Only For That Day
It's been six long years, and things have changed- the Hyuuga have a new head, war has come to an uneasy peace, and there just might be a new Hokage on the horizon. Unfortunately, Naruto swore he wouldn't take on the mantle of Rokudaime until he'd fulfilled his promise of a lifetime to Sakura. Tsunade-sama has decided that the time has come for Sasuke to be brought back to Konoha, with a little unexpected help. So it's off through Sand to get to Snow, to make team seven complete again. Meanwhile, Sasuke is only three days away from Itachi, and with any luck, his revenge. Four people have been waiting… only for that day.
Alright, kiddos, this is the sequel to my fanfiction "Purity of White". If you've read POW, welcome back. If not, you can try to read this, but I'm not guaranteeing that you'll understand certain references, or some of the underlying plot, so if you like it, read the first one!
And once again thanks to Kyiri! She is my most lovely and wonderful beta, and I sing her praises pretty much at the beginning of every chapter.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!
Chapter 1
Twenty two year old Uzumaki Naruto was late. To be specific, twenty two year old Uzumaki Naruto was late because his hell-raiser of a son had stolen his alarm clock (together with an electric mixer, a hair dryer, and a very ugly lamp, which he had wired together. When he plugged it in, it cause a blackout for a good two-thirds of Konoha). What exactly he was late for, he wasn't sure. But Tsunade was going to kill him.
When he had finally woken up, forty five minutes late, he'd hurriedly thrown on clothes, kissed his family goodbye, and run like hell.
He opened the door to the Hokage's office to find utter blackness. He sighed and started to feel his way up the stairs. Grabbing the railing, he pulled himself up.
Naruto had made Chunin at fifteen, Jonin at seventeen, married Hinata at eighteen, and was the most likely candidate for Hokage.
In fact, Tsunade and her council had suggested to him that he take up the mantle of the sixth. But Naruto was nothing if not stubborn, and he'd sworn not to take the position until Sasuke was back.
So Naruto, the man who was already being called the sixth, having made his way up the stairs without serious injury and/or death, flailed around in the darkness for the doorknob of the Hokage's office. A small noise caught his attention. Someone was speaking inside.
He didn't recognize the voice, but the tone was familiar…
He slammed the door open and froze. In the semi-darkness of the room, the voice seemed even louder.
"-Not actually medic training, but I learned first aid, so I can stitch people up okay," followed by soft laughter.
Naruto's eyes seized upon the dark blue shirt and the familiar red-and-white symbol.
"Sasuke-teme!" he yelled. The figure turned around, as if in surprise. For a moment his brain emptied of all thoughts except "When did Sasuke learn Oiroke no jutsu?"
"Do I really look that much like him?" she asked. It was then that he realized that this couldn't be Sasuke, because there was no reply of "hn" or "dobe", and further more, Sasuke was not a Hyuuga. And the smiling girl had a shining white eye staring at him. She also carried a huge scroll on her back, like the one Jiraiya wore.
"You're a Hyuuga?" he asked stupidly. Of course she was a-
"No," Tsunade said sharply. He jumped, not having realized that Sakura and the Godaime were also in the room. "You're late," Tsunade added. "And has your son been messing with the electricity again?"
A guilty look passed across his face and then came back and camped there. "Er…" Tsunade stared at him. "He… well, he kinda stole my alarm clock," he admitted.
"At least he didn't pretend to kidnap himself again, ne?" Sakura grinned, referring to an incident two months previous, which had all the Hyuuga out for blood ad had ultimately been resolved when he had turned up asleep under the Hokage's desk.
Naruto groaned, then turned back to the girl. "You aren't a Hyuuga?" he asked, puzzled.
She shook her head and turned to face him, revealing her mismatched eyes. "No. This eye was surgically implanted. I'm blind in it," she replied in cheerfully. "My name's Maya."
"Uchiha Maya," Tsunade added firmly. "Konoha's last Uchiha. Sasuke's niece."
"She's Ita-" Naruto started, but Tsunade cut him off.
