Hiruto awoke to the morning light filtering through his eyelids. He rolled over to face the wall and started to drift back to sleep when the covers were pulled off of him, exposing his body to the cool air. A pair of warm hands shook his side as he attempted to blink the sleep out of his eyes. He was awake now, but he wasn't happy about it.
"What in the hell do you want?" He asked, rubbing his grey eyes as they adjusted to the light.
"You not to be late for the first day of training, you moron." He instantly knew who it was and he couldn't stop himself from cringing.
"Five more minutes!" He whined, making a shooing motion with his hand as his head made contact with the feathery pillow yet again. He felt the mattress tilt for a second, and then go completely vertical, leaving him no other option but to comply with gravity and topple onto the floor. He fixed his death glare on the pink haired girl, only to have a tongue stuck out at him. The, now fully awakened and unhappy, Hiruto pulled himself off of the floor and continued to display his anger by throwing one of th discarded pillows at the triumphant girl's head. She quickly dodged it, but she was unprepared for a second one. She simply shook it off and continued with her task of awakening the rather childish teenager.
"Well since you're up, you should get something to eat before you leave, and luckily, you have a friend that just so happened to make you some breakfast that is super delicious," she said in a singsong tone that made him want to nail her with another pillow.
"How'd you even get in here?" he asked nonchalantly. Sakura simply pulled the disheveled Hiruto out of his room and into the kitchen, where an omelet with a side of bacon greeted him, completely ignoring the other ninja's question. As he shoveled down the omelet and bit into the crunchy bacon, Sakura looked him over and was instantly curious about the pinkish scar that seemed to stretch five inches diagonally from his left shoulder blade to his shoulder. Before she could bring herself to ask, she glanced at the clock and couldn't stop a frown from stretching across her face.
"What?" he asked, worried by his friend's suddenly exasperated expression.
"You're going to be late if we don't hurry," she said in frustration, "Put some damn clothes on!" she added, scowling. Hiruto looked down at himself to find he was only wearing his boxers. He dashed into his room, and changed into his new training outfit before heading out the door.
"How do we know this weakling is even going to show up?" Neji asked, boredom evident in his tone.
"Neji! Don't talk about him like that!" Tenten scolded, she hated when the Hyuuga was in a bad mood. As they began to bicker further on the subject, Hiruto entered the clearing that was the training field.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hello Hiruto," Tenten answered surprised by his silent appearance, turning her attention away from Neji. "I'm Tenten, this is Neji," she motioned towards the boy who now wore his ever present scowl. "Lee and Gai-sensei are doing a couple hundred laps before training," she added nonchalantly as Hiruto looked at her in amazement.
"I beat you again Lee!" A deep, masculine voice bellowed. Hiruto turned to find the pair with the matching green jumpsuits and bowl haircuts standing next to each other, winded but without a drop of sweat on either of them.
"I am sorry Gai-sensei! I will get stronger, starting with five hundred laps around the village right now!"
"Lee! Gai-sensei!" Tenten shouted, trying to get their attention before they started the whole tear filled routine they seemed to go through every morning. "This is our new member Hiruto."
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot, welcome to the team, Hiruto," Gai said confidently as he gave the boy a thumbs up.
"Hiruto! Welcome to the group! You will become much stronger than you ever imagined with us," Lee said enthusiastically to the slightly frightened teenager in front of him. Hiruto regained his composure and stuck out a hand to Lee.
"Thank you for having me on your team," he said happily as a smile crossed his face, waiting for Lee to return the gesture. But instead, tears of happiness streamed down the overly excited boy's face as he tackled the newcomer with a hug.
"Welcome to Team Gai!" he said through tear flooded eyes. Hiruto squirmed in the iron grip of his new teammate and caught a glimpse of Tenten on the floor laughing.
He glared at her, "You could help me, you know!"
"N-No, I really can't," she breathed through fits of laughter as she clutched her sides. Luckily, the youth let go of him and they began the exhausting training session.
"Do you have special abilities of any kind?" Neji asked with deep frustration after Hiruto fell to the ground after blocking an easily dodge-able blast for the seventh time in the same hour.
"I trained to become a medical ninja for a little while back in Suna," he replied as he pulled himself off of the ground.
"And how well did you do?" the white-eyed teenager pried.
"I was at the top of my class for your information," was the angry reply. Hiruto knew that Neji didn't think much of him, but he would prove him wrong if it were the last thing he would do.
"So why didn't you get through the training? Did you fail out?" Hiruto was silent. He couldn't possibly tell Neji that Gaara had forced him, without much of a fight from the all too willing to please, servant, to quit the training so that they could be with each other more. This thought brought on a pang of loneliness; he missed being held close and loved by his master. Neji's burning stare broke through Hiruto's thoughts. The look of repugnance on the brunette's face didn't help either.
"I had to quit."
"Why?"
"My mast… The Kazekage needed me to guard him, so I had to drop the training in order to do so."
"Hn," Neji replied, obviously feigning the loss of interest.
"Is that true Hiruto?" Tenten asked, having apparently forgotten her spar with Lee. "If it is, you should train with Lady Tsunade, she was a medical ninja. She even trained Sakura," a smile graced his features at the mention of his pink-haired companion's name,
"Could you take me to go see her?" he asked, his smile never fading.
