AN: I am soooo sorry! When I looked at when I last updated I nearly fainted! I was so busy though I didn't have much time to work on this story. I also wanted this chapter and the next few chapters to be just right. There is a lot of information on the Himura clan in this chapter and it may be a lot to take in.
If I get a lot of reviews I will update on my birthday, August 29.
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Chapter Ten: While You Were Sleeping
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Kakashi sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had left the village and started for Waves. His team was becoming more and more annoying by the minute and they hadn't even reached the water that they had to cross by boat to get to Waves. Things seemed to be finally calming down with the exception of Naruto who was bothering Sakura about going out for ramen together when they returned home.
"NARUTO! Leave me alone!" Sakura snapped, punching him in the head.
"Oww, Oww, Oww!" Naruto moaned, holding his head and taking a few steps back.
Unfortunately, he tripped and tumbled down the slope to the right of the path they were walking on. The group stopped short and looked down at where Naruto had fell.
"Naruto, are you alright?" Kakashi asked unworried.
"I am alright. Believe it!" Naruto said, sitting up and rubbing his sore head.
"Then hurry up and get back up here, Munchkin." Tazuna snapped.
"What did you . . ?" Naruto's voice faded off as he stared at something deeper in the forest.
"Naruto?"
Naruto squinted his eyes to see in the clearing a few feet in front of him. The clearing was filled with beautiful wildflowers that were the nicest shades of pink, yellow, and purple. Among the bright colored flowers was a shimmer of silver and white which looked vaguely familiar yet out of place in the colorful terrain. Naruto crawled forward until he was able to see what exactly was in the clearing and stared dumbstruck for a few moments at what he saw.
"HIKARI!" He exclaimed in a mixture of shock and happiness.
Seconds later Kakashi was next to Naruto and the others were behind him. Sakura gasped as the group gazed upon an unconscious Hikari who lay in a bed of flowers. Kakashi knelt down next to the once missing girl and checked her pulse, relief flooding through him when he found a steady one.
"Sensei, is she alright?" Sakura asked in a concerned tone though Kakashi didn't hear her.
'How did she get here? Her kidnapper couldn't have knocked her out and then dropped her body here. That wouldn't make any sense. Not to mention that the one we already suspect was the one to kidnap her was found no where near here. Could she have killed her kidnapper and then ended up here only to pass out from exhaustion? No, that doesn't make any sense. Someone would have found her wandering about, not to mention that her position is all wrong.' Kakashi thought, eyeing the way his student laid in the flowers.
Hikari was resting on her back, one arm lay across her stomach while the other lay limp at her side. Her legs lay straight out and her face was looking straight up with no hair in her face.
'Her position is too unnatural for her to have fallen like that. There is not even any hair out of place that may have fallen into her face when she fell to the ground from exhaustion. Someone definitely placed her this way.' Kakashi's eyes instinctively looked to her right hand where her mark was.
Because he could see through the glove, he didn't have to remove it to see that it had been remade. His eyes narrowed knowing what that meant. No ANBU would leave her in the middle of the forest and they were the only ones that received the stored Uchiha blood that was kept hidden in case of an emergency, only accessible by the Hokage himself. That had always been the way; each clan with a bloodline limit gave blood over the years for the Himura clan who was now almost dead except for Hikari.
There were only two people who could have saved Hikari and since Sasuke had been with him that left the only other living Uchiha left.
Itachi Uchiha.
"Sensei, why do you look so serious? Hikari isn't dying, is she!" Naruto yelled, drawing the wrong conclusions.
Kakashi shook his head to rid himself of the dark thoughts that were tangled within his mind. Picking up Hikari carefully, he faced his team and Tazuna with an easy-going smile.
"She isn't dying, Naruto. She'll be fine. Let's get moving. When we reach Waves I'll send the Hokage a message telling him that Hikari is alive and well. I am sure everyone back home will be relieved."
They followed Kakashi back up to the road and started again, Naruto and Sakura staring at Hikari's limp figure. Even Sasuke snuck a few glances towards his white haired teammate, questions on what had happened occupying his mind. Tazuna was somewhat curious about the mysterious girl but eventually lost interest and went back to going over the plans of the bridge he was building in Waves in his mind.
