And the road of flowers is so long

She didn't like legends because she was part of one of them. And this is not always as fun as it seems at first glance. A girl in her early twenties was hurrying through the sparsely populated streets of Konoha at such an early hour, hurrying to work at the central library of Japan. In her hands were books that did not fit in a rather bulky shoulder bag after yesterday's business trip. Yesterday it was her turn. The morning was met with cloudy cool weather in mid-April. The streets gradually filled with passers-by hurrying about their business: some to the academy or school, some to the next task, and some, like her, to work. Akina didn't like being late, but it seemed like this was the case. Working in the children's section of the Konoha Library meant getting to work twenty minutes early, but yesterday's business trip had dragged on until late at night, and she'd overslept a bit earlier. The Chibo family lived in Konoha for just over half a year. At that time, the Fifth Hokage assigned Team 7 a secret mission: to bring the Chibo family, who has wood techniques, to the village. They were owned by two of the family: Fumiko Chibo and her eldest son Yasuharu Chibo. The head of the family, Takeshi Chibo, had an aerial type of chakra, developed his abilities at the insistence of his wife, but due to a serious injury, he left the ninja path and focused on his other hobby — carpentry. He was really good at that. Akin's youngest daughter, to everyone's surprise, did not have the abilities of a shinobi. There wasn't much chakra to develop, even though she wasn't a foster child, as people thought at first. Sometimes this misunderstanding turned into hostility, and sometimes into undisguised aggression, especially on the part of the shinobi girls, who considered her the black sheep in the herd. The older brother resolutely stopped such attacks against his sister, and they preferred not to quarrel with him too much. Few techniques could withstand the wood dust. Despite his relatively recent stay in the village, Yasuharu (his close friends and family called him Haru for short) has established himself as a strong fighter, a skilled shinobi, and one of the best swordsmen to learn the art of retojutsu. In addition, many girls dreamed of a benevolent look from the emerald eyes of a tall, beautifully built brown-haired man. However, the unsociable guy stubbornly ignored the languid sighs and admiring glances of the audience. Tsunade asked the head of the Uchiha clan to house the refugee family in her\neighborhood. Itachi, with a silent calmness, agreed to comply with the Fifth Group's request. The neighborhood has long been empty and in disrepair, so it won't hurt to revive it. The Thibault family moved into a small two-story house at the end of the block, so that they would be less likely to be seen by the owners, who lived somewhere in the middle of it, in their parents ' house. The neighbor of the Chibo family soon became another new resident of Konoha, who was dragged along by the restless Naruto Uzumaki from one of the missions. It was none other than Haku Yuki. Haku got along well with the neighbors, even becoming Haru's partner. Well, pass the intersection, turn the corner, and the library is just around the corner. She was practically running when two young men suddenly came around the bend. From their equipment, it was clear that they were returning from a mission. Akina didn't have time to slow down and ran into one of them, knocking him off his feet. The books that she was carrying in her hands were scattered on the road. When Akina recovered from the slight concussion, she was cold with horror. "Watch where you're going, you crazy girl!" Sasuke Uchiha, who was lying on the road, replied sharply, apparently not feeling any threat from her. Akina quickly got up, muttering an apology under her breath, and began to gather up her books. "Ha - ha - ha. I didn't notice, " Naruto snapped out of nowhere, hinting at Sasuke's lack of reaction. "Shut up, you idiot!" "What's the matter?" he snapped, getting up. "I'm sorry," Akina said for the hundredth time, gathering up her books. Sasuke and Naruto got into the usual skirmish, and they didn't seem to notice the girl at all. Itachi watched their quarrel for a while, then picked up a couple of books that were lying on the road beside him and handed Akina a book. She looked at Uchiha senior in disbelief and a little scared, clearly not expecting any help from him, carefully took the books from him, thanked him and hurried away. Itachi watched her go. "A strange girl," he thought. There was something unusual about her appearance. Rather pretty, short, chiseled figure, amber eyes and medium-length slightly curly hair to the middle of her back, unexpectedly dark green in color. When the girl was out of sight, he turned his gaze to the two boys still fighting. "Come on," he said to his brother. There was a hint of weariness