"Sure, let's go," she replied with a grin of her own surfacing. She shrugged at the baffled Neji as she passed by him to help Hiruto off of the ground, and walked off with her new partner. Neji stared at them as they left. What was with him? Why was he the bodyguard of such an important leader if he was practically useless? Why was he so fascinated with Neji that night? Most important of all, why had he almost called the Kazekage his master? It struck Neji instantly, and just as the Hyuuga boy suppressed his gasp, an evil grin spread across his face. This would be fun; this would be the most fun the Hyuuga had in years, in fact.
"So you want me to train you as a medical ninja?"
"Yes Lady Hokage, I think your training would really help him," Tenten said pleadingly.
"Why should I?" Tenten glanced at Hiruto and then back at Tsunade, before she could say anything, Hiruto spoke.
"I am afraid have no other abilities or training milady. Lord Kazekage pulled me from the medical corps in Suna in order for me to be a full time bodyguard." He stared at her, knowing that she would understand.
"Very well, Tenten, you may go now," Tsunade said exasperatedly. Tenten smiled at Hiruto and bowed to the Hokage before walking out the door.
"Thank you Lady Tsunade, I…"
"You are far more trouble than you're worth. You know that? Sakura! Get in here!" she shouted, not even needing the speaker to get Sakura's attention.
"Yes Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked through heavy breaths as she burst through the door, her face a shade close to that of her hair.
"Hiruto will be training with me for a while, so you'll be seeing a lot more of him." Sakura couldn't help smiling at this. He would be around all the time when he wasn't training with his team. This would be fun; this would be the most fun the Haruno had in years, in fact.
Hiruto walked home from the Hokage's tower, his exhaustion beginning to set in. He planned to skip dinner all together and go to bed when he finally got to the apartment, which seemed to be miles away judging by time it took him to get there. He didn't hesitate to quickly open the door and then slam it shut without even using the key, he was too tired for this to register as strange, nearly missing the note that was left on the table as he walked past. How did everyone keep getting into his house? He stopped moving, forgetting about the bed altogether.
Dear Weakling,
Meet me at Ichiraku at nine tonight. If you aren't there, well we may just have to take that up with your master.
Neji Hyuuga
Hiruto's breathing stopped at the last word. How did he know? Hiruto glanced at the clock to see the short hand making its way closer to the nine; he had to get there, and fast.
Neji sat on the stool, the victorious grin never leaving his face as he waited for his victim. Hiruto took the stool next to Neji, nearly silently as he waited for the torment to ensue.
"What is your name?" Neji questioned, staring straight ahead, not bothering to glance at the anxious youth to his left.
"Hiruto Sunaserebu."
"Why are you here?" Neji continued, impatiently wanting to know more.
"My master sent me here to relieve the ninja of Konoha, because of the shortage," Hiruto answered, figuring it wouldn't help to attempt to hide the fact that he was practically owned by another human.
"There isn't a shortage of ninja. You're either lying, or you're just plain stupid." Hiruto's eyes widened at this, assuring Neji that it was the latter rather than the former.
"How did you know the Kazekage before he dumped you here?" he asked, truly letting the words sting the former sand ninja.
"I- I, I worked as a servant to the Kazekage in his mansion, he took a liking to me and…" The disgusted look on Neji's face told him to stop.
"Go." Hiruto happily obliged, rushing out of the shop. He was alone with his thoughts now. Neji hadn't tortured him like he had expected, but he did something much worse. Neji reassured Hiruto's deepest fear that he'd had from day one. In fact, Gaara hadn't sent him here to relieve Konohaa; Gaara had dumped him under the guise of a mission. Hiruto would live here forever; he would live here knowing that his former master and lover had disposed of him here like trash.
After everything that Hiruto had done for him; even after he had saved Gaara's life, he was still nothing to the man, he was just a toy to be used and replaced with a shiny new one. Why did Gaara not love him? Hiruto could still remember the day he nearly sacrificed himself for Gaara. So why would the man that knew so much about being alone leave him without so much as an explanation as to why he was being removed from sight?
'Gaara readied himself to fight. His sources had informed him of the Sound Village's plans for an attack, and he planned to defend his village. The jinchuriki headed out with his siblings, Hiruto tailing them silently, not wanting his beloved master to get hurt. The siblings met the first wave of attackers and defeated them quickly, sending for soldiers to guard the other borders. All was silent for a while as the moon rose higher and the cold desert wind blew loudly, carrying small traces of the sand with it. Only the sound of their soft breathing and the whispering of a plan between the three broke the silence.
A large mass of ninja appeared seemingly out of nowhere, attacking each of the siblings with weapons varying from kunai to katana. As each of them took on the enemy with grace and power, a single ninja appeared behind Gaara and prepared to thrust his sword into Hiruto's master. All of his sand occupied at the moment, Gaara would not have been protected, so Hiruto jumped in the way before the sword could plunge into his master. The blade penetrated his left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain before he collapsed. As he hit the ground, he called out, "Master!"
Hiruto walked mindlessly towards his apartment, allowing himself to process the information he now had, he was lost and without a purpose now. How would he regain his life? How would he get revenge on he who had loved and left him? The only answer that Hiruto could find was to become a proud member of the Leaf Village. He would gain his revenge by continuing life without the Kazekage, he would thrive in this new place and he would prove that Gaara was just as useless to Hiruto as he was to the young Kazekage.