'I wonder what happened to Hikari. She's been gone for all this time and everyone was saying she was kidnapped and killed.' Sakura thought, remembering all the conversations she had overheard back home.
Her worried thoughts disappeared a few moments later when she saw Sasuke continue to glance at Hikari's unconscious form every few moments. 'GRR! She is getting all of Sasuke's attention! I bet that was her plan the whole time to steal Sasuke away from me. Now Sasuke is paying attention to her and he may end up liking her and her conniving ways! That's it, Hikari is now my rival in love! Cha! There is no way she is going to steal Sasuke from me! . . . She may even be a greater rival than Ino-pig with her unique looks. I hope Sasuke doesn't think she looks prettier than me but her wearing that pretty outfit doesn't hel- wait a minute!'
"Her clothes are different." Sakura suddenly blurted out, breaking the deafening silence.
Kakashi blinked and looked to the pink haired kunoichi and then back to Hikari, understanding almost immediately what Sakura had uncovered.
"What! What are you talking about Sakura?" Naruto looked at Sakura in confusion.
Sakura scoffed, "The Hokage's reports said that Hikari came home on the day we had our survival training and then left almost immediately after. She didn't return all night or the morning so shouldn't Hikari be wearing the same outfit she wore from that day."
Naruto and Sasuke looked at Hikari's clothes noticing the more feminine looking outfit that was not really fit for fighting. Naruto scratched his head thinking about what Hikari had worn during the survival training.
"Hey, you're right! How did you remember that, Sakura?"
"It's a girl thing, Naruto. You wouldn't understand." Sakura said, hoping Sasuke was impressed with her observation.
"Her sealer must have given her these clothes to wear." Kakashi elaborated.
"Her sealer?" Naruto looked confused once more.
Kakashi could see Sakura and Sasuke giving him a curious look as they waited for him to explain to Naruto about what he meant.
"I will discuss this with you another time. Right now we are on a mission that we must focus on." Kakashi spoke calmly and sighed in relief once they had not questioned him further.
'To explain all of this would reveal Hikari's sealer. Let's hope I can delay this conversation as long as possible . . . or at least until Hikari wakes up.'
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Hikari didn't wake up when they were on the boat. She didn't wake up when they encountered Zabuza and his unfeeling partner from the Snow Country, Kane (AN1) or when they had arrived at Tazuna's house. She still wasn't up and it had been a couple days since they had found her. They were all starting to worry except for Kakashi who didn't say anything but knew she would wake up eventually. At the moment it was night, Tazuna and his family had gone to bed while team seven were in the living room where Hikari lay, motionless besides the slight rise and fall of her chest. Kakashi sat in his makeshift bed next to Hikari reading a book, Sakura and Naruto sat next to Hikari and Sasuke sat leaning against the wall a few feet from the others.
"She still hasn't woken up." Sakura whispered solemnly, somewhat worried about her newest rival in love.
"AH! Why won't she wake up! Kakashi-sensei stop reading and tell us what's wrong with her!" Naruto yelled.
Sakura hit him over the head, shooting him a dark look, "Shut up Naruto! The others are asleep; you don't want to wake them."
Naruto gave a sheepish look, "Sorry . . . but Sensei why won't Hikari wake up? It's been days."
Kakashi sighed knowing he couldn't prevent the inevitable and dejectedly put away his book despite being at a good part. It was probably best to tell them while Hikari was asleep so she wouldn't have to deal with all the awkward questions that were bound to be asked.
"She will wake up soon-"
"You've been saying that for the last couple of days!"
"Let me finish Naruto. Hikari will wake up soon and I know this because I have a good guess about what happened while she was missing. Of course I don't know all the details but I can tell she will not be very forthcoming about what happened when she wakes up especially considering what I am going to tell you." The three conscious genin perked up at this and waited quietly for Kakashi to continue.
"Let's move into the kitchen to continue this conversation, shall we?" Kakashi said; standing and leaving the room so that his students could do nothing but follow.
Sakura shut the door to the living room where Hikari lay and sat down at the kitchen table with Sasuke and Naruto. Kakashi sat down at the head of the table and breathed in deeply before continuing.
"I was going to try and delay this conversation until after our mission or at least until Hikari woke up but I guess it is best to get this over with. To understand what has happened and what will happen in the future concerning Hikari I am going to have to tell you more about the Himura clan and their curse." Kakashi spoke calmly, his visible eye studying each of their faces carefully.
