Choji waited for the sun to rise before heading over to the Nara estate. He needed to tell his best friend that his precious Hotaru had been found. But, the large boy knew how much Shikamaru loved his sleep. It was best to wait until Choji knew the Nara male would be awake before proceeding, otherwise Choji might have lost his head. He knocked on the front door and waited patiently.
'Maybe it's still too early. No one is probably up yet.' Choji thought. He couldn't fall back asleep after Lady Tsunade left. The Akimichi aimlessly paced about his home waiting for an appropriate time to consult with Shikamaru. Choza and his mother had left to inform the rest of the clan the news, and that he, his wife, and his son would be waiting at the south gate for Team Kakashi's arrival.
Choji heard footsteps inside the house, and waited patiently for the door to open. Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino, gently opened the door.
"Choji?" She asked surprised. The woman was still in her dressing gown. It really was early in the morning.
"Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Nara, but is Shikamaru awake?" Choji asked hesitantly. Choji knew Shikamaru's mother could be a little overbearing, but she had always been kind to him.
"Yes, he's eating breakfast. Come in." Yoshino replied. She stepped aside to let her son's friend in. "Do you two have a mission?" Choji took off his shoes before being led to the dinning room. Despite the fact that Choji knew the layout of the Nara estate almost as well as his own house, Choji followed Yoshino obediently.
"No. My family received some news that I need to share with Shikamaru." Choji answered.
"Oh. Is everything alright?"
"Yes, Mrs. Nara. It was really good news." Choji smiled. He entered the dinning room to see Shikamaru mindlessly eating his breakfast while staring out the window.
"What brings you here so early?" Shikamaru asked, lazily bringing his attention to his best friend.
Before Choji could answer, Yoshino asked, "Would you like some breakfast, Choji?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Nara." Choji replied courteously. Yoshino then left the room so the two could talk.
"What's wrong? You never refuse a meal."
"Lady Tsunade came to my house last night." Choji sat down to the table.
"Oh? It's not like her to make house calls." Shikamaru replied.
"She had a very good reason to." Choji answered. He placed the purple fabric on the table and slid it across to Shikamaru. He instantly recognized it. Shikamaru had been with Choji when he had it made for Hotaru. The husky boy had spent hours agonizing over the perfect gift for the girl. Until his best friend made the suggestion of something easy to take with her on missions, the boy had been utterly lost. Something small, but important. Shikamaru had actually been the one to suggest giving her their family crest.
"But…" Shikamaru finally spoke. "Its been seven years. And she was… Nobody expected that she would have…"
"They never found a body." Choji suggested. His voice was laced with hope and it made Shikamaru nervous. Just because some woman had a piece of fabric that belonged to the girl did not make it Hotaru.
"Seven years, Choji… And, she was -" Shikamaru had to choose his words very carefully. Calling Hotaru a runt was one of the taboo words. "She was fragile."
"The team that found her should be here sometime mid-morning. My family and I will be waiting at the south gate, if you want to come. If it is her, I know she would like you to be there."
'She was practically in love with you.' Choji thought to himself, but didn't say it out loud. Discussing Hotaru's personal feelings towards the Nara boy had been a sore subject after she disappeared. For the longest time after the search for her had been called off, Shikamaru refused to even utter the girl's name. Any mention of her crush on him was immediately met with a cold indifference; the kind of indifference that came from caring too much.
"What time are you going?" Shikamaru asked as he took a bite from his breakfast.
"I'm planning on going straight there I after I leave your house." Choji answered bluntly.
*** 7 years, 6 months previous ***
Hotaru was struggling for breath. It was her first day as a genin. Her team's leader had given them mission parameters, and whoever failed was to be sent back to the academy. Hotaru was more determined than she had ever been to complete her task.
She had not come this far, proven that she could become a ninja, only to be sent back to the academy. If she went back, Hotaru knew she would never be given the chance to become a ninja again. Passing the exam and letting her graduate from the academy was taking a big risk. If she failed now, she would never be able to succeed again.
