"She's gone," Akira noted, watching the carriage slowly recede into the distance, escorted by ten mounted samurai.
He hadn't accompanied her all the way to the gates, saying goodbye to Mezumi back at the house. She was departing from Torio-sama's residence that morning, and after deciding to stretch his legs and, while at it, make sure she truly left, he drifted off to his own errands without lingering.
"Heh, I hope my gift doesn't send her into a panic," Akira thought with a smile as he strolled down the village's main street at an even pace.
Because Akira had caught his sister red-handed, the days that followed at home were wrapped in a blanket of awkwardness. No one brought the incident up - everyone pretended nothing out of the ordinary had happened - but ignoring such fresh memories was pretty tough. And the way Nekorin flushed whenever she ran into Akira did nothing to disperse that atmosphere.
As if fate felt the blow to Mezumi's composure wasn't quite enough, it added one more at the farewell.
****
"Um... well, take care of yourself," Mezumi said, shuffling her feet in the entryway, not knowing how best to say goodbye to her brother.
At first, Akira also wasn't sure how to say "see you" to his sister.
"Do I just wave?" He didn't want to part with a simple word either - something about that felt wrong, and Mezumi clearly felt the same. Over the past month, they'd grown close enough that Akira - who didn't have the same cache of shared memories or sibling feeling she did - had still managed to regain a long-forgotten sense of homey family warmth.
Absolute trust? No. Akira doubted he'd ever be able to trust anyone absolutely. He hadn't even trusted his parents that much - let alone other people. In this world, absolute trust would mean revealing the true secret of his origins, and no matter how he turned it over in his head, he saw no logical reason to expose that. Maybe that would change if he had the power to protect himself from anything. At his current rate of growth, though, that day wasn't coming soon.
In short, Mezumi hadn't quite become the person he'd share his big secrets with - but he trusted her enough that, if necessary, he'd ask for help with this or that.
"All right, why are we standing like strangers?" he thought, opening his arms.
Mezumi smiled and stepped in at once to hug him.
"And to fluster her a little..." Akira decided not to let his sister off quite so easily.
"This is how it should always be," Mezumi was thinking as she soaked in the warmth of his embrace. "And so he won't forget me..."
Shockingly often, Akira and Mezumi's thoughts ran in parallel. Both turned their heads, intending to plant a quick kiss on the other's cheek. That synchronicity, here of all moments, led to a scene Mezumi would remember with mortification for a long time.
To both their surprise, their lips met something much softer than a cheek. Mezumi had risen on tiptoe to reach his face, and at that unplanned kiss she lost her balance and fell against Akira, pressing, lengthening the kiss even more.
With a distinctly smacking pop, their mouths parted. Akira looked surprised from sheer suddenness. Mezumi looked stunned by the simple fact that they had kissed.
"Ahem. Right. I should go," she said, recovering quickly, shook her head, and left a touch too hastily.
****
While Akira wandered through the village, a meeting was being held within the Uchiha clan - one that could be called "secret," in a sense.
Once the clan's immediate problems had been handled, Mikoto began holding meetings less frequently - every two weeks instead of weekly. Most of the essential houses had been rebuilt; tasks for the clan's good had been divided among those who remained; and the matter of the clan's economy was being handled primarily by the clan's advisor.
They met in the restored Naka Shrine, and you could tell this gathering was unusual by its attendees. Everyone present was a woman. That alone was out of the ordinary. Even though the clan's numbers skewed heavily toward women, at least four men usually attended, one of whom was often Akira. Today there were none - for a simple reason: they hadn't been told there would be a meeting.
"Mikoto-dono, where are... Akira-san and the others?" one woman asked, raising her hand. Many of those present turned to the head with the same question in their eyes. They didn't care whether any other men from the clan were around - but if Akira might be there, they wanted to look and listen. Sometimes they even asked rather silly questions with obvious answers, just to draw the advisor's attention and feast their ears on his pleasant voice.
"Ahem." Mikoto cleared her throat, perfectly aware of what her clanswomen were thinking. "The matter I want to raise today concerns only us - the women. Discussing it in front of the men would be... inappropriate."
At that, everyone perked up.
"What is Mikoto-dono going to bring up?" was the shared thought. And the idea of discussing something behind the men's backs didn't fluster anyone. When ninety-five percent of your clan is women, views shift on certain things. Of course, the morals drilled into them since childhood hadn't vanished, and they still considered men stronger and thought it rude to argue with them.
