I am back! I am so deeply sorry for disappearing but I don't have a computer at home! I use the one at school! please review and enjoy the chapter! oh, and I almost forgot! oc contest! I need a male oc the same age as Hikage seichi and katori! give full bio and physical description so they can join the story!


Hikage couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Hikage, I have to tell you something important. I can't keep putting this off. you need to know its just so hard to say it out loud... I..." he took a deep breath.

"Hikage I... "

Hikage was getting really nervous. she pulled back enough so that they were still close and katori's hands were still on her shoulders but she could look him in the eye now.

"just tell me." her voice was barely audible.

"okay I'll just say it. Hikage...

Hikage I'm leaving."

"what?" she was shocked and confused.

"Hikage I'm leaving the village. I'm leaving konoha in a week."

"what are you... how can you..." Hikage had gone blank with shock as her mind tried to make sense of his words. then her mind clung to the only viable option presented.

"so then, what you mean to say is you have a mission, right? katori its fine for you to take a solo mission every now and then, I mean, you know I take solo missions every other week, so it would be a bit hypocritical of me to relegate you strictly to missions with team nine, you are an independent shinobi of konoha so if you want to take a solo mission... that's... that's fine... you... I mean..."

Hikage knew she was babbling. she was trying so hard to convince herself that that was what he had meant despite that her gut was telling her it wasn't.

"no, Hikage, its not a mission. I'm leaving." katori's voice had never been so cold when speaking to her. angry yes, cold, occasionally. but never the cold, unfeeling monotone it was now.

Hikage couldn't explain her feelings. her insides clenched and her stiff muscles trembled. he couldn't just leave. he couldn't leave konoha. he couldn't leave her. he was not allowed to walk away from her. he couldn't betray her like that. he couldn't abandon her and leave her all alone. her mind was in ciaos. she was just staring at katori waiting for an explanation that made everything okay.

"you... you can't leave! its against the law for shinobi to just take off, its desertion, its illegal defecting, its-its being a traitor, katori!" Hikage was huffing for breath between words as she went on,

"you would be turning your back on the hidden leaf village! they'll put a price on you head! hell, I'll put a price on your head and go after you myself! I'll drag you back here and execute you myself if you so much as try to leave!" she gripped a handful of katrori's shirt and got more in his face, so she was shaking him during her tirade

" you remember don't you?! the first day we met as a team is the day I made my feelings clear in the matter of traitors! I hate it! I hate people who betray others for any reason! it makes me sick, it drives me insane! I'll kill you before I'll have a traitor for a teammate katori! do you hear me?! I. will. kill. you." Hikage squeezed her eyes shut and roughly pushed katori away, at the same time letting go of his shirt.

Hikage was screaming at him a this point her voice more high pitched than she ever let it sound. she knew in the back of her mind that she was bordering on hysterical.

"(sigh) shut up, Hikage as if you could kill me. and it is not illegal if you notify the kage of the village and fill out all the appropriate paperwork and get everything approved. why, the fifth hokage and first generation sanin tsunade senju sama left the village for years. I have full permission and will be fully approved by the council in a few days and everything will be recorded and validated in time for me to leave."

"...how long?" Her voice was a breathy whisper

"what?" katori had that calm but a little annoyed look.

"how freaking long will you be gone katori?!" Hikage was desperately trying to regain her self control.

"who knows? its none of your business anyway. I just thought it would be nice to let you know I was going because we usually do missions as a team so you'll have to manage your paperwork without my help for a while."

...

"katori... KUTABARE!" (go to hell)

in her anger Hikage drew her katana from over her shoulder and put it through katori's lung and out his back. blood spurted. katori coughed up blood, his passive expression gone to be replaced by pain and astonishment. hands flew to the injury glowing with healing chakra. Hikage was frozen, then realized her sword was still lodged in her teammate. she could feel his every breath and heartbeat resonate along the blade through vibrations. automatically, she retracted her weapon from katori, only to realize she had made the wound worse. katori had to be having a hard time healing himself in so much pain. he fell to his knees, glowing hands still at his stab wound.

'wait... he's chakra depleted! he fought me, then healed us both after the fight and...' now Hikage had forgotten everything that had come before.

"katori! katori, we need to get you to the hospital, or sakura-sama, or somebody-!"

katori didn't respond but the glow in his hands was faltering terrifyingly.

"oh, god! what do I do what do I do?! hang in there, I'll think of something."

if only katori had more chakra he could heal this by himself! a little pain wasn't going to stop katori, so the only issue here was lack of chakra. she was a bit tired too. she could carry him but he would bleed to death by the time they reached the hospital at this rate~

everything came down to her fault for attacking him. not just now. during the fight if katori were less skilled then he would have been (temporarily) blinded by her using mugen no masuta on his eyes, and with him being a dojutsu user, it could have really messed him up- wait, that could be the answer. yes it made sense.

but would it do more harm than good? could she control It well enough to actually help katori?

her idea came from the original idea of attacking some one with chakra. like what happened with Naruto sensei when she accidentally poured chakra into him. or what happened to her own body as a result of too much chakra. by pushing massive amounts of chakra into a body all at once, Hikage could do serious damage.

but now she was thinking of other uses. if she used the mugen no masuta to restore someone else's chakra... and she had enough so that she could probably save a huge army from the brink of death by chakra exhaustion without batting an eye... she would be a huge asset to any mission! it was perfect! if only she had the control...

ah, right, katori dying of stab wound. focus on one thing at a time.

"katori, your going to die one way or the other. you cant heal yourself and I cant get you to someone who can heal you. and what I want to do might kill you anyway. but I'm going to try. so try to open up and make the transfer easier okay?"

katori was lying on the ground in the fetal position and therefore was a bit unresponsive.

okay. Hikage did all her breathing exercises, and started opening and closing channels, preparing to activate stage one. she spiked her ordinary levels of chakra several times. then she dropped her chakra signature as low as she could in the exact second she activated her ability.

"mugen no masuta, stage one!" as soon as her chakra went up she grabbed katori's upper arms and started pushing out as much as she could, letting go of him after about two seconds to avoid killing him. she deactivated, and slumped to the ground.

katori's eyes flew open with a gasp, and Hikage noted that his byakugan was activated, his chakra signature was huge and he healed his sword wound by barely brushing his fingers across it leaving no scar, and the first few steps he took left holes in the ground before he passed out.

so she gave him a little too much chakra after all. oops. at least he was probably gonna be okay. with her last bit of energy, Hikage summoned gamasumo.

"what now?"

"get... huff huff... na... ru... to... sen..." and she was down.


when Hikage came to, she was looking up at a very worried boruto chan. she was familiar enough with the hospital at this point in her life that she knew instantly where she was.

"damn it."

what had she done to land herself here this time? she had certainly been using her bloodline trait, and she had done that because...

"katori!" Hikage shot upward and regretted it when the pains hit.

"ah, be careful. hey my aunt said you shouldn't move around a lot..." poor boruto was so out of his element.

"aaaaaah, its oneeeeeeee-saaaaaaaaaaan~!" THE ADORABLE VOICE OF PURE EVIL WAS ON THE SCENE.

"Himawari-chan, what are you doing here?"