"No. She is the daughter of Sasuke's older sister, Yumi," Tsunade said sharply. "She was captured by Itachi on the night of the Uchiha massacre, at age four, and handed over to Orochimaru, who had her left eye cut out and replaced with a Byakugan. At age twelve she was rescued by Hyuuga Neji, brought back to Konoha, cared for by Yamanaka Ino, and a few weeks later was escorted by Neji, Ino and Sakura to the home of a friend of mine. She's been training there for the last six years, returning only last night. She made Chunin at twelve, only six months after becoming a Konoha Genin, and Jonin at the last exam, and though she is to be assigned her first official mission today, she has proven herself to be a highly capable and loyal shinobi of the leaf. Her goal is to become an ambassador and to bring her uncle back to Konoha."
"Why did no one ever tell me about her?" Naruto asked, with a slightly angry undertone.
"Well, the Hyuuga had a death warrant out for me. Didn't like anyone outside the family with the Byakugan," Maya piped up.
"Hai. And if you had known about her, and the Hyuuga found out that you knew about her, it is highly doubtful that you would have married your lovely wife and we would be able to converse with each other with the lights on, though it would probably just be me and Sakura, as Maya would be dead, and you would most likely be dead for protecting her," Tsunade said calmly. "As I assume you would choose to protect her."
"Hinata does seem really nice. She was the one who canceled the death warrant for me," Maya said genuinely.
"So," Naruto asked "Why did you call us all here?"
Tsunade smiled. He was getting quicker on the uptake. "Because. We received a report from Suna. The message it contained was 'Uchiha S. seen crossing the border into Kaze, presumably heading towards Yuki no Kuni, tell N. that G. says he's looking forward to greeting him as a fellow Kage.' "
Naruto's face lit up.
"You leave tomorrow morning for Suna, where you will gather information about Uchiha Sasuke's whereabouts, and then…" She paused for emphasis, "Bring Sasuke back to Konoha"
"YES!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down.
"So the new, temporary team seven, team NaruSakuMaya leaves tomorrow at nine o' clock sharp" Tsunade grinned, thinking of how many members team seven had come to include. "Now, I believe that Maya needs to be reunited with a happily married couple at the Hyuuga residence.
Maya beamed. Naruto looked confused. "Ino and Neji," Tsunade said, shaking her head.
"YAY!" Maya squealed.
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"Otto-san! Otto-san, guess what! No wait, don't, because you'll never ever ever ever ever ever EVER ever guess!"
Naruto gave a half-hearted groan and scooped up the rambunctious three year old. "You didn't blow anything up, did you?"
"Not this time," the boy shook his head vigorously. "I got spanked!" he said in tones that were far from remorseful.
"Why?" Naruto asked warily
"Because I was up on the roof and I kinda broke it but it wasn't really my fault, but anyways, it'll take two weeks to fix the west wing but it'll probably never never be the same ever." His son chattered.
"Oh, is that all? Well, you deserve to be spanked for blacking out Konoha for two hours," Naruto replied. "That was very bad of you, Kyoshi. What were you doing with my alarm clock anyways?"
"I was building a bomb! I went over to Shino-oji-chan's house and plugged it in and then I got this big big jolt and then there was a lot of black smoke, and then it got really dark and then Shino-oji-chan brought me home. He was really mad" Kyoshi replied. Then he looked at Maya. "Otto-san, who's that?"
"She's Maya-san, and don't point. She's here to see Neji-oji-san and Ino-obaa-chan," Naruto said.
"Hi Kyoshi-kun. You've certainly made today interesting," Maya smiled. He beamed back at her with Naruto's trademark smile.
He was short, with blue-tinted Byakugan, and red hair (A/N: This is possible if you have one blonde parent and another with black hair. In series proof? Gaara. Mom was blonde, dad had black hair. So there). His knees were scraped, and his face, which looked exactly like Naruto's minus the whiskers, was dirty. It was like Naruto came in a variety of colors and sizes.
"Much too interesting," someone said from behind them.
"NEJI-NI-CHAN!" Maya screeched and jumped to give him a hug. He moved the plastic grocery bag he was holding out of the way.
"Hello, Maya-chan. I couldn't believe it was you," He replied as soon as she was composed. Not much had changed about him. He still wore something like he had worn at sixteen, and his Hitai-ate still covered up the cursed seal on his forehead. His face looked older and more mature, though.