But they also understood that the Uchiha clan was, in essence, represented by women now. Their head was a woman, for Kami's sake! Unprecedented in the clan's history.
"I won't circle around it," Mikoto said. "We need to address the clan's numbers." Strictly speaking, she was softening it. Put plainly: we need you to bear children.
The youngest girls there blushed once they understood what Mikoto meant. Among the flustered were three genin, Itachi seated beside her mother, and Izumi on the other side.
"But... forgive me, Mikoto-dono, we only have eight adult men in the clan, and two are elderly, and three..." The girl couldn't bring herself to say "invalids." It would have been in terrible taste.
"I know where you're going," Mikoto cut in gently. "No one is asking all of you to fight over three men, much less share his bed. Even if we waited three years for a few more of our members to come of age, the number of men would still be too small. And as the saying goes, the heart doesn't take orders. So I propose another solution. As you know, members of our clan are forbidden to marry outsiders. Given the clan's critical state, I propose we suspend that ban for the next... four generations."
"Three. No more," croaked old Fujiko - a woman respected nearly as much as Mikoto herself, who had set them on their feet in the clan's darkest hour by giving everything she had. "Four generations and the blood will be too thin. If we don't want to lose our line completely, the ban shouldn't be lifted longer than three."
A lot of heads bobbed at her explanation. Everyone understood well enough: their bygone might and fame had been built first and foremost on the Sharingan. No one wanted to lose that gift.
"Then I propose we lift the ban for the next three generations," Mikoto agreed easily. She was head and pillar of the clan, yes - but governance was split between the head and the elders. The elders proposed; the head approved or rejected. Likewise, when the head proposed a new course or project, the elders could accept or decline.
Naturally, both head and elders had to argue their stance logically. Since the clan had
lost all of its old elders and their numbers were slim, Mikoto decided to distribute the elders' prerogatives among all attendees. The result was a kind of democracy - and everyone was fine with that.
No one spoke against the decision. A few even welcomed it - such bans had crushed many a love story. Even Fujiko had once loved a man from another clan, and tucked those feelings away into the deepest corner of her heart.
"Mikoto-dono, does that mean... we can now marry anyone in the village?" a young girl asked.
"Yes, provided they possess at least middling talent with chakra - that requirement stands. And let me remind you: any family you form will have to live within our district. Your husband cannot bear the name Uchiha. If you wish to marry someone from another clan, each case will have to be considered separately. Should a child display the other clan's prominent bloodline traits..." Mikoto went on to explain the finer points. As head, the clan's strengthening and prosperity came first. Personal happiness came next.
"What about Akira-san?" a different genin suddenly asked. All heads turned her way. "Um, I mean..." Flustered by the sudden attention, she stumbled over the words, but managed in the end: "He's not just an outsider. He's our clan's advisor. So... if Akira-san were to marry a member of our clan, would he be considered an Uchiha?"
That took everyone off guard.
"That's true - Akira isn't a stranger. He's helped us so much," one woman nodded.
"And he lives in our district," added another.
"And our children adore him," a third chimed in. Akira probably didn't realize it, but his habit of treating any kids he met with sweets - which he made a point to buy in bulk - hadn't gone unnoticed. Between the sweets, that easy smile, and his very pleasant looks, it was child's play to win little hearts. No wonder some girls who couldn't even write yet kept telling their mothers they'd marry Akira someday. The boys announced they wanted to be as cool as he was.
"Oh, and whenever he can, he carries my bags home for me," an older woman put in.
"Ah, and that smile," someone sighed.
Mikoto wasn't quite sure how the meeting had turned into a girls' night where they discussed a man. As for the question of Akira's status... well, that was decided without her. Democracy can be a nuisance at times. Akira was "one of us." Full stop.
*So the brat's popular... carrying bags, is it? Hmph. If he's got time and energy for that, his training load isn't heavy enough,* Fujiko thought, in a very different vein.
The "secret" meeting ended on that unexpected note. Mikoto was pleased to have settled a matter that had gnawed at her for a month so smoothly - though she had no idea that by lifting the ban on relationships outside the clan, she was setting in motion a chain of odd events that would change the clan - and the life of one young man - forever.