A/N: I apologize ahead of time for my horrid action sequences, still getting use to writing them. Anyways, I hope you all still enjoy!
[Insert Disclaimer for Chapter 1]
Four: Friendly Exchanges
I had a feeling Naruto would show up bright and early, so I made sure to be ready for our training session. I opt for wearing my training hanbok. It consisted of a brown chima skirt and a short sleeved soft blue top. My hair I had braided so that it wouldn't get in the way. I had been hiding my weapons about me and just when I had thought I was finished, I spotted a lone kunai on a leather holster. I sighed as I had forgotten to put that one on before putting on my chima. As I hiked up my chima skirt up high enough so that it wouldn't get in the way, my room door flung open.
"GOOD MORNING HAchiko-ch-chan." I froze and looked at Naruto whose face went beet red before he quickly turned away. I quickly tied the kunai holster on my thigh. I was about to approach Naruto when a maid, one of the maids and coincidentally the one that had been at the gate with Naruto the previous day, came in practically yelling.
"Hachiko-hime isn't ready! Ah." She paused at the door and saw a beet red Naruto and I controlled my blush. He only saw my exposed legs and not anything embarassing but still, I had damage control to take care of, this could easily become a giant misunderstanding.
'You saw nothing here. Understood.' I signed and the maid nodded.
'Tell my grandparents I'll be at the training field for three hours. For lunch be sure to make room for my friend here.' The maid nodded and ran off. Naruto was still frozen in place but he wasn't beet red anymore, that much I could tell. I approached his back and tapped his shoulder. He seemed to jump.
"I didn't saw anything I swear!" He exclaimed. I silently laughed a bit. I went around and put my hands on his shoulders. I didn't have to read his aura to know he was embarrassed. I neared my face to his and he got beet red again, his eyes went wide as I stopped an inch way from his face.
'I can see why Kakashi likes to tease so much. This is actually fun.' I let him go and backed off with a small playful smile.
'I know you didn't saw anything important or embarrassing. You okay?' I asked and Naruto quickly responded by nodding his head rapidly and suppressing his red face to a small blush.
'Let's go. We can spar and then go from there.' I signed and he dropped his embarrassment.
"Alright!" He beamed. I took his hand and led him to the small training ground that was behind the estate. It was a grassy area with trees around on the edge of the training ground. Those trees had targets for kunai, senbon or in my case, archery practice.
"This training ground is nice and spacy." Naruto pointed out. I nodded and started to stretch. Naruto followed my lead.
"Warm ups?" Naruto asked and I nodded.
'Sprints across the field till we start to break a sweat. Hang on I need to adjust my seal.' I formed my hands in the ram sign and focused my spiritual energy. Underneath my clothes I wore a white leotard. The leotard itself had hard ink designs that formed a modified gravity seal. The entire idea was Uncle Mori and Lady Suisei's, those two could make things happen, no lie. I had only suggested it as a joke when they had pointed out that I was too slow and they brought the concept to life.
"Cool! What is it that you're doing? Just curious ya know."
'Underneath all this, I'm wearing a leotard that's basically covered in a seishinjutsu modified gravity seal. While most Ninja use gravity seals on enemies during combat to slow them down, Lady Suisei and Uncle Mori figured that it could also have a double use if the seal was modified properly, this seal focuses on my center of gravity, it means I work out all my body rather than just one area if I wore weights.' I explained to Naruto. He looked at me in awe.
"Can I see it?" I smiled and wondered if he realized that I had said 'leotard'. I even wondered if he knew what that meant.
'That means I have to take off all my clothes Naruto-kun.' I signed and tried not to laugh at his expression. He was so flustered. It took him a moment to re-compose himself.
"D-Do you wear it activated all the time?" I shook my head.
'Only wear it when I'm training and only active when I'm training. Over doing things just does more harm than good. Plus once I'm done using it, I have to adjust and be use to my new improved speed.' I signed and Naruto nodded.
"Where can I get one too? It's not fair that only you push yourself." I looked thoughtful and wanted to laugh as I thought about Naruto wearing an orange leotard. I shook my head and contained my fit of giggles.
"Hey, what's so funny? And Why not?" He whined and pouted.
'Firstly, a leotard is kinda like a girl's bathing suit. You'd look ridiculous. But maybe we can get a modified one that has shorts, like a unitard, orange if you want.' I suggested and watched as Naruto's eyes went wide, then his face go red from embarrassment over probably imagining himself in a girl's leotard. However he went to hopeful as I suggested the modified shorts-unitard.