"Been awhile, huh?" she commented, with an ear to ear grin.
"Since the wedding," Neji replied. "Three years now. Almost four. At least you'll be here to see our second child born."
"NO WAY! You two have a kid!" Maya was excitedly jumping up and down again.
"Yes, out daughter, three years old," he said, clearly proud.
"How far along is Ino?" she asked, still jumping.
"Five months."
Maya stuck her fist up in the air. "Where is she? I can't wait!"
Neji let a small but genuine smile cross his lips "I'll show you. But first you have to meet Hinata."
Ten minutes later, Maya was bowing in front of Hinata in seiza position. "It's very nice to meet you, Hinata-sama"
"It's very nice to meet you as well, Maya-san." Hinata inclined her head slightly. "This is my daughter, Kin'nari-chan. I believe you've met my son, Kyoshi," She added.
Motherhood sure could change a person. Hinata would always be delicate, but now there was strength behind it. She kept her long hair pulled up into an elegant bun, and she wore a kimono with the Hyuuga crest on it.
Kin'nari-chan had the same type of delicacy about her features. Her hair was golden blonde and pulled up in two long pigtails, and she had her mother's lavender Byakugan. She wore a plain white kimono and sat very politely and calmly, something most four-year-olds were not often capable of.
"Kin'nari. That's an unusual name," Maya remarked.
"The 'kin' is for gold, because of her hair, and the 'nari' is short for 'Inari', since she came close to being born in one of his shrines."
"It's a beautiful name. What does Kyoshi mean?"
"Well, 'Kyo' is short for 'Taikyo', sky, or universe, and 'shi' is a traditional ending for a Hyuuga boy's name," Hinata explained. "Now, Neji, I think that Ino is probably pacing a hole in the tatami wondering where you are."
"Hai, Hinata-sama."
"You know, Neji," Naruto grinned "One day we'll get you to stop saying 'Hinata-sama' and just call her 'Hinata'."
"Perhaps," Neji said simply. "Now, Maya-chan, shall we go see Ino?"
"Yep!"
He led her out the door and down a hall until they reached a small wing. "Ino?" Neji tapped on the paper door.
"Neji! Jeez, what took y-" Ino said, opening the door. Then she stopped and screamed.
"MAYA!"
"INO-NEE-CHAN!"
"I missed you so much! Now look at you! You're so much taller, and your chest has filled out, and-"
"I missed you too, Onee-chan." Maya hugged her. "So I hear you have a daughter now, and another one on the way. Congratulations!" she grinned. She looked Ino up and down. Ino wore her hair up still, with the trademark bang jutting out, and she wore a light purple kimono. Her bump was already starting to show significantly.
"Neji! You ruined the surprise!" Ino scolded mockingly.
"Yes, but I got you these" he said, handing over the grocery bag. Ino opened the bag to see small tomatoes, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. She turned back to Maya.
"Come in, we have so much to talk about!" Ino led her inside and sat her down at a small table.
"Kaa-san! Is this your friend?" a little girl ran up to them, tugging at Ino's hand. She has very short light blonde hair and Byakugan.
"Inobara-chan, this is your Maya-obaa-san," Ino said, sitting down. Inobara nodded and then ran to her father.
"Inobara? Wild boar rose? And wait, why am I obaa-san?" Maya asked.
"Because, if I'm onee-chan, and Neji is onii-chan, then that makes you obaa-san to our child," Ino replied, pouring tea for her. Maya looked slightly chagrined but accepted it and started to drink politely.
"But what's with her name?" Maya asked again.
"It's the way you thought it was. 'I' is 'boar', 'no' is 'wild', and 'bara' is 'rose' so it means 'wild boar rose' all together" Neji explained, scooping up his daughter, who giggled, and then setting her down at the table.
"It's all Shikamaru's fault. When he found out Temari and I were both expecting at the same time, he insisted on there being another Ino-Shika-Cho. And he got my dad on my case. It was actually surprisingly convenient, because I couldn't choose between 'Nobara' and 'Ayame', so I went with Nobara and just put an 'I' in front of it. Now say hello, Maya-chan."
"Hi, Inobara-chan."
"Hi, Maya-obaa-chan." Inobara grinned.
