Takashi walked over to the restaurant in his fanciest clothes he could muster, a clean shirt a set of pants and his Jounin vest.

"Clear the landing!"

He sidestepped to see Tsume(the person) and Shiro land next to him "Thanks Mom, I'll see ya in a bit."

"Don't take too long, You still owe me that match."

"Yeah, I know."

"Watch you bill, Takashi, with this one it'll jump."

"Hai, Tsume-sama."

"And the woman jumped off, leaving the two standing there watching her go

"You always show up at the most interesting of times." Takashi said, smiling as he continued on.

"Why, you plan on skipping out on us?"

"Nah." Takashi said getting a look at Shiro closely "You dressing to impress?" He asked, commenting on the stylish bit of clothing he was wearing, and the open cloak that hung from his shoulders

"We're going to a nice place, so I thought I would dress nice. Doesn't look like you did the same."

"Yeah, but I don't have much 'nice' clothes. Remember I live in an apartment building a floor below Naruto. I don't have much in the way of luxury."

"Your paycheck doesn't cover a better house?"

"Political transferee, I'm technically not part of the village, the Hoshikage and the Hokage sought to improve relations, so they sent me to train with the Hidden leaf, with the only Star technique I know being the chakra molding ability. They kept star secrets secret, while giving a nin in good faith."

"Musta been harsh, that was a while ago."

"Yeah, but I have people like you, Hikari, and Hasu. I'll be fine. I can survive. Besides, We wouldn't be much of a team without me, now would we?"

"I dunno... we seemed to be doing fine when you were on leave..." Shiro was punched in the arm and the two laughed lightly

"Nah, Hikari would have been tripping over herself every five minutes if I wasn't there to pick her back up."

"And Hasu... Don't get me started on Hasu when you were gone... 'Takashi' this and 'Takashi' that. She was a broken record on every mission!"

"Haha, see? I'm just too ingrained for me to be permanently gone. You need me as much as I need you guys."

"Yeah, I doubt Tsume would be the same without your scent keeping him company. And our effectiveness would drop like a brick in water."

Takashi nodded reaching their destination, the restaurant standing almost regally before them awaiting it's customers.

"Think they are already inside?"

"Maybe." Takashi took a couple seconds, as Shiro walked past him and into the restaurant, The Inuzuka was oblivious as he continued on to find Hasu within and waiting. Takashi on the other hand, turned to look down the road, where a beautifully dressed Hikari stepped from the shadows. "Almost didn't notice you there." he told her with a small smirk, and she supressed a giggle, as she walked up to him with a nice slow gait.

"Surprised you found me. Although, I could have had a kunai in your back by now." She responded stopping with him to her immediate front.

"Hikari, Hikari, Hikari... Fang did well to teach you stealth, but he taught me everything he knows."

"I know. Doesn't stop me from trying though. One day, you'll find you missed a step, and I'll be right there to watch you fall." Hikari responded

"Now, now... Why would I miss a step, when I have my perfectly good team watching over me?"

"The Tiger hasn't been declawed yet Takashi, You should watch what you say."

Takashi chuckled lightly turning to face the girl with a calm smile on his face "Come now, I imagine I declawed her ages ago. Or at least, kept those claws from embedding in my body." he responded and with a soft smile, Hikari leaned against him, and his arms wrapped around her gently

"You always were a bit too cocky, Takashi-kun." she sighed her body pressed against his.

"Hikari... When I have someone like you covering my steps I can afford to be cocky. If every moment keeps us together, I don't care if I have my arrogance till the end of time."

"Your arrogance will get you killed one day... I want you to be more careful, Takashi. If not for the team, but for me. We finally managed to get father to approve of you, I don't want that tossed down the drain because you screwed up."

"Kari..." his face was soft, calming, as she held him tighter with her words, he knew their meaning, he heard them enough times. Yet, each repetition still brought with it the pain of loss. He could feel her emotions with how close they were, easier still because of the fact they were hugging each other, and he couldn't help but shudder at the prospect of leaving behind his beautiful Hyuuga heiress. "How is your father?" he asked, trying to ease up the tension in her emotions.