"Yeah! That sounds much better than a l-leotard." I smiled at his enthusiasm.
'However, we need to know what level you are at and improve where you lack. The basics have to be mastered before moving on to wearing a modified seal suit. What's the point of gaining speed and not being able to have good control and stances? Baby steps Naruto, baby steps. It took me three years to master the basic stances for the earth style and get my weapon accuracy at a passable level before I was even allowed to start speed training.' Naruto stopped pouting and nodded.
"Alright. No one said the road to being Hokage would be easy. Alright, I'm going to master all the basics in a shorter time than you!" He proudly declared. I smiled at his determination and signaled for us to start. We started to sprint and I lagged a bit behind Naruto due to the seal. Once I broke out in sweat I stopped, and Naruto shortly followed.
"Now we spar?" He asked. I nodded and he got excited.
'All out to see where you stand, then we go from there.' I signed and then took my stance.
Naruto being, Naruto, moved in and went for the first punch, he aimed at my stomach and I barely evaded him by twirling to the left and ramming my elbow down on his back. He fell and broke his fall with his hands, he kicked up his legs and I jumped away. His fighting style was brash. His academy kata's were rough and unpredictable. He got back up launched at me again. I blocked his punches by redirecting them at the last moment. I was too damn slow due to the seal and all I had time for was to block and redirect his fists, to which he was getting aggravated with.
After a while, he pulled out a blunt kunai from his holster, I countered it with a hidden senbon on my left arm. Clangs could be heard and I could see he was liking the challenge as he was smiling. I couldn't help but smile as well. After a while, the maid from before, came out to the training ground and we both stopped as he held his kunai at my neck and I held two senbon in each hand, one aimed at his eye and the other at his stomach. Naruto was panting hard and I was too but we both managed to keep a smile on our faces. I think we creeped out the maid as she looked pale and scared for interrupting our spar.
"H-Hachiko-hime, your m-meeting with Uchiha Sasuke will happen in an hour and a half. Lady Mimori asked me to inform you it was time to get ready after lunch." I scrunched up my nose at the thought of getting ready for another. Both Naruto and I stepped away from each other. I nodded at the maid and she quickly left. I looked at Naruto who was grinning like a mad fox.
"THAT WAS THE BEST SPAR EVER!" He declared and jumped to hug me. I smiled and hugged him back. He let me go and his cheeks were covered in a small tint of pink.
"Too bad we have to stop." Naruto said with a pout.
'We can do it again tomorrow. I think I know what we have to work on so that we can move you on to speed training.' I let him know and he beamed.
"Really?" I nodded.
"Alright!" He fist pumped and then I heard a loud growl from his stomach. I raised an eyebrow and I felt his embarrassment.
"I forgot to eat breakfast, I was too excited to train with you." Naruto said and I smiled, of course he'd skip breakfast.
'It's okay. Come on, I told them to set a place for you for lunch.' Naruto beamed. I paused as I had forgotten to deactivate the gravity seal. Naruto stared at me as I closed my eyes and did the ram sign. I felt self conscious as I deactivated the seal. I could feel naruto's innate interest. I opened my eyes and noticed Naruto was being shy again as he was blushing and looking at me and then looking away. I took his hand and he simply looked at me. I simply smiled at him and led him back to my sitting room where on the kotatsu was several plates of food, fruit and veggies.
"Woah." Naruto simply said and I sat down and patted the spot next to me. Naruto sat down beside me and followed my lead as I grabbed a little bit of everything. We both ate and I even coerced Naruto into eating a vegetable, even though he claimed I was poisoning him after he bit the broccoli. After lunch, Naruto had to go as I only had an hour left to get ready. I walked him to the estate gate.
"I have the academy tomorrow. Can we train earlier?" Naruto asked and I nodded.
'Six good? That gives us two and a half hours to train and you can have breakfast here before class.' I suggested as the academy classes started at 9am. Naruto nodded happily.
"Perfect. I kinda feel bad though, I have to leave and you have to spend time with Sasuke-teme." Naruto complained. I noticed that there was a tinge of jealousy coming from him. He was probably concerned that I'd prefer Sasuke's friendship.
'It'll probably be boring as we probably have nothing in common.' I assured him and his jealousy wore away.