"Kyoshi hasn't rubbed off on her, has he?" Maya asked nervously, as Inobara dumped spoonful after spoonful of sugar in her tea.
"No," Neji said firmly. Then he picked up Inobara again and threw her up in the air, making her squeal with delight.
"I hope this one looks like him," Ino confided, laying a hand on her stomach. "Being a father has been good for him, and he's good at it."
"Yeah, I've seen him smile three times now," Maya remarked, watching as Neji caught Inobara and then threw her up in the air again.
"Anyways, tell me about your training," Ino requested. Maya groaned.
"I learned a lot from Ashura-sensei, but I hope I never have a worse housemate. He's so incredibly spoiled. And perverted. And so… gah… anyways, he always managed to get a dozen or so pretty boys to serve as shrine maidens, all of whom we annoyingly head-over-heels for him. He had a drinking party almost every night, mostly with people in the bingo book, S-class criminals, those kinds of people. Oh, and every once in awhile, Jiraiya would come over. Gods. They had this little routine down." Maya stopped to massage her temples.
"They would start out on opposite sides of the room. They would say 'Don't you know who we are?' in unison, and then Jiraiya would say 'The title "Frog Hermit" is merely a disguise' and Ashura would say the same thing, except his title was 'Hermit of Feng huang no Yama' and then together 'We shall tell you our true identities' and then they would start hopping across the room, towards one another. 'The man who has no enemies in the north, south, east and west' was Jiraiya's next line and then Ashura would say 'The man who has been known and loved in all directions of the compass' and then together again 'That is me!' and then 'A name to make a crying baby to stop in awe!' and 'A name to make the stars themselves grow dull!' by then, having been hoping through all of this, they'd be standing right next to each other, and they'd say 'Jiraiya of the legendary three!' and 'Ashura, last of the Suzaku clan!' and then together 'The most excellent perverted duo in the east! Between the two of us, there is no pair of legs, male or female that we cannot open!' . There was more, but it isn't exactly child-friendly, and anyways I don't know it as well because that's usually when I threw the iron teapot at them," Maya said. Ino was laughing.
"So what else did you do besides attend drinking parties and throw teapots at your teachers?" Ino asked.
"Well, I studied taijutsu, mostly Jyuuken, the renge style, some of the Suzaku clan's personalized style, and also a fighting style from the west called Shina, and improved my Katon. I can do most Jonin level techniques, now, and I also increased my knowledge of the other styles, since flexibility is really important. I also spent a lot of time studying history, since I may potentially be leading a clan someday. That's why I have this," Maya said, patting the giant scroll.
"What is it? It looks like a summoning scroll," Ino said. Maya nodded.
"Yep. Apparently, when I was sixteen, the contract that Akiko drew up for me so I could keep Akeko was somehow voided, I never really figured out why. So Ashura-sensei told me a place I could go to make a new summoning contract with the Inugami, which I did. So now I'm the carrier of the scroll. That's something else I worked on- it was kinda inspired by the Shina style, which specialized in partner training, so I started creating my own style that keeps the Sharingan in mind, and also that incorporates the Inugami. It has a really strong close- and mid-range, since the Chidori and most Katon techniques hit those ranges, but I'm still working on the long range part. I'm not that good with weapons, and I don't have the most chakra or the best chakra control, so any long range ninjutsu is out of the question," Maya admitted.
"It's still really impressive. And if you're having trouble with weapons, you should talk to Tenten, Neji's old teammate. She can hit a target from, what, something like a hundred feet away with 100 accuracy," Ino said.
"Whoa. I'll definitely talk to her," Maya said. "Oops. Well, I'll talk to her after my mission," She amended.
"What? You have a mission already?" Ino asked, dismayed.
"Yeah, I have to leave tomorrow." Maya shrugged. "It's a super-A class mission. I'll probably be gone for a couple of weeks. I'm probably the only Konoha Shinobi whose first official mission is an A-rank." She smiled.
"How'd you manage to take the Chunin exams? Or the Jonin? Don't you have to have 8 missions for the Chunin exam and 100 to take the Jonin?" Ino asked.