The only thing that kept Hotaru upright as she tried to catch her breath was the bō she was leaning on. A large shadow fell over her. She looked up to see the tall, tanned figure of her sensei. His large, green eyes stared at her sternly. Hotaru smiled at him. His brown hair fell around his face as he looked down at her. She had managed to pull his hair out of its ponytail during their skirmish. Somehow, that made her slightly proud of herself.
Despite meeting him for the first time today, she absolutely adored her sensei, Osamu Katayama. She felt like he was really pushing her hard enough to become a powerful ninja. Everyone else seemed more concerned about her not overexerting herself, but Osamu pushed her to her limits and she loved it. "Osamu-sensei!" She exclaimed between breaths. "That round was a lot better than the others."
'At least she is trying.' Osamu thought. He blew a whistle, signaling the rest of the team to join him. The two other genin came out of hiding in the woods.
"The objective of today's mission is to take me out and steal this." Osamu said as he held a scroll out in front of him. "You've had 6 hours, and have done nothing but fail. So far, Hotaru has been the only one to even try to get the scroll"
Her two teammates, Dai and Takeshi looked at each other. They were highly annoyed with the situation. Early on in the day they had separated themselves from Hotaru. She was nothing more than an overeager weakling who was too much of a problem to deal with. The boys had come up with multiple plans to ambush their teacher and steal the scroll, but whenever they were about to attack, Hotaru would appear out of nowhere and fight with the jonin.
"It's not like she's had a plan." Takeshi whispered to himself. Hotaru collapsed to her knees. The skirmishes she had initiated throughout the day had been short, but were tiring on her little body. Osamu caught the girl before she could hit the ground. He set Hotaru upright and gave her a small pat on the shoulder before walking away away from his team.
"Osamu-sensei," Dai complained, "why are you allowing her to take the genin test? She can't even handle simple skirmishes. If you pass her, she'll just be a burden." As soon as he finished his sentence, Dai had been pinned to the ground. Hotaru was sitting on his chest, fist raised ready to pound on him.
"I am not a burden!" She yelled at the genin before giving his left cheek a rage-fueled punch. Osamu pulled the girl off of her teammate. She struggled against him, but the jonin could easily hold on to her.
'How the hell is she still going?' Osamu's inner monologue asked. 'She just collapsed, and now…' As he was pulling the Akimichi girl away he noticed it. She was definitely lighter than she had been not even a minute ago. 'So she's using the Akimichi's jutsu - converting calories into chakra. She seems to have a pretty good control over it already. But she's so small, I doubt she will ever be able use it beyond giving her small bursts of energy…' Once the girl was off of Dai, Osamu began scolding the pair.
"Stop struggling." Sensei said calmly, pinning the girl's arms to her sides. With a huff, she ceased resisting. "You are teammates now. Start acting like it. Dai, if you see her struggling then help her. Don't complain and turn her into a burden that she isn't. Hotaru, control your temper and let your teammates support you when you need it. It is okay to ask for their help, so long as you don't allow yourselves to become helpless. And Takeshi, if they start fighting, stop them. Don't just stand there and mumble to yourself. You all don't necessarily need to be friends, but at least show each other some respect… Now, I will give you one last try to get the scroll. If you can't get it in one hour, you all fail."
"Yes, Sensei." The three genin said. They bowed deeply then dispersed into the woods. Hotaru was still panting from exhaustion when she left her teacher's side.
After a half hour, Osamu noticed that the three genin were unusually quiet and well hidden. They had gotten pretty good at hiding their scents and chakra while at the academy, but how utterly alone he felt made the man nervous. He could tell they weren't sulking from their scolding; this was something different. In an instant, he could feel Takeshi's presence coming up behind him. Osamu turned in time to see a clone disappear. Again, Osamu felt as though he was alone on the field.