and exasperation in his voice. "That's a shame... And it was necessary to run into Uchiha Sasuke," she lamented, flying into the library like scalded. "Good morning, Akina! Did something happen?" Nobu-san, the head librarian, asked from behind the reception desk, noticing her disheveled appearance. "Good morning, Nobu - san... No, I was almost late," the girl answered a little out of breath, putting out her books. Nobu-san slowly found the reader forms and crossed out the books he brought. Akina handed him a list of books that the library wanted to borrow. "Don't worry, the kids haven't arrived yet," the head librarian said, picking out a list of forms. The girl breathed a sigh of relief. Civilian children, about five to seven years old and still out of school, were often left in the children's section of the library until lunchtime, if they had nowhere to go while their parents were at work. Akina, who got along well with the children, enjoyed having sex with them. They drew, read books, and played board games, although sometimes it was difficult to keep them quiet. She also tried to teach them basic reading and writing skills. On those days when school was on vacation, older children also came to her, helping to look after the little ones, if, of course,there was nothing to do at home. Nobu smiled out of the corner of his mouth as he watched her. The old librarian was too demanding and did not take everyone as a staff. He usually didn't have more than a month's work left. But Akina and her friends were lucky in this respect. The chief librarian in Konoha is a responsible position, because he was also the Hokage's secretary for writing important, especially diplomatic letters. Judging by his age, Nobu was still serving as the third Hokage. "Why them," Akina thought tensely as she arranged the books that the chief librarian had crossed out on the shelves in their respective sections. The uneasiness of this morning's incident never left her mind. Sneaking around the block without being noticed by the owners and running into them a few meters away from the library is the worst thing you can do. Just because the Uchiha tolerated them in their territory didn't mean it would last forever, even if Tsunade asked for it. And the fact that the Thibos were descendants of divine families in the female line. As long as they didn't bother, everything was fine. But suddenly, because of her mistake, they will change their minds, especially Uchiha Sasuke. He seems to dislike this intrusive neighborhood the most. Soon, the other assistant librarians arrived: Ryoko and Mari Nagai, Asemi Kamatsu and Yuki Mori. After exchanging greetings, the girls went to their respective departments after receiving instructions from Nobuo. After a few minutes, the children were brought in, and Akina went to the children's department. Of course, they tried not to make any noise, especially when the library was visited by rare visitors, but sometimes the hubbub was unavoidable." Akina could not take many children, as the children's department was relatively small, so parents had to arrange this in advance. The others were left to their own devices. The girl repeatedly considered turning to the Fifth with a proposal to organize a kindergarten for civilian children, but was afraid that this would be considered an audacity. After lunch, she planned to go through the library's archive. Old books, folios and scrolls with historical records of all the clans that were before and that live now, require careful care. And it was incredibly interesting to read them." The rest of the library staff were reluctant to do this, fearing dust and the possibility of smelling old paper, although the archive did not have either option. Akina enjoyed doing this once a week. The day passed so quickly. After returning home a little tired, after changing her clothes, Akina looked into the kitchen, where her mother was rattling dishes. "Is that you, dear?" Welcome back, " said a rather good-looking woman in her early forties, with black hair and bright green eyes. "Yes, Mom," the girl answered. "My father hasn't returned yet. Do me a favor, honey, and take dinner to Haku." She and Haru recently returned from a mission, " she asked me. "So Haru's home, too," she realized, looking up the stairs to the second floor. "Isn't he coming to dinner?" - the girl replied with displeasure, not eager to go anywhere. Haku was a frequent visitor to their house, and it became a habit. "You know how humble he is. He refused under the pretext that he wasn't hungry and would be resting." But how can you rest on an empty stomach? Fumi protested softly. "Yes, and now drag me around, modest, damn it. I'll get to his ears so he doesn't show off," Akina grumbled irritably to herself as she walked towards his house with a basket filled with ready — made dishes. However, the knowledge that they were back and all was well warmed my soul. Long forgotten were the days when