Maya stuck out her tongue "Tsunade-sama pulled some major strings for me. She counted training with Ashura as my requirements and had him test me and send her the results. When she thought my progress was satisfactory, she elevated me to Chunin. When it was time for me to take the Jonin exam, she went and split up and counted everything I'd done with Ashura, ranked those, and submitted me. It was in Mizu this year," she explained.
"So what exactly does this mission consist of?" Ino asked, eyes narrowed.
"Ino," Neji said, putting Inobara into her lap. "You know all A-rank missions are confidential."
Ino sighed in tones that fooled absolutely nobody, except possibly Inobara, and said "Of course, you're right. Gomen, Maya-chan." in a way that implied she was just going to be sneakier to find it out.
"Oh, it's fine. Anyways, I forget, where's a cheap hotel around here?" Maya asked.
Ino's eyebrows furrowed. "You. Are not. Staying. In. A. hotel. You're staying with us, and that is absolutely final."
Maya grinned "Okay, okay, Ino-nee-chan,"
"And further more, you're going to watch Inobara and Choko on their play date. I have to go in for my check up." Ino pulled her hair up into a bun and secured it with chopsticks.
"Choko?"
"Choji's daughter. He and his wife adopted a little girl from his clan after her parents died. She and Inobara are friends" Ino explained, handing over Inobara.
"So there is going to be another Ino-Shika-Cho. Who's the Shika?" Maya asked, as Inobara piped up, yelling "Ino-Shika-Cho, unbeatable trio, GO!"
"Shikamaru and Temari's son, Shikazu." Ino replied. "We're friends again, of course. I'm actually grateful. We would have been horrible together, and who knows who would have snagged Neji?"
"They made up after Inobara was born. She thanked him, crying, for breaking up with her," Neji added. Ino shot him an embarrassed glare.
Maya smiled and outwardly ignored the comment, though she was secretly filing it away under "ammunition" for later. "Yep. I love being able to say I hooked you two up."
Ino flicked her in the back of the head, earning an exclamation of "Ita!" from Maya, who then mumbled that she didn't understand how that could hurt so much. "Well, Neji, we better get going," Ino said.
"Alright," Neji replied, helping her to her feet. "Maya, take Inobara to the park two blocks away from here. Choji should be waiting with Choko."
"Hai!" Maya saluted. He rolled his eyes slightly and escorted Ino out the door. Maya looked at Inobara, who grinned. "Well, looks like it's just you and me, Inobara-chan."
"Yep!" Inobara smiled.
"You like dogs?" Maya asked warily.
"Doggies! I love doggies! I want a puppy, but every time I tell Kaa-san that she rolls her eyes and says 'never again' and hey I know who you are, Kaa-san kept a picture of you in her room and I broke the frame once and then after she was through yelling at me we had a long long talk and she told me all about you, cause you're her imoto even if you aren't related and I told Choko-chan about that once and said 'see, look' 'cause she's adopted and gets real sad sometimes cause she misses her real parents, well, not her real parents cause Choji-oji-chan and Kin'akairo-obaa-chan are her real parents now but the ones that die,." Inobara said without pausing for breath.
"Cool," Maya said. Inwardly she was cracking up at the thought Neji's child could chatter so much. "Then I'll show you something neat, okay?" she winked conspiratorially. Inobara grinned.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Maya said, biting her thumb. When the smoke cleared there was a half grown Shiba Inu in the middle of the floor, wagging thumping his tail against the floor.
"Hey, Akeko," She said, rubbing the dog's head. "This is Inobara. She's Ino and Neji's daughter, and you better be nice to her." Akeko barked.
"Puppy!" Inobara exclaimed happily, eyes lighting up. Akeko barked again, much happier this time, and licked her cheek. Inobara burst into giggles.
"C'mon, guys, we've got to get to the park, 'kay?" Maya said. Inobara turned to look at Maya with absolute adoration.
"Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked.
"You'll have to talk to your parents about that, kiddo," Maya responded. Inobara wrinkled her nose but grudgingly accepted this.
They walked out of the door and down the hall, Akeko padding along silently. Maya happened to bump into someone, and when she looked up, she saw a familiar face staring at her extremely rudely.
