, he tugged at her hair to distract her and earned a bemused, although far from disapproving, little glare in return.
Laid out on the rug in front of the stove, their sleeping bags rubbed against each other when Izumi rolled and turned her back to him. Shisui was flat on his back, arms behind his head. It was plenty warm enough to have more distance between them, but over the past month it had become habit to sleep near her. He was perfectly comfortable that way – the firm lump of her body next to his reassured him of her company and the little noises that left her nose had a way of lulling him to sleep. As he did drift away from consciousness, pictures of home formed before his closed eyes. Not their current home in the Stronghold way down south, but his first home. The village Hidden in the Leaves.
Perhaps it was homesickness, or maybe it was because of the lack of greenery this far north, but his head filled with broad canopies filtering sunlight and summer heat through the crowns of countless trees. After all this time, and despite everything that went down between his village and his clan, a little piece of Konoha remained lodged inside his heart. He did not regret refusing the Third Hokage’s offer to let him stay as a Leaf Ninja, after all what kind of man would it make him if he abandoned the Uchiha when not even Itachi had taken up that same offer?
However, not regretting following his clansmen out of the Hidden Leaf had no effect on him not forgetting the place. He was born in Konoha, raised with his peers outside the clan as well as within it. He had left comrades behind when they migrated… friends, even. Shisui loved his clan but he did not share in their loneliness and isolation. So, he figured he could not be blamed for still harboring some of the old warmth he felt towards his childhood home.
Izumi stirred next to him. He rolled his head to the side to look at her, sleepily thinking that she was a piece of home, too. A former Konoha genin, with the will of fire still burning behind those great brown eyes of hers.
As his eyelids slowly closed, he sunk into deep, comfortable darkness with the little noises from her nose filling his ears.
The next morning the strong winds really had turned into a true storm. Even at a distance he could hear the trees creak and complain, bending and fighting to stand upright. It was too cold for fresh snowfall but that hardly mattered – the rushing air tore at the already heavy layer of snow from the ground and sent it into a frenzy. Despite the sun being up, it was impossible to see anything but flickering white outside the window of the cabin.
Izumi took it well, busying herself with double-checking their rations and figuring out a safe way to bring in more firewood.
The hours passed slowly, though Shisui did not mind. Izumi was good company even in boring circumstances. She made them tea and came up with a game they could play; taking turns hiding a coin in the palm of their hand while having to do various movements with the other guessing which hand held the coin. Shisui laughed when she guessed incorrectly for the fourth time in a row and suggested introducing Itachi to the game when they returned; so that they could both lose splendidly.
Thinking about their mutual friend, Shisui wondered what Itachi was doing without them.