"He is well, They plan on starting training for me to be a clan councilwoman soon."

"It's official then?"

She nodded "Once council powers have been transferred to me we will be wed, father trusts you will make an excellent Hyuuga councilman."

"When I first came here, I never knew politics could be so beneficial. I see his stake in the union, but I only care about you. The councilman thing is an extra."

"Yeah, I see his reasoning too. Any child of yours will be both Hyuuga and Katsura. They will posses the Byakugan, as well as Star's ability to mold chakra. Your family would be proud."

"They would be. Jii-chan would be pleased. I'm certain he would personally come to oversee the ceremony."

"The Hoshikage?"

"Yeah. It would be a unifying achievement. Konoha, and Hoshi will negate their borders. I would imagine Fire would absorb Bear, but I asked Hokage about it."

"And?"

"She said it could be possible to leave Bear mostly intact. The Hoshikage would act to defend Fire's borders, and still stay independent to a degree. Ultimately, though, on matters that concern both countries, like war, the Hokage would get the final word, and the Hoshikage would be an adviser for the Hokage to use the Star nin wisely."

Hikari nodded "I'm glad. Will the Hoshikage accept this?"

"He will be allying with Konoha, and gaining the Byakugan in his eldest Grandson's children. I don't think there would be more he could ask for."

Hikari smiled "So then nothing can rip us apart..."

"Oi! Takashi! Hikari!" Hasu turned the corner and exited the restaurant to see the two walking in, out of each others arms, both of them red as beets at the near-miss to their relationship.

"We're coming." Takashi said with a sigh, as Hasu ducked back in to jump back with Shiro, him stopping with Hikari for a quick kiss, she walked into the restaurant first, and he followed in afterwards.

"Took you two long enough." Shiro replied leaning on his arm "You two didn't find a back ally or something, did you?"

"Eh?" Hikari went redder then the darkest beet ever found and Takashi was shocked at the response for a second before attempting to tear apart Shiro, Hasu was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, and Hikari found a seat and was rapidly shrinking into it. When everything was calm again; Shiro was a twitching mess of limbs in his corner of the booth, Takashi was fuming slightly, but tossing unnoticed glances to Hikari who was hiding behind a menu while Hasu was busy recovering.

"Oh... oh god... Whoo... Shiro, Maybe next time you'll... geez... think before opening your mouth?"

"yeah, yeah. Whoop dee fricken' doo. Your oweing me after today, Yamanaka."

"Well, Inuzuka, if that last curb-stomp battle didn't open your eyes, looks like I'll have to."

"You can try!" Shiro leaned forward a bit

"Oh yeah!" Hasu placed her palms on the table, and leaned forward further

"Yeah!" they were inches away from kissing each other, before both blushed a light red, and instantly jumped back into their respective sides.

"Tch, you'd probably enjoy the punishment anyway." Hasu responded, hand-waving his rebuttal

"Your one to talk, I hear what you do on the nights we are on a mission..." Shiro smirked, as Hasu turned a deep shade of red

"Y-You what?"

"I hear what you do when you go to bed later then everyone else, you-"

"This isn't the conversation to have in a restaurant. Finish it back at your place Shiro, I'm sure you two lovebirds will have a ball over it."

The reaction on Shiro's and Hasu's face was enough to elicit a small giggle from Hikari

"N-Nani!" responded before proceding to barrage Takashi with insults that he waved off easily

"You two Tsunderes settle it at home." Was Takashi's final response which got them to shut up, but not after they hurled another couple insults until they figured it was useless. By which point, their food arrived, and all four tucked into their meal with a loud "Ita dekimasu!"

Takashi held Hikari in his arms as they stood on a hill just inside the city walls "Kari, we should get you home."

She gripped him tighter

"Kari..."

"They can deal without me for a night."

"You know that's not true." Takashi gave her a comforting kiss and they vanished when he broke the kiss, they were standing in front of Hyuuga clan borders

"Lady Hikari! We did not expect you to be as late, Lord Takashi..."

"We were delayed." Takashi said truthfully

"Lord Maiban requested the both of you see him."

"This late?"

"He told us as soon as you made it home."