Oh, right, the last time she'd seen this face was six years ago when Maya had been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt. Hyuuga Hinako glared at her. Ah, it was nice to be recognized. Hinako was carrying a small girl who appeared to be maybe a year older than Inobara. The girl stuck out her tongue at Inobara, who glared back at her fiercely enough to make the veins around her eyes pop. When she pulled a frog face at the retreating backs of the two, Maya didn't scold her, simply pretending not to see.
"Sorry about that. She's been stuck up since she married into the main house," Another Hyuuga, a woman about Kakashi's age, said before greeting Inobara.
"Hi, Haruka-san," Inobara said shyly. The other waved them on and walked past.
They managed to get out of the house before bumping into pretty much the last person she wanted to see. Hiashi didn't even acknowledge them, just glided on gracefully past. It made Maya want to punch him in the face.
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It had been back at Ashura's that she'd learned about her parent's team. It was purely coincidence that Uzuki Yugao had escorted Gekko Takeo, Hayate's little brother, to Ashura's for training, about a year after Maya had started her training.
The last person Yugao had ever been expecting to greet her was a little girl, much less one who wore her old ANBU squad leader's face.
"Can I help you? Oh, this must be Ashura-sensei's new student. Hold on, I'll go get him. Please come in," she'd said politely.
Yugao, believing she was crazy, asked "May I enquire your name? I'm Uzuki Yugao," in a slightly shaky voice. Takeo had noticed but said nothing.
And then the girl had replied ,"Maya, of Konoha's Uchiha clan."
Yugao's brain briefly stopped functioning. It was not possible. Honestly, though she'd never admitted it, she had always hoped… ever since they'd revealed that the body presumed to be Maya's wasn't hers… but this…
"Was… was your mother Uchiha Yumi?" she'd asked.
And then Maya had dragged Ashura out of his room, interrupting a semi-awkward moment, threw him in a room and pushed Takeo in the room with him, shut the doors securely, and asked evenly "What do you know about my kaa-san?"
They'd locked themselves in one of the upstairs rooms to talk. Maya explained what had happened to her. She told Yugao about why she'd been sent to stay at Ashura's, though she left out Ino, Neji and Sakura's names.
And then it had been Yugao's turn. "I was thirteen when I was assigned my first ANBU mission with your mother's team. It was made up of Yumi, Hatake Kakashi, Gekko Hayate, and myself. She was my best friend. She never questioned my youth, or teased me about it, or acted as if I were just a kid, even though she was three years older than me. She had faith in me. In ANBU, that isn't usual, but she extended her trust to me. She saved my life more than once, and I saved hers, once." Yugao paused to take a steadying breath. "Then, when she was seventeen, her original Genin team was assigned a mission, resulting in the death of one of her teammates, who had been your father's best friend, and the near fatality of your father. I stayed with her in the hospital for a week before he came around. I was there when he proposed to her. Her teacher and I were the first ones to hear that she was pregnant. With you," Yugao said
"Teacher?" Maya asked, interested. She'd never asked about her parent's team when they were still alive, and they never talked about it, though Taki had taken her to the memorial for martyred shinobi twice a month or so.
"Yes. Your parents remained quite close to him even after their team split. Your grandparents, he, and I were the only witnesses at your parents' wedding. They were looking forward to you becoming friends with his daughter. She was four when you were born." Yugao said. "He waited in the hospital with me and your grandparents, the only time I believe the Hyuuga and Uchiha willingly shared space."
Maya's blood ran cold. "Who was their teacher?" she asked slowly.
"Hyuuga Hiashi."
Maya froze. Yugao had noticed and remained quiet.
The man who had issued her death warrant had been her parents' teacher. The one who had been at her parent's wedding, who had been told before anyone else of her existence, the one who had waited in the hospital lobby for news of his students' child had willingly signed away that child's life.
X
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Maya exhaled shakily. For some reason, it was much harder to forgive Hiashi in some respects than it was to forgive Itachi. Though in her mind, there was no real forgiving either of them.
"Let's go," she said to Inobara, a bit sharply. Inobara looked up, a little hurt that her new-found idol would speak to her in that tone. Then the little girl stubbornly set her lip. None of this escaped Maya, who then sighed and said, in a kinder voice, "Sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at someone else. You're a good girl."
Inobara had simply nodded and tugged on Maya's hand, seemingly saying that all was forgiven.