Hikage wasn't going to lie, of all the d-rank babysitting she had been forced into himawari uzumaki was by far her least favorite. she was cute and sweet and relatively quiet but she had a knack or pulling Hikage into her 'girlish' fun, and after a while she teamed up with erizu and the two of them were a (extremely feminine) force to be reckoned with.

when Hikage was twelve and himawari was around four, the brat joined forces with erizu and the two of them forced Hikage to attend the sakura festival. in a yukata. it was uncomfortable and embarrassing.

so himawari being here couldn't be good. the girl was filled to the brim with good intentions but it was nothing but trouble for Hikage who didn't have time for such silly things as dress up and jewelry and fairy tales.

"I came with mama to bring onii-chan some ice cream, but one-san is her too! what happened? why are you in the hospital?"

Hikage didn't say anything. she still had to go do something about katori.

"are you sick?"

"no, nothings wrong, I'm fine himawari."

you don't sound happy. I know! I'll do your hair and put makeup on you while you cant get up!" the child ran off to gather her beauty stuff. in Hikage's opinion, a kid that young shouldn't even have beauty stuff but whatever. she didn't wear the stuff around she just had it to play with. and to inflict upon others.

now Hikage was twice as determined to get the hell out of this damn hospital.

so she went back to struggling to get out of the hospital bed, and boruto continued to try and stop her. so she was finally out of bed and when she went to walk away, she noticed that her left hand was chained to the bed.

"I tried to tell you. aunty and grandma tsunade said it was for your own good."

"tch. as if."

"look, your not getting out, so you better-"

"sayah!"

boruto sweat dropped. she broke the freakin' hospital bed. it would be impossible for a civilian, and kind of hard to do for an average ninja, but...

his dad wouldn't agree to train the average ninja. but still, she just broke the hospital bed, weakened and all, no special strength. she was either super tough or super pissed.

knowing that crazy girl, it was definitely the latter of the two.


dammit. so close to the safety of home but just as Hikage finally reached the stairs of her apartment building, she was thwarted by the ever delicate civilian beauty queen/young wife and mother of one.

erizu.

"Hika-chii, are you ready to come over for my extra special yummy tarts?" erizu put on her beseeching Lolita face that probably would have brought any unmarried male past or during puberty to his knees. too bad for her Hikage was a female. and not an easily moved one.

"I have no time for sweets, and you know my name."

"oh, I am so sorry Hika-chii, I didn't mean to make you mad, but you promised to be there and I left juken with his papa and I have to get back soon. (sniffle) we never see each other anymore, do you not like me, Hika-chii? I never get to have fun, you know, since I had my precious little baby and all, and I was hoping to catch up, plus, I heard you started working with lord hokage sama, and you didn't even tell me. we were so close as little girls and now we're all grown up, I can hardly believe it! my Hika-chii, a jonin, and me, a wife and mama. its all just so..."

and so, as erizu continued to talk, Hikage found herself sitting in erizu's neat little blue and white kitchen with no recollection as to how she got there. but it was nothing new. this happened all the time to anyone who resisted erizu's pushy hospitality.

"ah, erizu, I notice you keep repeating it so I should remind you, I'm still a chunin."

"that's what I said, right Hika-chii?"

"no, you called me a jonin. like, ten times."

"what's the difference?"

'what's the difference? jeez, how do we know each other again?'

"(sigh)"

"uuwaaaaahh! hic, waaah!"

"ah, juken is-"

erizu was already on it. the crying one and a half year old was ushered into the room and tended to by his seventeen year old mother.

juken was a cute baby, he had his mothers pumpkin orange hair and his fathers ink black eyes. and he was all tiny and round and cute. cute cute cute. Hikage held her secret affection for cute things in check pretty easily with babies though because they were also troublesome and gross and way too much work.

"tarts are ready~!" the chirpy singsong emitted by erizu pulled Hikage out of her contemplations of why she wasn't into the parenthood thing.

"so you came alone? I was expecting your ninja friends to come along too." erizu chirped.

'well you kind of dragged me here against my will, so...' inner Hikage pointed out helpfully.

"they were busy." Hikage shrugged.

"oh, that is such a shame. I haven't seen them in so long! and that one boy with the dog is so funny. I never cared much for the hyuuga, in all honesty."

everyone in konoha knew a hyuuga when they saw one. and he even had the same hair color as lady hinata.

katori... Hikage felt a pang in her chest and her anger bubbled up again. damn that jerk. what the hell was he thinking?

"yeah, well y'know..."

she was so not in the mood to put up with erizu noises.

katori was being so totally selfish. did he not realize that no teams were allowed on missions without a medical ninja present? did he really not have the brain power to figure out that his leaving would force the team to take up some random medic? in hindsight, katori being a medic was really obvious and she wondered how the hell she missed that for four years.

who could just pick up and leave like- like it didn't even matter? like she didn't even matter? whatever, just eat your damn tart Hikage!

these tarts were fucking delicious. they were served cold, and looked a little weird, (like, it looked like the filling had tiny shards of blue stained glass mixed in) but they were extremely yummy.

and so Hikage munched on her tart and thought about ways to keep katori in the village. she could cut off his arms and legs. but he might be able to reattach them. she could tie him to a tree, but his new chakra enhanced strength would probably allow him to simply shatter the tree. she could use chakra restraints. but that was such a cop out. not to mention a weaklings way out. so no chakra restraints. another thing was the fact that chakra restraints sucked.

she would know. as a little kid when her sister left her, Hikage was watched for a little while. when it came to public attention that she could use her chakra, there was an uproar of people lobbying to get rid of her or lock her up. stupid civilians. no telling what a six year old was capable of. insert eye roll. so, of course the hokage refused to kill her or kick her out, and chakra restraints were the compromise. they weren't too bad, in theory. just big cuffs on her wrists and ankles that weren't attached to anything. they weren't ridiculously heavy, they barely hindered movement if at all.

but.

she was always tired. her body felt tremendously weakened. she was constantly famished, got frequent headaches, and her muscles hurt. at the time, Hikage almost wanted to leave the village if it would end the sanctions on her life and the meanness of the villagers. she was miserable. for a brief time she just went around hating everyone. hating was better than crying. nobody cared if she cried. she didn't matter to anyone. she was just a traitor's sibling that they were stuck with, like it or not.

so Hikage hated. she glared, she got smart at every opportunity, she flipped the bird at adults. she got into fights and trained hard so her lethargic state wouldn't cause her to lose. she cussed. a lot. that was when the kutabare phrase (go to hell) became her catchphrase of sorts. no grown up liked having a six year old shout at them to go to hell. she ripped her homework papers in half right in front of shino sensei right after he handed them to her. she did whatever she felt like doing, which was seldom what she was told to do. though he was a stoic and matter of fact man, he usually caved when Hikage snapped at him that the reason she wasn't doing anything was that the chakra suppressing cuffs made her too tired. she hated him for the look he gave right before he shrugged and went on with class. he was her sensei before he changed outfits to the one he wore when teaching boruto. he had a big jacket and sunglasses back then, and he had just started out as a teacher. but she could see the look. even if she couldn't see majority of his face she knew what pity looked like.

as fate would have it, it was shino sensei who did something about her newly gained bad attitude.

she had been mouthing off as much as she wanted as usual, and had been a real nuisance all day. it was break time, and she got into a fight with some boy who pulled her hair. the brat had the nerve to use a jutsu on her and she got so mad that she pin cushioned him with senbon needles she hid in her long messy hair. both children were in trouble for unsupervised fighting. the boy's parents came to pick him up.