"You're right. Okay, I'll see ya tomorrow!" He perked up and waved. I smiled and waved.
At my quarters, I took a shower and the maid from before showed up to assist me in getting ready. As I chose a red chima skirt with gold decorations at the hems, I looked at the maid. She was young, probably 17-18. She had dark brown hair and dark eyes. Her skin was sunkissed and she was particularly silent most of the time. While I looked through all my shirts, I wondered why she was always around me in particular. I chose a silk light yellow shirt with red ties and gold decorated cuffs.
The young maid helped me by getting all my hair accessories and putting them in front of me. I decided to leave my hair down, as it was wavy and wear a snapdragon pin to hold my side bangs back.
'How come you're the only one that helps me and is at my call?' I turned to the maid asked. She in turn became a bit shy but spoke calmly.
"Lady Mimori suggested I become a regular face. Not all the staff knows KSSL. There is also the possibility of I becoming a candidate for when you are ready to choose a lady-in-waiting, unlike the rest of the staff here, I come from the Sen clan, although I am many times removed and not directly related to your grandmother." I nodded understanding.
Now it made sense. In time, I would need a personal assistant who I would have total and complete trust in to bounce off ideas with and help me in any schemes be it political or personal. Most candidates for Lady-in-waiting were of higher ranking than the rest of the service staff and generally, as a rule of thumb, distant relatives. Not to mention they got perks like dressing in nice clothing and having to follow their mistress to all social gathering.
'In time we'll see. What's your name by the way?' I asked.
"Tsukisou Yui." I smiled and nodded. Mim entered the room and smiled upon seeing me.
"Good choice in attire. Uchiha Sasuke is waiting in your sitting room. Don't give me that face. He seeks your friendship and that means he gets to be seated in your private sitting room." I stopped scrunching my nose and reluctantly nodded.
"Tsukisou, go get the tea and snacks ready. Give them at least 5 minutes before going into the room." Mim coordinated young maid Yui, who nodded and quickly left. I turned to Mim.
'Let's get this over with then.' I walked out of my room and walked with Mim a few door down to my private sitting room.
Uchiha Sasuke was already seated as I entered. He wore a dark blue kimono. Formal attire. I refrained from scrunching my nose. I did note that he was calm on the outside but on the inside he was nervous.
'Why are you nervous?' I wondered. Mim didn't bother entering with me. I approached the kotatsu. He was assessing me, I didn't miss the way his eyes and ears twitched with each silent step I took. I sat across from him and signed pleasantries.
'Good afternoon. Tea and snacks will arrive shortly.' I signed and he slightly frowned at me.
"I'm not one for sweets." He said.
'Blunt and to the point. Well might as well poke fun. Who knows maybe he'll get tired of me.' I noted and told myself.
'No one said the sweets were for you.' I signed and a playful smile made its way on my face. I felt his confusion and I relished on it.
"Then why even bring it up." He said put out at my response. I smiled happily as I felt his confusion turn to annoyance.
'Pleasantries. Besides you initiated this formal friendship and I have to say I'm curious. Why seek my friendship. My sources indicated that you're not particularly friendly.' I signed and he raised an eyebrow.
"Your sources? You did research on me?" He said in a rather reprimanding tone. I nodded even though I didn't really do any research and just went off on what I expected, then I put together Pinkie and Naruto's opposite but biased opinions of him.
'I like to know who my acquaintances are. Word of mouth tends to twist reality a bit but where there's opinion there's two sides, good and bad comments, both not entirely truthful and not entirely lies. I take both and make my own conclusions. So far, you've only proven to me that you're blunt and a bit mean when you talk. You almost sound like Jun-jiji when I get in trouble for running off.' Uchiha simply scoffed.
"I bet it's when you run off with the dobe, Naruto." I grinned and nodded. It only furthered his confusion. There was a knock and Maid Yui arrived and set down the tray with tea and treats. I beamed eyeing the honey-glazed cakes.
'Thank you Yui.' I signed and got a smile from her as she left. With gusto popped a honey-glazed cake. It had been long since I had a proper sweet. I had been stingy with even thinking about eating my remaining honey drops, so this meeting with Uchiha wasn't so bad if I got to eat sweets. I jumped in my seat and silently swooned. I felt Uchiha's fear spike. I stopped at stared at him.
'What? I haven't had a proper desert since yesterday.' I let him know and his fear washed away.