A shuriken flew at his head from the east. Dai! Dodging it, he ran toward his student's position. Another clone vanished. The two clones had both vanished at inconvenient times, suggesting to Osamu that the two boys had yet to fully control the jutsu. They knew enough to pass the graduation exam, but not well enough to hold the technique for an extended period of time.
'What are they planning?' Osamu thought to himself. Without the slightest forewarning, the jonin was struck on the back of his knees. He fell to the ground with a rather loud thump. Looking up, he saw a triumphant Hotaru smiling down at him. The teacher smirked at her. He attempted to kick her legs out from under the small girl. As he made contact, her body disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
'Hotaru still has enough chakra for a clone? Impressive.' He thought to himself. A rustling tree branch alerted Osamu of the three genin standing above him.
"That fight... Was it a diversion?" Osamu asked, surprised by how quickly the three started working together. It oddly made sense to him if they had been purposely making it look like there was dissent amongst the troops.
"No." Dai answered honestly. The students jumped from the branch and began a barrage of attacks on their teacher.
Takeshi initiated the skirmish with Osamu. He was skilled in taijutsu, by far the most advanced close-range combatant of the three genin. The other two began jumping in when they could see an opening. The kids kept tag teaming against their teacher. Hotaru was the only one to use a weapon. Fighting him as such used up less stamina than bare knuckle fisticuffs. Her bō clashed against Osamu's armor repeatedly as she took on the offensive. Even for an Akimichi, she was quite skilled in using her bō - the weapon favored by her clan.
It seemed to Osamu that as soon as he would have this little kunoichi figured out, she would surprise him all over again. He felt ashamed of the fact that he was disappointed when he was assigned to be her sensei. Osamu didn't think that the sickly girl should have even been allowed to pass the graduation exam. She posed too much of a risk to the village. And as Dai had said, her physical health could quickly become a burden to the team. But as the day had progressed - as she quickly started showing him how determined she was to prove everyone wrong - Osamu began respecting the little Akimichi girl. She was a pretty good fighter when it came down to it. She was able to freely control a jutsu that many in her clan couldn't without the aid of special pills. And her small size gave her the ability to use her bō in ways other members of her clan could not. Her favorite move involved digging the staff into the ground and using it as a fulcrum to swing her body through the air. She could land some powerful kicks using this.
The girl whistled signaling the last phase of the battle. The two other genin joined in for an all out brawl. The three of them kept their own against their teacher. With a jerk, Osamu felt the scroll tear loose of its rigging on his belt. Osamu jumped to a tree branch to see four people below him. The three he had been fighting clustered together. The forth person was beaming up at him victoriously waving the scroll. The two Hotarus looked at each other before the one holding a bō vanished, dropping the staff with a solid clunk.
"Impressive." Osamu said to his students. He jumped from the tree to join his team. "We'll be taking on missions outside the village in no time." The three genin smiled at each other then at their sensei. Osamu took the scroll back from his little kunoichi before dismissing the troupe.
"Sorry I punched you." Hotaru said as they left the training ground. She hesitated before she continued speaking. "I'm just so tired of people taking one look at me and seeing some sickly little… runt." She grimaced at the word. She couldn't remember when people had started to call her that, but once it happened, it stuck to her ferociously. "I have to try so hard just to prove to everyone that I'm not some porcelain doll that needs to be put up on a shelf. I'm surrounded by a clan of powerful, strong Shinobi, and I'm just..." She gestured to her little body. Dai and Takeshi stared at the girl.
They had never thought about how self-aware Hotaru was of her own physical shortcomings. The boys had never considered how she felt about being the size that she was. Dai and Takeshi couldn't imagine what it would be like to be told their entire lives that they would never be good enough because of something they couldn't control. To have all of the people who surround you and know that all they see is something fragile must have been infuriating. To push yourself twice as hard as someone else just to have people think you are half as good would be a living nightmare.
The boys had to admit, the plan she hatched after their fight was quite good.
"Sorry I called you a burden" Dai replied. "I know you're trying your best. I just didn't think before I said anything." Hotaru looked over at her two teammates. They smiled at the girl.