"higurashi-san, thank you for coming. your son harassed a fellow student and engaged in unauthorized-"

"who cares? it wasn't anybody, really. it was just muroyami, she doesn't matter! she's a traitor, she doesn't even have a family. nobody cares about her. I didn't do anything wrong. she stabbed me! she should be in trouble!"

that made Hikage angry from her seat at her desk. she was not a traitor. and her last name was murakami. no muroyami. dummy.

"she what?! that treacherous little brat hurt my son, and you punish him for it? what kind of teacher are you?! I want that girl dealt with dammit! this is unacceptable."

the mom was ugly. her garish sea foam green hair was cut so horridly it looked like she had picked a fight with a lawnmower and lost epically. her eyes were all squinty and beady. her cloths were atrocious. Hikage wasn't much into fashion but she wouldn't be caught dead walking alongside that outfit in public. she likely thought she looked edgy and wild and intimidating and cool. she did not. and even at her tender age, Hikage already knew that grown up ladies were supposed to have boobs.

"you let that delinquent brat hurt my boy?" the father wasn't much better than the mother. he had plain flat tree bark brown hair and brown eyes. he was short for a grown man, and he wasn't even looking at shino sensei, he was looking right at Hikage, glaring viciously and curling his upper lip in distaste. most kids would have been scared. but Hikage had been tought that size and age were meaningless in a fight. she had more power than this loser ever would. she had mugen no masuta. she was above him.

"both children fought and both will face punishment. I don't much care who started it, or who won or lost." shino sensei was so calm. it was admirable.

"are you insinuating that haruka lost to that little bit-?!" higurashi haruka. what a stupid name.

shino sensei was all in her face. he looked mad. and there was this creepy hissing clicking noise. like a big swarm of... oh, right. aburame. duh.

"don't you ever speak that way about a student of mine. how you raise your children is up to you but I won't have you belittling or insulting a child in my jurisdiction on my watch. you don't want your son punished for his actions? fine. take the boy and go. his new classroom number shall be sent to you before tomorrow so he doesn't have any trouble getting to his new teacher's class on time. good evening, and goodbye."

he really was amazing. he was one of the konoha eleven.

the family of jerks left quietly until the boy pulled away and ran toward Hikage, shino sensei grabbed him up before he reached her.

"i hate you! everyone hates you! your nothing but a stupid, butt ugly traitor!"

the boy was carried out by shino sensei, who then returned to the room as Hikage was picking herself up to leave.

"where are you going?"

"home. where do you think?"

"your not going anywhere until after you finish copying down all of the rules in the handbook."

she wanted to leave. she hadn't eaten that day and her body hurt from over exerting herself with the chakra suppressors in place. she was so hungry she was getting dizzy. not that she'd ever say that out loud.

"tch. oh, please. i'm leaving."

"no, you aren't."

Hikage started to shake in her anger. she bared her gritted teeth. her fists clenched. she lost her temper.

"kutabare, you dumb assed old man! who the hell do you think you are anyway? you can't make me do anything! so shut the fuck up and-!"

out of the blue, shino's arm whipped by as he back hand slapped the six year old girl across the face. tears sprung to her eyes automatically. it didn't hurt a lot, but there was just something about being slapped...

"do not curse at a teacher or any other adult anymore. especially not in school."

Hikage readied herself to snap at him. but he beat her to it.

"you will do all the work assigned and you will get top scores. you will train until you are the most capable in this academy. you are going to be a model student and a model citizen of konoha. do you understand me, Hikage-san?"

"what's the point?! this whole freaking village hates me. how can I be the best with these?!" she jerked her wrists out to show him the cuffs there.

"how do you expect to gain the respect and trust of the leaf without earning it?" he lowered his head to look at her and for a second she saw his dark eyes.

"..."

"exactly. you aren't the first person to be wrongfully judged by this village. but who knows? you might end up becoming the worlds greatest ninja. perhaps a sanin, or hokage even."

"... you think?"

he nodded.

shino sensei sounded very amused with that speech though she couldn't imagine why.

"oh, sensei, how did you know he started the fight? I didn't even notice you out there."

shino sweat dropped.

"ah heehee, y'know what? I like you shino sensei. your cool." she smiled up at him and he patted her head awkwardly.

"if you say the words believe it, I will personally have your class changed."

"huh? why? I don't get it."

haha. very funny sensei. Hikage actually developed a fleeting crush on her sensei after that. very fleeting. it was over four days later when he demonstrated his ability to have bugs come out of his body. eewww.

"hay erizu?"

"yes? what is it Hika-chii?" she cocked her head to the side cutely.

"I have to go."

Hikage was already out the door, racing in the direction of the academy. she knew chances were that shino-sensei couldn't help, but he was so analytical and smart. he might have an idea about keeping katori from leaving. because he couldn't leave.

she hadn't spoken to her original sensei in years. first there was shino-sensei, then there was sai-sensei, now there was Naruto-sensei. time flew by didn't it? she was almost at the academy. she would be there by now if it weren't for her fight with katori...

that idiot. it was almost like he genuinely thought he had a choice in the matter of how he lived his life. he had some input, sure but he forgot about his team. he forgot about his friends. he forgot about Hikage's resolve.

"grar, you freakin' idiot. stupid katori, kutabare!" she was shouting at someone who couldn't even hear it. how sad.

a dull pain erupted on her head. some idiot just bonked her on the head! she turned to start yelling then took pause due to surprise.

"I told you about that cursing."

"aw, shino sensei, get off it, already. it has literally been ten years." Hikage rubbed her head where shino had hit her, scowling half at him hitting her again, and half at his appearance. that outfit was a mistake. there was no there way she could think to describe it.

"why are you here Hikage san?"

"hello, sensei, its great to see you too, I've been okay, how have you been?" Hikage was not above dry sarcasm.

"I am the same as I always am. and whatever your here for, you shouldn't waste time with trivial civilian pleasantries." that matter of fact tone suggested he was silently demanding she answer his question, because he wasn't going to repeat it.

"well, actually I sort of came to ask you for advice about something. you know, since your so book smart and unfeeling and all that."

Hikage paused as a thought occurred to her.

"wait, how long were you behind me? there's almost no one around and I didn't even notice you!"

shino's eyebrow twitched a little.

"so you came to ask me for advice? this is unusual seeing as we haven't spoken in almost four years now. what is the problem?"

"well you know, on my team thers me, sai-sensei, seichi-"

"im aware. the problem?"

"I was getting to that! My teammate, katori, he-he has been training with a bunch of new people, and he seemed really happy but now he wants to leave konoha! he'll be gone in, like, four days! what should I do?!" it all rushed out in a frenzied panicky shout.

"simple. let him go."

Hikage looked at the bug man as if he had suggested she march down to the hokage tower and assassinate the seventh hokage. insane. terrible. impossible for a thousand reasons. unthinkable in its atrocity.

"how?" the broken whisper surprised her.

"that depends."

Hikage didn't bother voicing the next obvious question.

shino-sensei didn't bother answering it. he was the sort who felt sometimes it was better to let them find out on their own.

Hikage stood in the road watching him walk away from her so he could get to work.