she'd flinched at every rustle of the wind. But in the days of that dangerous past, when they had to move from place to place, she and her brother were closer to each other." He was a pillar of support and protection, trying to become stronger to protect those who were dear to him from those who tried to capture or kill them. And all because of the legend of a powerful artifact kept by the descendants of the divine family, which can make even an ordinary person equal to the gods and fulfill any of his wishes. Shinju seed. It is noteworthy that neither in the legends, nor in any treatises, it was not said what this artifact looked like and what it is. To recognize in a person a descendant of the divine, later called the cursed, people were able only to those Shinobi who were able to see the flow of chakra: ninja doctors or representatives of the Hyuga clan. The chakra channels of such people were greenish in color and were clearly visible, even if the person had never used it, in other words, was not a shinobi. Therefore, some descendants of the goddess did not even know what genome they possessed, and did not understand why they were being persecuted and killed. The Thibault family knew what families they belonged to, so they didn't stay anywhere for long. But now, with Konoha's protection, there was no need to be always on guard. Life became calm and measured. To get to Haku's house, all you had to do was walk through their garden. The door of his small house was unlocked. Only the windcatcher tinkled, announcing the arrival of a guest. "Haku, are you home?" she said loudly, finding herself in a rather large living room that looked more like a greenhouse due to the abundance of various bowls of plants. "I'll be right there,"she heard him say from the hallway at home. Akina silently made her way to the kitchen and was surprised to find that the entire floor was covered in water. This made her a little uneasy. The girl was barefoot and not afraid to get her feet wet. She went to the back of the kitchen and set the basket of food on the kitchen table. Akina walked around the room, listening, trying to determine the location of a water pipe leak from the sound. However, there was no breakthrough anywhere." Suddenly, she noticed that the sound of dripping was coming from the refrigerator. "A defrosted refrigerator couldn't have caused a flood," she thought in surprise. However, when she opened it, she froze in disbelief. The contents of the refrigerator were literally sealed in a piece of ice that was actively melting. "I'll kill you..." she thought irritably. "That's why he refused to come over for dinner." I decided to eliminate the consequences of the flood on my own, the girl guessed. "Haku, explain if you don't mind. What does it mean? What is it?" she asked as she heard footsteps approaching. A young man appeared in the kitchen doorway, a little taller than Akina, slender, with long black hair, huge chocolate-colored eyes with a wet, inviting shine, long eyelashes,and a slight blush on his face after bathing. A black choker and a carelessly wrapped pink robe with a simple pattern. There was something to sigh dreamily about. Not one Konoha girl dreamed of being in the arms of this colorful handsome man, who can be completely mistaken for a girl. Akina pointed sternly at the open refrigerator, looking at the young man with displeasure. "The refrigerator broke down before the mission. So I used the technique to keep the food from spoiling, " the guy explained, blushing even more and feeling that he couldn't avoid the pills. "A genius. And what should I do about it now? You can't fix it until you've defrosted it, and it's going to be defrosted for a week, " Akina said reproachfully. "It's nothing. I'll ask Sasuke to unfreeze it, " Haku wriggled out of it. Akina looked at him as if he was insane. The mention of the younger sharingan owner brought back unpleasant memories of this morning. "Haku, the refrigerator should be defrosted, not burned." Then there will be nothing to fix. Why didn't you say anything?" She continued to scold him. "I didn't want to bother you again," Haku said, running a hand through his heavy, wet hair. "All right. It is necessary to take it out to the street so that the dampness in the house does not breed. But that can wait. Sit down to dinner before everything gets cold. I'll set the table in a moment, " the girl said, taking the boiling kettle off the stove. Akina was about to leave after setting Haku down at the set table, but the young man stopped her. As always in such situations. "Don't go, keep me company," he said, looking at her pleadingly. How could you say no when people looked at you like that? The girl agreed to have tea with him. The tea that Haku made according to his own recipes was hard to refuse. Then she called Haru and her father, who had returned by then, and they helped carry the refrigerator outside. No one expressed their surprise about this.