Hikari nodded "I'll take him."

"Hai, Hikari-sama."

The guards let them past the gate and onto the estate. Takashi was only on this property a few times, but he knew it almost like the back of his hand. He wouldn't be able to visit Hikari otherwise. "What would your father want, Kari?"

"I dunno... I'm afraid of what it could be."

Takashi nodded, she knew she didn't have to vocalize it, but because she did, it proves that it was something that was eating at her. "Well, we'll find out in a second."

Hikari bowed her head a little and stopped in font of a sliding door before opening it and taking a step inside followed by Takashi, who shut the door afterwards "Father?" she asked, as he came from the shadows.

"Takashi, Hikari... please, sit. As I no doubt know, Hikari has told you the good news?"

"Hai, Maiban-sama."

"Then you will not be angered if I had your essential equipment moved from your house to here. Including the Fox-sage."

Hikari and Takashi looked at each other "Everything of necessity?" he asked

"Yes, they are waiting for you directly next to my daughter's room. I got clearance from Hokage, you two are taking the next week off to prepare for your new roles." Maiban went on "You must be ready to assume the mantle, if not, then this attempt at joining the two lands together will be a failure. You both need to spend time learning about clan politics. This is a topic where it helps to be one of the elite nin."

They were still trying to wrap their heads around this "Hiashi-sama approves of this?"

"Yes, he does. In fact, he wishes to test your ability himself. In a couple days' time I expect him to challenge you to a spar, at which point you are to give it your all, even if it exhausts you. So long as he is impressed the union will go off without a hitch. Having a Clan head in your pocket definitely bodes well for you."

"Hai." Takashi bowed "Thank you for the information Maiban-sama." Hikari bowed a second afterwards

"Your welcome. Go get some rest, the sage will take you tomorrow to continue your training. Hikari, he also requested you be present, he wishes for you to learn along side Takashi."

"Hai, Father."

"Your both dismissed, I will see you tomorrow morning." Both of the ANBU left the room closing shut the door behind them.

"Come." she said, with barely contained excitement. Leading him quickly through the maze of hallways she slid open the door to his room walked him inside, and finally jumping on him like she just got the new car she wanted. Takashi smiled and wrapped his arms around the squealing girl as she buried her face in his chest, nuzzling it

"I guess saying your happy would be an understatement?"

"your finally here. With me. Takashi, this is what I was hoping for! Hiashi-sama allowing you to stay on grounds until you assume your role! We can finally live together." her eyes grew dreamy and it was incredibly obvious she was thinking about other things they could do as well, eventually she sighed and collapsed, forcing him to hold her up with his embrace

"I know. I'll still have to go back to my old place every now and then, but at least I can be with you more often now." Takashi said smiling as Hikari closed the distance between their faces and their embrace moved into a kiss, Takashi's hand holding her close to him by the small of her back as his other hand moved to her hair and gently caressed the back of her head, letting his hand run through the silky blue strands. They had just broken the kiss and were about to take it to the next level, when they heard a soft yawn. They only had a second to prepare themselves before a foot was coming down on them from nowhere, and the land was a tree-scape again.

Takashi pushed Hikari away and jumped backwards watching the foot impale itself in the ground where they stood "Hikari!"

"I know!" she prepared herself as the figure rushed at her, using her superior speed and flexibility, she blocked his punch, deflected it to have it launch harmlessly off to the side, and brought her right palm into the assailant's chest, sending him flying into Takashi, who jumped with him, adding a kick on either side of his body before redirecting the momentum into the ground. Needless to say, it must have been painful. Yet the figure got up, eight tails swaying unpredictably, with this one, anything could happen.

"I underestimated you, and for that I am sorry, but that is of no consequence." He launched at Hikari his two hands scraping along the ground to ignite just before they closed on the ready Hikari. She was about to toss a counter when he disappeared falling into a pile of pebbles.

"N-nani..." she asked to see Takashi fall onto his hands his back smoking from where the fire-fists impacted "Takashi!"