"kutabare, stupid sensei! that was no help at all!" she yelled at his retreating form.

...

well where should she go now? soon she would be training with Naruto sensei. she couldn't really ask him about this. it seemed pretty out of his element and no offense, but while team seven may be legendary, they definitely weren't legendary for their ability to prevent a teammate from leaving konoha. it was an unfortunate truth.

and it was also a truth she would never voice because chances were a comment like that would get her ass kicked by at least one enraged sanin.

she was being stupid. katori was a jerk and she should be glad to see him go. all they ever did was fight anyway. and drink mugicha. and train. and go on missions. and a lot of other stuff that was just normal teammate stuff to do but everyone on the team, apart from seichi, had some outrageous emotional issues.

it was so weird to know about katori. her prudish teammate was an illegitimate. he had been shunned by an entire clan because his father couldn't keep it- rated T. his mom bailed like a wimp. like a traitor. Hikage had some strong opinions about traitors. and this woman betrayed her own child. not even a child, she betrayed a helpless baby. the worst kind of traitor.

so katori couldn't have learned gentle fist because he was rejected by the clan. he was all mean and bitter because his family didn't like him. Hikage had words for lady hinata's uncle on her mother's side. words about cheating on his wife first of all. this man had never met katori but had hurt him irreparably. his mother was a bad person for leaving her baby, but the clan was full of bad people for harassing and threatening her into leaving konoha.

katori didn't hate the hyuuga clan though. if he did he wouldn't be training with lady hinata. right?

still, his life hadn't been easy. nor had her own.

and despite popular belief, seichi didn't have the happiest life. from childhood his parents were obsessed with using their son as a means to move up in the clan. kiba inuzuka had no proven children, so a cousin of his with a child could be the one to supply an heir.

seichi's parents did whatever they could to ensure it was him. he was never their child, but their commodity. when it came out that seichi had some weird internal abnormality that rendered him incapable of producing children, his parents were furious with him, as if it were his fault. other inuzukas who had children in line to be heir claimed that seichi should be disqualified because if he took over they would be in this exact situation again in a few years time. luckily, due to the intervention of none other than kiba inuzuka, the clan leader himself, seichi was allowed to stay in the running for heir. seichi was a little lazy by nature, a trait he hid from his clan. when other inuzukas were watching, he was a model of what a young clan leader should be. he studied hard, trained hard, stayed serious, and did whatever kiba wanted him to be doing with an insane amount of enthusiasm. because if there was anything drilled into his brain from birth it was that there was no opinion more important than kiba's.

Hikage had learned all this when she was still a genin. not the no kids part because even seichi wasn't aware of that yet. she was his friend, and felt bad for him when he was in a meeting until four in the morning the day they had to leave for a mission. katori had said (as a genin, years ago) that he didn't care, and it was seichi's own business.

Hikage was close to the hokage training grounds when something crazy obvious hit her.

any ninja who wanted to leave for non mission purposes had to complete a shit ton of paper work and go through a zillion differebnt processes. a lot of that paper work had to be signed stamped and/or approved by the hokage like, a month before the person left.

Naruto sensei was the hokage.

he knew. he had known for at least a month.

Naruto sensei knew katori was leaving, and didn't do any thing. he didn't say anything.

Hikage had never been angry, truly angry, at Naruto sensei. until now. the anger that flooded every cell of her body was impossible to get under control at the moment. she took off running toward Naruto sensei.


"RASENGAN!" Hikage charged and Naruto dodged effortlessly, which pissed her off even more.

she aimed several punches and was sure the last one would connect, but Naruto grabbed her fist and with a flick of his arm sent her flying.

they went on that way for a few hours, with a very impressed boruto as a spectator. Hikage attacked the best she could and Naruto evaded her. to her credit there had been a couple of close calls where she almost had him. she had been training under him for over two months, and she started out already well above average skill. and it was clear that Naruto sensei was trying to avoid hurting his apprentice. she wasn't at her best to begin with. her anger was hindering her more than it was helping. she wasn't thinking, she was just angry.

steadily attacking for so long was wearing Hikage out. what was the point? she wasn't so arrogant as to think herself a match for her sensei. and her anger was a little misdirected. perhaps Naruto sensei figured katori had already told her himself, and therefor saw no need to tell her anything. but he was the one who decided to allow katori to leave! how could he do that to her?

'jeesh, Hikage, let me explain a little detail about the situation that you seem to have forgotten; THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU' her mind shrieked at her. why was her mind always right? ever since katori told her he was leaving, ever thought that crossed her mind had been all about herself and what she wanted and what she felt.

she had disregarded everyone around her.

well, she couldn't just stop now. so her continued her attempts at assault, and, within another hour, needed to stop to catch her breath.

"are you done?"

Hikage glared up at him, still having a hard time letting go of her anger.

"good."

naruto was in front of her before she had time to process what he said. oh, no. serious face. he was not happy.

"listen, Hikage chan. its about the otokage. I'm sure you noticed that relations aren't exactly perfect between leaf and sound."

'duh. they tried to destroy our village, like, a million times.'

"look, I just want you to try and be... tolerant, you know I understand the sound ninja aren't the friendliest group, but they are here for diplomatic purposes and-"

"naruto sensei, what are you talking about? I haven't had any problems with the sound nin."

"Hikage chan I see a lot of myself in you. and a little bit of sakura chan, so I know you might let your temper get the best of you sometimes, which is-"

"I do not let my anger control me!"

"I heard katori had a hard time healing himself after getting stabbed with a katana. care to explain that?"

that shut her up.

"right. haha! don't feel bad, me and sasuke teme were the same way when we were kids! but what im saying is, avoid conflict with the otonin, okay?"

Hikage liked naruto sensei best when he was all calm and lighthearted.

"for the record, I saved that idiots life. and he leaves! we've been through so much as a team and he wants to leave konoha! you have no idea how much that sucks!"

naruto sweat dropped.

"I'm glad you can relax more around me now. but stop interrupting me."

right. what was she thinking? when had she allowed herself to calm down around random people like this? Hikage was losing her edge. or at least she was afraid she was.

"now. lets see how far you've come."

sparring ensued.

actually, Hikage's ability as a shinobi had almost tripled under naruto sensei. she had perfected rasengan (sorta), plkus a bunch of other cool shit, and the once a week murderous training with rock lee...

she was still convinced he did it because he hated her. training or torture, the line was blurred at this point.

she was still no match for naruto. but god dammit, please point me in the direction of the ninja who is.


only one day. two counting today. two days until katori left konoha. Hikage didn't want to see him. didn't want to face him knowing he was leaving her and there was nothing she could do about it. almost worse he wanted to leave and didn't care what she thought about it.

they had been on a team together for six years, yet they knew everything and at the same time nothing about each other. she spent years not knowing he was a medic, yet knew all of his fears and mannerisms. she never knew about his family, but she did know what ever facial expression meant, and could identify what he was thinking without even trying most of the time.

how could he go?

Hikage took a deep breath. this was stupid. she was being immature. if katori wanted to leave and be stupid then...

she slammed her door open and charged off to face the day.

so, as she was walking on her way to train, because she didn't have any missions, Hikage spotted a familiar mass of brown fur. she turned and sprinted in the opposite direction. she figured that seichi wouldn't have sensed her. he had virtually no talent. she ran at maybe forty percent speed through market places and crowds. places with two many sce4nts for him to track her. she knew that was what he was doing. seichi didn't hang out in her part of the village. Hikage hated it when seichi tried to force the team to play never worked.

thinking about that she ran faster.

