Title: Lackluster

Author: Hagi (ha'ji)

Summary: Hinata found a new place she could finely call a home. Naruto was trying hard to figure out what exactly were his feelings toward his so-called 'new' sister. And that was when the story began to unhurriedly unwind.

Chapter 1: 'New Sister'

Kakashi slammed hard on the breaks, so that the car which was moving so fast earlier was brought to a sudden stop. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard that he barely noticed the hold of his wife around his right arm. The hum of the automobile's engine echoed inside the enclosed space, and the rain outside made the continuous rhythmic noise they had been hearing for about an hour or so, that aside, it was safe to say that silence had completely taken over the situation. Everything was still and unmoving, yet at the same time, everything showed pure fretfulness and the two figures inside the car were visibly emitting tensed aura into the atmosphere.

Finally, the female with eyes of the color of the blood broke the silence which they thought was invulnerable.

"We didn't hit him. . ." She paused while unconsciously gripping the arm of her husband harder, ". . . Did we?" Kurenai didn't intended to give in to what she was feeling inside, but, she failed. Her voice was tinted with doubt, a bit of shaky Kakashi perceived.

"That's negative. We didn't hit him," Trying to hide, like what his better-half did, his uncertainty behind his monotonous voice. "We can not leave him like that either."

The silver-haired guy, named Hatake Kakashi, opened the vehicle's door, and as soon as his right foot struck the earth, he realized it was raining. Pouring hard. Thousands of beads of water landed harshly on his tense skin.

Briskly walking towards the body, he thoughtfully noticed how the said lifeless form wasn't tainted with blood, bruised or have the slightest indication that he was involved in an accident; Kakashi sighed. The motionless man's back was facing the pair of eyes that had seemingly an endless question clouding in it, the clothes, which were sopping wet, had small blotches of mud; Kakashi squatted down on his heels after arriving at a spot where he could see the facade of the young man which was lying face down in the dirt. He studied the guy more closely­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­—whom he concluded was a teenager. There was something odd about his hair, it reminded him of something he thought he already left behind a long time ago—something mystifying.

His eye twitched a little, maybe because of the coldness, or simply because it was already 2:09 am, or perhaps the reason might be the figure lying before him. He dismissed the idea that he looked familiar, yet he could not put a finger on his identity, he dismissed that very idea.

Lifting his left hand to brush away fine strands of hair across the unknown creature's face, which was covering almost half of his face, Kakashi Hatake cursed himself for being such a dim-witted college Biology professor. . .

. . . The 'he' was actually a 'she'.

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"Hello?" A boy with beautiful cerulean eyes chirped on the phone.

His face lit up and the boredom he felt a moment ago was shot straight to the sky.

"Mom. Oh, yeah. She was here a moment ago. . ." the young man turned his head around, only realizing that her big sister had already retreated, as he presumed, inside her 'territory', as how she calls her room. "But I guess, I can call her if you want to. No? Yes. Okay. I'll tell her—What!!? I suppose it's already closing time for all the groceries across our vicinity. What's the special occasion anyway? You're bringing a. . ."

His voice trailed off until words disappeared into thin air, as his gaze lingered back to the picture frame placed just alongside their TV set. Five people 'were' smiling.

". . .A new sister."