It took fifteen minutes to find the park, as Neji had not specified which direction the park was in. When they finally got there, Inobara started yelling at another little girl. She had big green eyes and brown hair pulled up into pig tails, and, though clearly an Akimichi, wasn't even really chubby, simply soft looking around the edges. Choko ran up to Inobara, and then they sped off towards the playground. Choji followed his daughter to Maya.
"Hi, I'm Maya. I'm babysitting Inobara, since Ino has a doctor's appointment today," Maya explained.
"Akimichi Choji. Nice to meet you. That's Choko, as you've probably guessed by now," he replied.
They watched the two girls play on the monkey bars. "Choko-chan is really cute," Maya said.
"Yes," Choji said proudly. "Thank you."
They made small talk and monitored the girls from a distance. Everything was going okay until Maya saw Inobara throw sand in a little boy's eyes, and then kick him in the shins.
"DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT CHOKO-CHAN LIKE THAT AGAIN! ENEMY OF ALL WOMEN! YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Inobara yelled, delivering another kick, this time to the stomach.
Maya's eyebrows shot up, almost to her hairline. Where had Inobara learned language like that?
"Inobara! What are you doing!" Maya said, yanking the little girl away. Inobara struggled, desperately trying to free herself from her kimono.
"HE CALLED CHOKO FAT!" she yelled, kicking.
Maya looked over at Choko, whose eyes were brimming with tears and felt like giving the little shit a kick too.
The boy's mother rushed over and demanded that Maya get her child under control. Using great effort to resist kicking both the little shit and his mother, Maya simply said that the boy had been insulting and out of line. Which his mother was not happy about. Maya let the woman rant for five minutes, and then she told the woman exactly where she could stick her parenting. Choji then came over and told Maya he'd take care of it, and she bowed out gratefully.
Then she walked Inobara over to the park's water fountain. Maya said "Your dad would kill you if he even suspected you knew that word. Never use it again, understand?" Inobara looked back, stubborn and sulky. Then Maya took a bar of soap out and made Inobara wash her mouth out with it.
By the end of it, Inobara looked like she hated Maya, and her eyes were streaming, though she wasn't making a single sound except for extremely angry breathing. And then Maya had sighed and started to wash her own mouth out with soap. Inobara looked surprised. Maya made ridiculous faces as she did it. God, this was just as awful as she remembered. She'd endured this punishment more than once as a three year old.
When she was done, grimacing, she said "Well, I guess I can't really lecture you, now can I? I said some pretty bad words myself. So tell you what, since you stuck up for your best friend, let's go get some ice cream," Maya said.
By the time they were on their way home from the ice cream shop, Maya was back in Inobara's good books.
"I won't say anything if you don't say anything," Maya told her, before sending her off to play with Kin'nari in the courtyard. She was perfectly well behaved while playing with her cousin, and was down for a nap by the time Ino and Neji got back.
"Was she alright?" Ino asked. Maya nodded, mentally crossing her fingers.
"She was fine."
"Good," Neji said "Anything interesting happen?"
"She was really good, so we got ice cream," Maya said.
"Thanks for doing it, Maya, I know she can be a handful." Ino said. Maya shrugged casually. "Anyways, we need to celebrate your return to Konoha. What do you feel like tonight?"
"Ooh, I'd love okonomiyaki," Maya said wistfully. "I haven't had any good okonomiyaki in years."
"Sure. Sounds fine by me," Ino replied.
"Fine with me," Neji agreed.
"I'll invite Sakura, too, if that's okay," Ino added, tucking the blanket tighter around her daughter.
"Yeah, of course. She's coming on the mission with me tomorrow. " Maya said, shrugging "Does she have a boyfriend or anything?"
Neji snorted and Ino elbowed him sharply. "No. She does not. She never really got over losing Sasuke," She said.
Maya looked thoughtful. "Oh. Well, no wonder…" she trailed off.
Ino's ears perked up, but Maya noticed her listening intently and shut up.
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"Bye, Ino-nee-chan, bye Neji-nii-chan, bye Inobara-chan!"
"Come back and play with me!"
"Okay, I will."
"Be careful."
"Oh, well, that's a good idea, I thought I'd just run around with my eyes closed, banging off of walls, but your suggestion is much better."