He didn't wast time with a response, lashing out his feet hit the Kitsune's block which he used to propel him upwards only to come back down and forcing both of the Kitsune's hands to block the overhead assault, for Hikari to rush in and place her palms against his chest, and blow the eight-tails away with chakra. He recovered quickly as Hikari took the slight respite to heal the burn on Takashi's back. With a light pat she indicated she was finished, and then the kitsune went on the offensive again, and both ANBU ran towards the assailant, Hikari initiated combat first getting him to dodge right into Takashi's strikes. Surprisingly though, he still managed to dodge, and the motions were as fluid as Hikari's. This was a dance of death, and made even more deadly when Takashi began to use his chakra to manifest his tail, giving him another attack implement, Hikari followed that up with her Byakugan and both had become whirlwinds of attacks as they attempted to hit their target, which continued to dodge their attacks until the last one, which nicked his leg. Happy they managed to finally get him they jumped back, as their assailant fell to one knee. "Poisonous Chakra?" he asked as Takashi nodded

"Thought I would improve the tail by giving it the properties of a poison. It looks like it worked."

"I would agree." The kitsune replied purging the poison from his system and standing up he bowed to the girl next to him "It has been awhile, Hikari-sama. You have been well."

Hikari nodded "Hai, sensei."

"It seems you two came a long way since I first saw you two together." Fang chuckled "If I remember correctly, first time I was teaching you, Takashi didn't want to have anything to do with the 'stuck up Hyuuga heiress.' How that changed." the fox/man chuckled, tails swaying calmly "Even now you hold him, and you protect her. If I was any other, it would be a liability, until I knew the fierceness of your assault. I made that mistake once before if you remember."

They both nodded lightly as their minds turned back the clock

"Foolish boy! She is a Liability! You will kill yourself just to leave her alive!"

"So long as she lives to take her mantle as Councilwoman, I will have done my job. I WILL protect her at all costs. Even death if necessary!"

Fang snarled, angry at his students, they were standing defiant against him, another of their sparring matches, designed to bring out their emotions. Inside he was admiring his resolve, but he couldn't let him know that... not yet... Launching off with a speed Takashi couldn't predict, he launched the boy away and into a tree, and began peppering Hikari with attacks who was barely able to block most of them. Until with three swipes he had her at his mercy, breathing heavily on the ground. This is what happens when you give yourself to your liabilities." His tail came down and impacted, blood splaying from the wound and into the wind. He hit a mark, but not his mark.

Takashi had blocked the attack with his arms "Sensei... Gomen." he murmured before he ripped his arms free of the tail that held them together, and in three quick, powerful blows, knocked the Kitsune away, the tail rapidly forming a chakra 'cloak' around him that resembled a fox. Something he picked up from Naruto's Kyuubi form. He stood on all fours, facing their sensei, who wore a smirk

"So... it seems you've been practicing with a form rather then a tail alone. You've done well. It looks like the form Young Naruto took in the Final Valley." Takashi didn't respond with words, but instead, with an action, he vanished from beside Hikari to appear in front of Fang, who dodged his attack easily, only to be hit by a third arm made completely of Chakra in his gut, this gave Takashi the opening he needed, and it was fang who was next sent into a tree.

"I am merely a servant of the Hyuuga will. I am here because the Hokage wishes me to be. But I'll be damned if I have to sit back and let you walk over me, and stop me in my order! Maiban himself asked me to keep his daughter safe. I WILL protect her, and I WILL not back down from any threat that has intention to harm her! I will give my life to see her complete her dream of making it to clan councilwoman."

"Fang snarled changing to his fox form "Insolent! Do you not care about your life! You were uprooted from your home country, shipped across it, and through a different one to train with the nin here. You should RESENT them for what they did to you! And your grandfather! He SENT you here without a care! He gave you to the nearest caravan and shipped you out of his country! He doesn't WANT you. Your a weak and PATHETIC excuse for a shinobi! The way you hover over her proves it!"

"Take that back..." His voice was deadly calm, which scared Hikari a bit, reaching out to touch him

"Takashi, you don't-" she was cut off when the Chakra ignited, sheathing Takashi in flame as another tail slowly grew.