'You thought I was fangirling over you weren't you?' I asked and he froze.
'I knew it! As if Uchiha. If I didn't stop and gawk at you the first time we met, why would I start now? Besides don't you dare lump me in their category.' I signed and he stared at me with this masked look.
"You are weird." I smiled at that.
'I try.' I popped another sweet in my mouth and savored it. He slowly drank his tea and never took his eyes off me. It was evident he wanted something, his aura felt indecisive and it was killing my sweet tooth vibe. I took a sip of my tea and looked him square in the eyes.
'What is it?' I asked and he frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked and crossed his arms. Oh, he was getting defensive now.
'You're indecisive about something. Care to share? Can't hurt, I might be able to help.' I signed and his indecisive aura became firm and confident.
"I need to know the truth and you have the answers. He said have them." Each word struck like lightning. I frowned.
'I don't understand. Who is he?' I asked.
"Uchiha Itachi." I froze and felt my face turned into an all out glare.
'I can't say anything about-' My hands froze.
'Thinking about it, the timeline causes this? No, all I was thinking about is Uchiha Itachi and what he did, the incomplete Uchiha Clan Massacre.' I shook my head to make my point. Uchiha Sasuke surprisingly didn't get angry. Instead his aura… It was sad and understanding.
"So it's true." He emptily laughed but his aura, it felt dark, angry, not at me but at his brother, I think. I blinked and clenched my fists, now I was the one confused. My hands were no longer rigid.
'What are you talking about?' I signed angrily. My bells on my wrists jingled and the ringing echoed in my ears.
"You've known all along and have been unable to tell anyone, without a single memory of what he did to you… He sealed away everything you know about the massacre." My face went pale. Not a single word he said was lies. My eyes welled up in tears of rage but I kept them at bay.
'How do you know this? How?' I signed a in a flurry. He put his head down and I saw how he clenched his fists on his knees.
"He put me under a tsukiyomi, a specialty of the Uchiha, likea genjutsu where time and space are controlled by the caster. When Shisui intervened and tried to stop him, it got altered instead of seeing a replay my parents deaths, I saw how he sealed away parts of your mind. I didn't understand it until he spoke those words. 'I don't want to kill you so it's best you can never tell a soul what you know, what I'm doing and will do. They have to die.' I saw it happen over and over again." Sasuke wouldn't look at me. I was officially pissed at Uchiha Itachi.
'How dare he! Who does he think he is? I respected him. His actions, his every motive was all for Sasuke and the Village… What I knew… What I know… How the hell did he find out about it? Was a I careless and he caught on? He couldn't kill me, so he sealed my ability to communicate and relay what I know about him? Who the hell does he think he is?'
In ways I had no one to blame but myself.I had messed up, this was my screw up and I would now take full responsibility for it. Uchiha Sasuke, he was different from the one I had anticipated. This Uchiha Sasuke sympathized with me. He didn't know the entire truth though, he simply thought I only knew of the massacre plans Itachi had. He had no idea how much more I knew, but none of that mattered. Right now I only had one thought in mind.
'I'm going to kill him if I ever I find him. He had no right. For now, I'll just focus on getting Sasuke strong. He's going to drive Itachi to his death anyways, I might as well make sure Sasuke does drive Itachi to his death and perhaps Sasuke will kill him before Itachi's illness kicks in.' I shook my hands in front of me and got Sasuke's attention pulling him out of his funk.
'I'm going to help you get stronger.' Sasuke perked up at that.
"You are?" He asked incredulously. I nodded in all seriousness.
'You better kill him before I get my hands on him because what I have in store for him if I ever catch him, is worse than death.' I signed and Sasuke nodded still shocked hearing that I would help him.
'Tomorrow 6am, meet me here. I hope you don't mind training with Naruto.' I signed and he reluctantly nodded. This would be the beginning of an odd sort of friendship.
A/N: Now Hachiko knows why she can't communicate stuff about the future. We know why Sasuke was so interested in Hachiko and we have the Hachiko's budding skills in teasing developing and a new character!
So what do you guys think about Sasuke? Too OOC? And I love the HachiNaru shipping some of you are so enthusiastic about.
Next Chapter: Naruto and Sasuke bump heads, Nanase and Duelo's wedding meaning a ton of characters make an appearance.
Thanks for reading and until next time my lovely readers. Stay golden.