'dammit seichi leave me ALONE!' Hikage summoned around a hundred or so shadow clones and kept running. run, run, run.

seichi was an idiot for constantly trying to force happiness and unity and teamwork upon their team. it would never happen. so a fresh army of shadow clones aided Hikage in her escape and she ran in erratic patterns and tried to evade the dog nin. he wouldn't catch her this time. that moron had absolutely no talent as a ninja. all of his mildly impressive moments could be put down as a fluke.

but there was that one thing...

not today, dog-boy!

Hikage stopped in place on the thin river she had been walking across (being a ninja, she was awesome like that) so then it would be harder for the inuzuka to catch her scent. he was probably still chasing after her clones. seichi was a lot of less than impressive things but at least he was no quitter. so there was no time for a break if she wanted to lose him. a distant bark and Hikage almost hit the ground in shock.

how did he do that? he was in the habit of doing this outrageously stupid thing where he would appear out of nowhere or disappear or something equally un-seichi like.

"c'mon Hikage! what's your problem? I don't want him to go either. but pouting isn't going to change his mind. your supposed to be the genius here."

"what? look, I don't care if katori wants to leave. I just... (sigh) just leave me alone seichi."

Hikage stopped as seichi's words fully registered.

"and I'm not a genius. your just a complete idiot."

"am not! you got top marks in the academy!"

Hikage was not about to admit that her grades were a result of shino sensei's support/child abuse. he gave her no choice and was constantly on her back about studying. sol she got top marks. but... that aside...

"seichi how is it you remember that? I didn't meet you until our first day as a team. there is no way you should know that."

seichi reddened marginally, the triangles on his face nearly disappearing from sight. he started flailing and sputtering like a fool.

"I- I well, well um uh that ah, the reason is-! shut up, just come to your best friend's goodbye party! man up!"

Hikage knew nothing of any party.

"no"

"yes"

seichi grabbed Hikage by the arm and started to yank her in the opposite direction she had been moving. Hikage struggled pointlessly, because they both knew she could break seichi's hand and go wherever she wanted if she really wanted to.

"we- need- (huff) to- urk! get you ready- stop that- for the party!"

hikage continued to pull and struggle against his hold. she didn't want to hurt seichi, and that was the only way she could make him let go.

"don't think I'm getting all dressed up for some stupid little gathering!"

"you have to! hey, don't look at me like that, it was lady hinata's idea, she's the one throwing the party. the whole hokage family will be there."

"..."

Hikage considered that.

part of her did want to see katori, and she didn't want to disrespect naruto sensei's wife. but she hated dressing up. and she was uncomfortable with seeing katori right now. Hikage was certifiably confused. this was so stupid. no way was she going.

"'not dressed up' dressed up, just like, a little nicer than usual. well, a lot nicer than usual in your case. your a mess-"

Hikage head-butted the idiot so hard he saw stars.

"ahahahaha, sorry, sorry, too far. true though."

"shut up. I'm not going." she had gone into professional shinobi mode, something she rarely ever did to people she was close to.

her face was schooled into utter indifference and calm calculation. her voice was little more than a clipped matter of fact monotone. she stopped struggling and walked alongside seichi without a word as he tried to prod her into conversation.

and she let her eyebrows twitch minimally when she saw erizu standing outside her home. erizu waved cheerfully and bounced a little at their arrival.

"Hika-chi! your home!" her eyes turned to seichi "ah! inuzuka kun! it is so nice to see you~!"

erizu drooped her eyelids a little and looked at him through her eyelashes, her friendly smile turning into a tiny smirk that was definitely friendly in the wrong way. erizu ran a hand through her shiny bright orange hair and fluttered her eyelashes like she wasn't married and like she didn't have a baby at home.

"hey erizu, what are you doing here? who's watching the baby? and by the way how is your husband doing today?"

Hikage was still in professional shinobi mode, and yes she knew she scared erizu a little when she was like this. Hikage may not care if erizu decided to flirt marriage or no marriage but no it was different when she was coming on to Hikage's friends. it was gross, embarrassing and inappropriate.

"um, they're fine, Hika-chi. I was just coming by to help you pick an outfit."

"I think I can manage on my own, erizu."

the carrot topped girl blanched a little and shifted from foot to foot. giggling nervously she avoided looking at Hikage's eyes. she was essentially scared of shinobi in general, really.

"but-"

"go home erizu." Hikage's voice was beyond detached now. it was stone cold I - will - fucking - kill - you voice.

"ne, Hikage?" seichi looked an interesting combination of confused and concerned.

"um..." erizu looked like she wanted nothing more than to burst into tears and run for it.

"I can get ready by myself. where's the party? do you even know?" Hikage was acting as if erizu wasn't even there.

"ah, the hokage's place."

"fine. I know the way. what time?"

"um, I guess you don't have to go..."

"what time?" that was the no nonsense mission leader voice.

"starts at seven." seichi had given up.

the young inuzuka trotted off, a still rather happy chachamori at his side. when Hikage turned around to find erizu long gone, she heard seichi should

"and if you see katori don't say anything to him! its a surprise!"

'oh, katori is gonna LOVE that. and if this is some big secret, then you should totally shout it out in the open. aren't you supposed to be a ninja?'

Hikage continued to think mean things as she trudged up the stairs to her apartment. Was all that anger really necessary? probably not but she was mad at naruto sensei for letting katori leave and she was mad at katori for leaving and she was mad at herself for being mad at katori and she was mad at seichi for bothering her and she was mad at erizu for acting well, on the slutty side, and she was mad at... at... stuff!

Hikage knew that she had to stop being a brat but... whatever.

"(sigh...) just get ready for the stupid party that katori is going to hate." Hikage breathed to herself.

and he would. katori wasn't so much a party hater so much as a hater of the unexpected.

but Hikage would be there to see him hate it. she wouldn't abandon her teammate no matter what. not everyone thought it was okay to walk away from people who cared about them. not everyone was katori.

not to mention she had something to prove. she did not need guidance from some girly civilian to look nice. she had tons of new stuff from the compound! Hikage murakami was from a prominent (ha) respected (yeah right) and famous (as. if.) clan of konoha and big fancy clan people were good ay everything. as long as they weren't uchihas.

so that being said, Hikage found herself in a pile of purple and black as she tried her best to select an outfit.

she figured she should wear a dress but she just wasn't going to do that. she also wasn't going anywhere with her arms exposed. she had been wearing long sleeves and arm warmers for years. and she liked to have her shoulders and lower midriff exposed. and the vast majority of her legs. now that she thought about it her regular outfit showed a loy of skin. meh. who cares.

so it would seem that it was going to be this. it wasn't bad. it wasn't that good, but it wasn't too bad. it occurred to Hikage that the ensemble was all black only after she had already put it on. she looked like she was on her way to a funeral. tight black pants, long sleeved black fishnet shirt underneath a black short sleeved shirt that stopped at mid thigh but was covered in randon slits and rips revealing the fishnet undershirt in some places with black fingerless gloves that reached her upper biceps. all four weapons pouches and her katana in place, her impossible hair strangled back as much as possible by several shiny black hair clips that could be weapons in case of emergency. she polished her forehead protector.