"Take back EVERYTHING! You don't know what was going through his mind! You wouldn't CARE to know! You kitsune sneer and regard us with contempt, and for what! We make good playthings! Beasts to carry out your desires! NO! I've had ENOUGH! You are going to take back every single detail you said, or I will take every single one of your words and force them right back down your throat!" The second tail had grown completely and was waving as frantically as the first, when Fang didn't say a word, Takashi attacked. His chakra cloak a burning armor as all his strikes looked to decapitate his master. Each attack was slow, predictable, but damn near impossible to dodge. Fang was actually scared for a split second at the sheer amount of anger he wrought within his student. No, he didn't seed this. Deep down, he knew the boy was alone. Takashi may have friends, but he will never truly be one of the village. Although, Hikari... he seemed to change around her. His normal bored look, whenever he would meet her for a split second his eyes would show something, He desired her. He would go to lengths unimaginable to protect her. Which was why Fang had to beat back the boy now. He could see in the feral way his pupil attacked and knew he had awakened something within him, and in order to protect Hikari from the beast he is now, Fang had to subdue it.

Hikari watched, as Takashi fought for her, to save her. This boy, who came to her village from a faraway land on the border of leaf had no ties to the village, or to her. Yet here he is, willing to give his life for her. That was before. Now... Now she wanted to get out of there with all due haste. The Takashi before her, this wasn't the Takashi she had been partnered with, This wasn't the Takashi who beat her during the Chunnin exams. This was a being of primal rage awakened by an old man's wrath. Yet, regardless of how scared she was, she stood there watching him her eyes wide with fear, and slight horror. She made him like this, and she was going to undo what she did. It was then that she truly believed she loved him. All of the times she had been acting out against him, she was trying to bring herself closer to him, to understand him. This was that moment, which is why with a strength greater then she thought she had in her she got up, and ran to Takashi, wrapping her arms around his torso as he brought his hand up to strike. Yeah, the fire burned, but she held firm.

Takashi was mid strike when something thudded against his back he looked back, expecting to see his master, but instead, he saw Hikari. Confusion flickered across his his face of flame, The cloak of flame dissappeard, leaving the boy, fist held high and two tails swinging back and forth displaying his emotions The cloak of Chakra didn't disappear, but his fist slowly fell back to his side. Then he felt a pain in his chest and heard the splattering of blood against the ground, Hikari's cry was dull as he began to fall forward, until his lifeless body hit the ground.

Then, he woke up. He was in his room, his hand resting on his leg as he looked around, He felt a soft shift, and looked to the side. Hikari was sleeping peacefully, eyes puffy, probably from crying. She looked otherwise peaceful. So he lay back down and watched her get as close as she possibly could to him, he wrapped his arm around her, and fell back to sleep for the rest of the night.

"That wasn't something I planned to repeat, but It happened again later on. You have an amazing amount of Chakra, young kit. To form a cloak of that magnitutde."

"You forget the draw, sensei. I never was able to stay awake after such a cloak is formed. I have also yet to form it without being angered, or my friends are in danger."

"It is because you lack control. Remember what I told you all those years ago? Why I would continue to train you regardless of your annoyance."

"Hai. I remember. You told me I was the child of a Kitsune."

"Exactly. Your immense chakra, and ability to form a tail as easily as you can is because of your inheritance. Part of what Hiashi-sama wants me to teach you, is to acquire your secondary form. In order to do this, you must abandon your humanity. Every day we will be spending a year within my Genjutsu. You will have seven years to master your body, and purge your humanity. I will make you into a Kitsune. Only when you have achieved that goal, will I tell you who your sire was."

Hikari wasn't at all pleased "Purge his humanity?" she asked and Fang nodded, making her grip Takashi tighter.

"His feelings will not change, only his body. Mentally he will still be only half Kitsune, even if his body is that of a full one.

"I will continue to be Takashi, but my body will be better then that. The limitations this body will reach will be hightened when I become a Kitsune. If I am to be Councilman, and your husband, I must transcend those boundaries, and be able to protect you with inhuman ability."

Hikari nodded slowly She still didn't fancy the idea, but if he thinks he will be the same, more or less, she will be willing to trust his judgement. "One question..."

"Yes?" Fang asked

"You must train me as well."