"Oh ha ha, very funny. Be safe."
"Bye!"
"Goodbye!"
"Bye bye!"
"Wait!" Ino exclaimed. Maya turned around. "Are you hurt?" Maya's hand flew to the gauze pad on the small of her back, above her left hip.
"Oh, that? It's nothing, just a bruise, it's fine." Maya waved her hands. Oh crap.
"Maya-chan, don't be so stubborn, you can't go on a mission if you're injured! SAKURA! Will you take a look at Maya's wound?" Ino placed her hands firmly on her hips and glowered.
"NO! I can't possibly express how fine I am!" Maya said, jumping off the porch. Sakura caught her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her back up into a private room, while lecturing Maya about the immaturities of not tending to one's body properly, especially before missions.
They came out thirty seconds later, Sakura laughing hysterically and Maya wearing a sulky expression. Across the courtyard, where Naruto was kissing his family goodbye, he caught sight of Maya's face and remembered the exact same expression planting itself on her uncle's face, back in wave country, when he'd asked "What did Sakura tell you?"
"There's nothing I can do," Sakura said, giggling.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NOTHING YOU CAN DO? YOU, THE TOP MEDIC NIN OF KONOHAGAKURE NO SATO CAN'T FIX A BRUISE?" Ino asked, voice raised.
"It's permanent" Sakura said, before lapsing into giggles.
"What?" Now Ino looked confused.
"Gods, Maya, why would you-?" Sakura asked, though still laughing.
"It's cool" Maya muttered sullenly.
"Why can't you fix it?" Ino asked, brow furrowed. Neji wore a similar expression.
"Because, there's nothing to fix," he said, and then asked Maya sharply, "Did you at least get it in a clean place, where they sterilized their tools?"
"Of course I did. I'm not stupid," Maya replied. Neji restrained the urge to roll his eyes.
"What are you-?" Ino asked, and then stopped, as if suddenly understanding the situation. She walked over to Maya, turned her around, and ripped off the gauze pad to reveal-
"A tattoo?" Ino wailed. "Maya-chan, a tattoo?"
Maya looked down guiltily. Her hip was bedecked with a very strange, yin-yang design. The side that should have been black was red, with a black dot in the middle, surrounded by three tomoe (the little Sharingan commas). The white side was outlined in lavender, and the dot was also white outlined with lavender. "It's my personal crest" she murmured.
Ino opened her mouth and then shut it, opened it and then shut it again. Then she finally managed to say "It's nice"
Inobara looked at it, awed. "YAY! Looks cool! I want one!"
"NO," Ino and Neji said firmly.
"AlrightthenI'mgonnagobye!" Maya rushed, making her escape.
"Oh, Neji, she got a tattoo…" Ino moaned.
"She'll be fine," he reassured her, planting a kiss on her forehead and then watching as Sakura, Naruto, and Maya left together.
"She'll be fine," Neji repeated.
"She better be," Ino said. "She's in sooo much trouble. I was hoping no one would put the idea of tattoos in Inobara's head. At least not for years and years." Ino scooped her daughter up and kissed her on the forehead.
"No tattoos," She said decisively. Inobara looked crestfallen.
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Wow! It's the first chapter! I'm all eager-like. This is super exciting for me… I didn't expect Purity of White to be that popular, and now I'm on the sequel… I'm really happy about that.
Okay, so I referenced a couple of my favorite fanfictions in here too. They were:
Two Halves by Dame Wren and
Lacking Sight by Lifethane
Both extremely awesome HinaNaru fics. Anyways, the Shina style is from Two Halves, and Haruka is from Lacking Sight.
As Dame Wren is out of the country and not receiving Email or PMs about Two Halves, I don't directly have her permission to mention Shina. But she did say that it was okay to use bits and pieces of her work (as long as she was given credit) in her author's notes for Two Halves.
And as for Haruka she's Lifethane's Original Character, and Lifethane was way awesome and sent me a couple of very nice messages discussing Haruka and our respective stories. So major thanks to him.
I don't intend to copy their works or anything. This was simply my way of expressing my respect for them and their stories, and to let people know about their fictions. This is meant to complement them. So check out their stories!
And also, please review!