the back of her shirt and the sides of her gloves bore the murakami dragon.

she exited with minutes to spare, her mind clouded with the knowledge that katori was leaving konoha. her limbs felt heavy and the last thing she wanted to do was attend a party celebrating his departure. Hikage didn't have to think about where she was going, her feet knew the way.

next thing she knew she was staring down the home of the seventh hokage already alive with party guests. shadows hung in a dreary veil across her face. her body trembled with some dark, awful familiar yet foreign sensation that she couldn't identify. leaning back in the trunk of the tree she was hiding in, Hikage struggled to collect herself. how could anyone ask this of a person? to walk into that house and be happy to see him leave was impossible. the cruelty of everything was difficult to process even for a ninja.

how perfect, for it to start raining? how sickeningly cliché and fitting of the moment. after a moment the cold drops weaved through the leaves and branches to mark her face with cold artificial tears. sitting in a tree brooding wasn't doping any good for anyone. her head dropped back so her face turned skyward. Hikage had no intention of crying. strangely enough, there wasn't the faintest desire to cry, not a hint of misty eyes or the trembling choking feeling of withheld sobs in her throat. it was a bizarre quietly agonizing feeling.

then there was the sensation of a cool, slightly rough hand wrapped around hers, and a sigh was heard. Hikage had to be pretty out of it not to have sensed the person beside her approach. it didn't matter anyway. katori was better at hiding his chakra than anyone else on the team...

there was pressure and a slow seeping warmth as katori ducked to lean against her side, their hands still connected. neither spoke. there was nothing to say. it would probably just end with a fight anyway. Hikage and Katori were better when blanketed in a layer of silent understanding be it comfortable or not. she didn't even turn her head to look at him. they both observed the brightly lit party.

eventually Hikage released a breath she hadn't meant to hold and leaned toward katori the same way he did her. it was something akin to peace. neither knew how long they stood up a tree in the rain leaning against each other and holding hands and neither noticed when katori's cheek came to rest on Hikage's ducked head. Hikage did notice however when a single drop of warmth rolled down katori's face and into her hair amongst all the cold ones. that was when Hikage knew it was time to leave.

she pulled away sharply and jumped from the tree silently without looking back. she knew katori followed. before entering the house katori dried them with a jutsu that Hikage didn't know but was interested in due to the sheer convenience. when they stepped through the doors katori was swept away in a wave of people Hikage was sure didn't know him at all.

"oh its her"

Hikage stiffened upon reflex at the whispers aimed in her direction.

"it is are you sure?"

"of course I'm sure, my sister in law has a friend who knows the secretary at the hokage's office, and that's the girl from that day"

okay, Hikage knew for a fact that the hokage tower had gotten a new secretary from back when sanami took off.

"wow, so that's the hokage's apprentice then? she doesn't look like much." a few arrogant little sniffs followed.

that was new. and Hikage found herself liking the change in gossip. but...

her head snapped around and though her face was cool and expressionless her silver green eyes flashed with danger in the direction of the loser gossipers who were effectively scared. Hikage turned and walked away without a word. she heard the frantic whispers behind her and refrained from rolling her eyes. she spotted seichi talking avidly to an older inuzuka with a little facial hair and longish hair the same shade of brown as his own.

ah, of course. kiba inuzuka. the clan leader. as his eyes landed on her seichi began to grin and flail his arms like a startled bird in a cage. or like a stupid teenage boy. Hikage felt her expression shift with fondness and gave a single half hearted wave of acknowledgment as she strolled in hid direction. she stopped abruptly in her tracks as she swore she saw a picture of katori on the wall and in her shock, turned to stare at it wide eyed.

upon closer inspection it wasn't katori in the picture. the clothes and hair were completely different. but that face it was creepy levels of similar. she wasn't startled by Naruto sensei's hand on her shoulder. she could sense him approach from half way around the world. he had a loud and rather distinct chakra.

"naruto sensei the guy in that picture is..."?

"huh? ah, you mean neji. he was hinata's cousin." his tone made it clear that the topic was off limits. Hikage understood. in a shinobi family using past tense to refer to a person usually meant one thing.

she nodded and went back to walking toward seichi...

"seichi, you smell astoundingly un-wet doggish." there was humor in Hikage's eyes and in her voice.

"ne, Hikage-chan you look even less manly than the last time I saw you. I like your shirt." he winked like a moron and she pointedly ignored him.

she nodded politely to kiba. she didn't really know him. seichi stuck to him like glue whenever he could because of his parents and that was the only reason Hikage had ever said a word to the man.

kiba smiled wolfishly and nodded with poorly concealed disinterest. seichi was not his kid nor were any of the other potential heirs to the inuzuka clan. they all did their best to get close to kiba becuase as clan leader he had a lot of sway in deciding on the successor.

Hikage was technically recognised by the law as head of her clan but...

yeah. there were only two murakami's in the world and only one in the village. at least that was what everyone thought. theoretically speaking, there were murakami members listed in her clan records who had left konoha and never returned but there was no mention of any of them having kids. and besides, the clan wasnt at the top of Hikage's priority list by a long priority was konoha and her important people. she wanted to learn about the murakami and she wanted to be the strongest she could be and she sometimes wondered what it would be like if her clan was still around.

would she be stronger? would she still have made top marks at the academy? would she be training to be a sannin?

honestly, no. Hikage did well in school because shino sensei was a freaking slave driver when he put his mind to it. she was determined to make everyone see her loyalty because sanami leaving made them question it and she had had no parents to defend her.

she wasn't sorry for how her life had turned out. not at all. Hikage wasn't glad her sister was gone, her clan dead. but she hardly remembered that anyway.

head of a clan with only one member.

well, the uchiha was sort of head of a clan with only two or three members unless you counted the shin freaks.

katori could be seen being harassed by strangers not far away. that picture still creeped her the hell out.

"hmm... interesting..." it was the otokage.

Hikage was chilled and digusted by the feel of her chakra. she had to have been hiding it for Hikage to have missed her approach.

"otokage sama." Hikage gave a curt nod. as she turned to walk away she found herself face to face with a sound ninja.

to be frank, Hikage was almost amused by the arrogant, creepy sneer/smirk on the guys face. it was almost like he thought he was intimidating someone.

"aww, look at the cute little leaf kunoichi. I didn't mean to scare you..."

uh, you didn't.

the otokage was constantly surrounded by sound nin. she was a kage. so there were around eight or nine of them staring at Hikage like she was an easy target.

she almost wanted one of them to try their luck.

she should have known the otokage would be here. the hokage was at a party so he was kind of politically obligated to invite any kages in his village at the time. but still. this woman was like a weird female wannabe orochimaru. Hikage had no doubt she was a strong fighter, as she couldn't be a kage if she weren't, but she wasn't afraid of this woman. she also didn't like her. she always had that knowing smug, I'm better than you look.

Hikage restrained herself from reaching for her sword. the otokage stepped forward and reached out with her left had. Hikage froze. a cold, smooth hand caressed the side of her face as she fought to keep herself from killing the woman for touching her.

then there was a body between hers and the otokages. naruto sensei. and himawari who stood to the side curiously.

"lord hokage." smirk and light chuckles from a woman who could be orochimaru's mama. or younger sister...

"Hikage chan, katori is looking for you." naruto was clearly lying.

Hikage nodded ad walked briskly in a random direction. she searched the light crowd or someone she knew. inojin was standing by a punch bowl that nobody would drink from. most people present were shinobi and a punch bowl was way too vulnerable to poisoning. habitual thing.

she spotted an abused looking katori being chatted at by some girl. short black hair. petite. red eyes (like Karin red). thin strip of a shirt that exposed everything but boobs. and shoulders where the straps covered. gray tighter than Hikage would have thought possible gray pants.

a civilian might have a problem with the outfit but there was really nothing wrong with it. if it made fighting easier a ninja should wear whatever they wanted. the only thing that jumped out at hikage was the sound headband that the girl was wearing sakura sama style.

that alone changed her mind about going in that direction.

Hikage was confused about everything. katori, the sound freaks, her clan, her place I the village...

it was no secret that she was already stronger than most jonin. hell, maybe even some anbu. but she still wasn't strong enough... she needed to become more powerful.

she was constantly getting better with naruto sensei and rock lee AKA friendly slave driver

but dammit she needed more!

she would surpass every murakami that had come before her. she would do more than fix the shame she would obliterate it.

Hikage was suddenly aware that her feet had carried her out the door.

she was made aware by the familiar sensation of katori's chakra approaching.

"what do you want?" to the point was always best

"we have to talk."

she didn't bother to confirm.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you. things are better if I say this now."

before she knew it she had him pinned to the ground under her foot, her katana to his throat, her chest heaving as she glared ferociously at him. katori was dazed by her speed. a small part of her took a second to relish that fact.

with lightly trembling hands Hikage sheathed her sword and released him. he was on his feet instantly. he looked as if nothing had happened.

"you know it has to be said. don't run from me Hikage."

"run? from you? don't flatter yourself you... you... discount hyuuga!" that was going too far.

katori flinched a little before he fixed his expression. Hikage almost wanted him to lash out when she saw the hurt in his eyes. she had set out to hurt katori and she had done just that.

"you cant scare me away. I'm not going to play this game with you."

his gleaming pearl eyes almost glowed in the dark rainy night. his purple ish hair was damp and glittering with raindrops. he was always so pale... like a moody, handsome ghost.

"I need to have a proper goodbye from you."

you can't have one. I cant give you one. please don't ask this of me. Hikage couldn't voice any of this. so she turned and ran as fast as she could.

and made it all of seven steps before she was standing in the spot she started from, running but in place.

"you used a genjutsu on me?!"

katori nodded like it wasn't a big deal. just screwing with peoples brains.

"you wouldn't have stayed and listened otherwise."

"release the genjutsu." she ground the words from between her teeth.

"Hikage your-"

"release the fucking jutsu before I stab you again!"

the jerk chuckled in a somewhat dark manor.

he looked so evilly amused. mouth turned up on one side. brows furrowed.

"do you really think you can hurt me? really? because I would use a jutsu that still lets me get attacked."

Hikage's chest heaved in anger.

"if you want to go ahead and take a swing if it makes you feel better." his eyes were laughing at her.

she wasn't about to waste her energy. she did something she rarely ever allowed herself to do. she gave in and hung her head in defeat. she could probably get around the jutsu if she were serious. but she might have to hurt katori to do it. besides she had been intending to talk to him anyway.

"so? what is it you need to say?'' her voice was on guard.

"well... I wanted to know that you would be okay."

Hikage had no idea what he was talking about so she didn't say any thing.

"you know, with me leaving and sai sensei being so busy lately... I wanted to know you would be okay all on your own."

she was in his face before he could go on

"I think you don't quite understand. I don't need you here katori. I don't need anyone. so if your feeling bad because you think your leaving poor little me behind don't. I'm better off on missions without having to carry any dead weight."

"I wasn't saying that". damn that tone.

she shook him by his shirt front and glared when she opened her mouth to scream at him the words shocked them both.

"dammit I'm sorry alright? I'm sorry katori! I've been so wrapped up in myself that I didn't even consider you! I trust you, I do! I just cant stand people who ... who..." she shouted the words like she was cursing at him. he looked floored. this was clearly not what he expected from her.

it was silent for a few moments.

"I'm going to miss you hikage."

"liar."

"heh heh" a large pale hand gripped the back of her head and yanked her gently into a sort of hug.

and for some insane and nonsensical reason, Hikage raised her arms to return the hug. they weren't that far apart in height so she let her chin rest on his shoulder. hugging was so weird. what were they supposed to do now? just stand here until one of them had to leave?

"I'm coming back. this is just something that I need to do. I wouldn't abandon konoha. oh and... iv been wanting to give you this for a while. uh, happy birthday."

her birthday wasn't for seven months. he read the question in her expression.

"actually I bought it on a mission a week before your birthday but I got home and wet to see you ad we got to fighting..."

ah, right. that.

katori produced seemingly out of no where a small wooden box. it was rather unassuming. rectangular. plain.

rather than handing her the box, he opened it and showed her its contents. a small crystal prism shaped stone appeared to be on fire inside in the low light. all reds and oranges and striking dark/light combos. it was attached to a delicate looking chain, gold in color. it was to small to be a necklace, so it was more likely a bracelet. Hikage briefly thought that it was too bad she never wore jewelry. it was beautiful.

katori lifted the thing from its box and reached out. Hikage reluctantly started to hold out her hand, but to her shock katori reached over her shoulder and gripped the hilt of her katana. he pulled so she was semi turned and there was a faint click. as soon as he backed up she moved to inspect. oh. the piece of jewelry was a little charm for the sheath of her sword. it actually looked really cool.

"here, look." katori almost sounded nervous. like he gave a damn whether she liked the gift.

he brought her attention to the little gem again. she stared at it in fascination

"its a fire opal." stupid katori paying attention.

weren't opals round? must have been hard to find this thing.

"hikage." he said it to get her attention.

he gestured to the way the fire opal casted color across a tree. it was like amber and reds and oranges and glitteriness and firelight. it was really pretty.

"see that?"

"see what?" she saw the pretty colors.

katori tuned the gem and in the light-

oh my god!

it was the leaf symbol. in the shining colors there was an outline of the symbol on her forehead. it must have been on the gem in a hairline crack or something. now she understood the significance of the gift. it was meant to represent the will of fire. it was an awesome present.

she was going to do it. he had earned it, a thousand times over. Hikage smiled widely at katori and - no shit- she hugged him.

Hikage Murakami initiated a hug with katori discount hyuuga. of course it lasted half a second before she ended the hug but it was something.

"I will come back you know."

"when?"

"I don't know. I have to do this, Hikage. I cant just let- I have to do this."

the pale face before her was grave and almost pleading for her to understand. she still didn't, but she knew this wasn't about her. it was about katori and she was capable of being supportive.


katori wondered if Hikage would be angry if she found out that his leaving was really about her. he wouldn't let her find out because she didn't need to know. knowing would crush her.

Hikage would die if she couldn't be a shinobi anymore.

he would protect her from the truth and save her from the backlash of using her kekkei genkei. he had found out from sakura shishou. Hikage had landed herself in the hospital (big surprise) and sakura had noticed it. she had called in tsunade, and as her student, he followed. they has found a disturbance in her system and while she was unconscious, looked into it.

the medical ninjas had discovered that using mugen no masuta was wearing at her body and her ability to control her chakra, but they had known that from years earlier. what shocked them was the knowledge that her vital chakra points were dying. she was close to a jinchuriki's power without their regenerative abilities. if she continued the way she was going she wouldn't live to see twenty years old. but whatever. that wasn't all. her 'ability' didn't just do damage when used. it appeared to be constantly straining her chakra networks and causing damage that forced chakra to compress and leak into dangerous places, slowly killing her heart and parts of her brain and crushing her immune system while debilitating her respiratory system. not all of that would happen, it was just a matter of what got her first.

katori would never let any of that happen. Hikage was not only his friend and she wasn't just his person he had feelings for. she was a major factor in his life. she was kind of the reason he started medical training at twelve. it wasn't because he cared about her, but because whenever Hikage jumped in and saved the day- she always did and it pissed him off back then- he was the one to carry her to the hospital. and like her or not she was his teammate and it was terrifying to see her and have that split second where she was so broken and bloody and so still that she had to be dead.

she was the most over zealous hot tempered genin katori had ever met. she had saved his life on several occasions. one day he carried her to the hospital after she saved both seichi and himself. she almost died. it was the first time he witnessed her bloodline trait.

at the time all he wanted was to heal her. he would have done anything to make her better. that was when he signed on as a medic trainee.

now when she saved his life, he saved hers in return. and he would save her now. he never lost sight of his goals. he wasn't easily sidetracked though Hikage had a talent for driving him to immaturity.

she couldn't know. not knowing was hurting her but it was nothing compared to what knowing would do to her.

she hadn't liked him but she was so genuine about everything as a kid that it struck him. she was so brash and honest and if she didn't like you she didn't give a damn if you knew it. she wasn't scared of anything or anyone. she lost her fair share of battles but that never deterred her. she was brave to a fault.

katori had always been more strategic by nature. he wasn't one to jump in without thinking. he was good with poisons. he was thought and precision where Hikage was emotion and raw power.

that had changed a bit as they got older. Hikage got some control over herself. she was almost cold...

almost never with him though.

he had deduced that regular healing would eventually fail her. so he started searching. desperately. he had been snappy with her whenever he saw her. he found a few methods for other similar problems and there were murakami roots in the land of snow er... the land of spring. there could be useful information there. and the land of wind was really good with physical therapies... there were scattered and there where small hints in random places. he would seek them all. he would fix everything for her. he trusted sakura shishou and lady hinata to check on her in his absence while he trained on his own for a while. he was worried. the murakami compound was restricted but he had poured over all the records he could. the oldest murakami ever died at sixty one.

he used his byakugan when she wasn't paying attention. he wished he could use it while she was activated. he could go blind doing that though.

"I have to do this." his word was final.

"I get that now." she sounded sad. that was rare.

her misty forest eyes looked right into his. Hikage lowered her eyes to no one.

"so this key chain thing, is it real?"

"what?" That was random. HOW DID HER MIND WORK?

"this little thing on my sheath, is it real? or is it part o this fucking genjutsu?" the words were ground out like she was angry . how could anyone switch emotions so fast?

"its real. " it had screamed Hikage when he saw it. the fire opal that is. he had it placed on a chain and made it a decoration for her sword so that it was perfect.

"so you really are leaving"

"I am"

"I might... almost ... want you around when your gone."

because the devil would be ice skating in hell the day she stopped ruining the moment.

"goodbye... for the time being."

"tch, sure. and I should believe that because ...?"

didn't believe him? katori was confused as usual with Hikage's nonsense. but it brought a small almost smile to his face. what could he say to assure her?

"alright then Hikage. I know. I'll tell you my secret when I return."

"eh?!"

"if there's something I have to tell you the I would have to return to say it right?"

"what is it?! what secret?!"

"ah, that would be telling." his mouth stretched into a full smirk. he got her.

her face reddened and her eyed brightened as she stormed up to him like an angry tidal wave. she gripped his shirtfront and shook him like she used to when she was ten. it was charming and almost made him want to laugh.

"what's the freakin' secret?!"

the her puffed up face and wide eyes and pout were too much. there were two things he could do. he did the secod because the thing he really wanted to do would give away the 'secret'

he hugged her tightly and ignored the way she tensed up. she wasn't soft. shinobi were mostly composed of hard muscles. she had her soft spots but she was strong and currently tensed up. this could go either way. she might reluctantly hug back. she might hit him. there was really no telling.

"I wont be gone forever."

katori pulled back and stared hard to make his point clear. she was all stormy eyed so she wasn't happy.

"goodbye." the small whisper was impossible to decode.

"I'll write you. you'll be fine."

"if you leave you'll fall behind!"

that didn't make any sense.

"I mean, soon I'm gonna be a jonin so by the time you get back I'll outrank you."

"you won't pass the jonin examination." it was a knee jerk response that katori regretted before he finished saying it. her grayish green eyes caught fire.

"this is perfect isn't it?!"

no, absolutely not.

"I didn't mean-"

"yes you did! don't try to take it back now! so we'll see. one of us will win and we'll find out the next time we see each other. if you complete your journey to do whatever dumb assed thing your doing, you win. if I'm a jonin when you get back I win."

hearing her say that hurt in the best possible way. it was such a Hikage thing to say. she was never going to change completely, not on the inside. that had been one of his worst worries. that he'd return and she would be different from the girl he knew. from the girl he cared about more than anything. but she would always be who she was.

"so what's the prize?"

"ha. that would be telling. whoo~" she raised an eyebrow and made that little nose wrinkle thing. she was irritated and didn't mind showing it.

I don't lose, Hikage. when the game is done, lets meet at the training grounds.":

"I'll miss you katori."

then by some miracle, she smiled a hundred watt smile and turned her back to him. it was time to go. katori released his genjutsu subtly. he wasn't ashamed so much as surprised by the tears that slipped down his face. he used a teleportation jutsu and evaporated in a flurry of white petals. once he was alone he hunched over and let himself be wracked with crippling sobs. he would miss Hikage so much. he might fail.

katori would never admit it but he hated being alone.

he never really cried much but he remembered sakura shishou's distinct opinions about tears shed.

"people do not cry because they are weak. people cry because they have been strong for too long. tears aren't a weakness katori kun."

"I love you"

he should have told her his secret when she asked for it.


katori was gone.

Hikage let out a deep breath and started to trudge onward. she sensed the malevolent chakra before she had taken five steps. her hand moved to partially draw her sword so that the blade glittered dangerously in the rain. pushing her own chakra to spike with the threat.

"why would the otokage go to the trouble of tailing me?" the derisive sneer in her tone made it clear that Hikage was in no mood for tiresome games.

"hmm. interesting." that smooth regal tone was pissing her off.

Hikage drew her katana and held it out towards the woman. a clear threat of violence.

she was breaking so many of her own rules but damn if she could see past the burning red haze of anger. every cell in her body wanted to strike out against this hag.

" you have five seconds to say whatever the fuck your here to say before I walk away" she was losing her composure. the words were spat venomously through a thin layer of ice.

"oh? then let me be frank." the grinning woman with gold eyes in the rainy darkness was decidedly creepy.

"join me, child."

Hikage's mind went blank with shock.