"Curse?"
"Yes, the Himura clan is known as the cursed clan. It started a long time ago and I really don't know much about how it happened but the Himura clan grew angry with a pack of different types of demons that wandered the lands. They slew each and every one of them even thought these demons were the descendants of the demons that started the clans that today have bloodline limits."
"Wait a minute, some clans were started by demons!"
"Yes, Sakura. Among them: the Aburame clan, the Akimichi clan, the Hyuuga clan, the Inuzaku clan, the Nara clan, and the Uchiha clan. These demons were furious at the Himura clan and cursed them. Ever since then when a Himura is born they have a demon spirit sealed within their body and mind. This demon can be very useful to the Himura clan; who found a way to use some of the demon's abilities to advance their ninja training. The downfall is that those in the Himura clan do not live long, the youngest dying before birth and the oldest in their twenties, maybe thirties-"
"What!" Naruto couldn't help but yell.
"That's if they are lucky of course." Kakashi continued ignoring Naruto's outburst.
"Most die in their teens, having only one child, maybe two if they are luck to live that long. You see the demons slowly grow stronger until they are able to kill their host even if they have the special Himura demon seal on their hand. Over the years, other Himuras had to kill their own family so as not to get killed by the demon. The Himura's soul is destroyed and their body is then in complete control of the demon who instantly tries to kill everyone it sees. That is why the village Hidden in the Leaves becomes very worried when a Himura like Hikari is kidnapped. All a kidnapper would have to do is remove the seal that is on her right hand and the demon will be able to kill her without having to wait until he can kill her . . . Hikari has been kidnapped five times, including this recent and almost successful attempt and out of all those times her seal has bee removed three times once again including this time."
"I don't understand, Sensei. If the demon can kill Hikari once the seal is removed then why is she still alive." Sakura asked perplexed.
"That's because each Himura has a sealer that can redo the seal on their hand using their own blood, thus holding the demon within the Himura. Each sealer is from one of the clans I mentioned earlier, the ones with the bloodline limits and must be compatible with the demon within the Himura. For example, if a Himura has the white tiger demon within them their sealer is a Hyuuga because the Hyuuga clan started with the white tiger demon. Are you with me so far?"
Naruto and Sakura nodded hanging off every word he said so Kakashi looked over at Sasuke, who also surprisingly looked interested in the conversation and he nodded as well.
"Alright then . . . It was considered an honor to be a sealer because the sealer gained a lot by being the Himura's sealer but that's not important to discuss right now. We'll start with Hikari and her clan. Hikari is the last of her clan, her mother being killed years ago and that makes things very difficult because like the Hyuuga clan and the Uchiha clan the Himura clan also has a bloodline limit that has to do with the eyes. It is called the marougan and it is one of the most impressive bloodlines I've ever seen. Himura's have a special training method that enables them to gain their bloodline at a very early age. The problem for Hikari is that this training was a secret from everyone outside the Himura clan and since they have all died Hikari has no one to teach her. That is why Hikari is not advancing at the fast rate she is suppose to, if she were a regular Himura she would most likely be training to become a jounin by now or maybe she would already be a jounin."
"Wow!"
"What does the marougan do exactly, Kakashi-sensei?"
"The marougan is a bloodline limit that is similar in a sense to my sharingan. While the sharingan can copy any jutsu it can not copy other bloodlines limit. The marougan however can copy other bloodline limits not regular jutsu. There is a drawback to the marougan; their ability to copy bloodline limits are restricted."
"What do you mean restricted?" Naruto asked, his face scrunching up in confusion.
"Let me give you an example. Let's say a Himura were to fight a Hyuuga. In the fight they would be able to use the Hyuuga bloodline limit against the Hyuuga. After fighting the Hyuuga they can still use the Hyuuga bloodline limit. Twenty-four hours later though they will not be able to use the bloodline limit unless they encounter another Hyuuga. So you see a Himura can only use another clan's bloodline limit for twenty four hours unless they make a blood pact with someone from the clan then they may use the bloodline limit at anytime."
"Wow, that's amazing. Hikari will be able to do that? Does she have her bloodline limit yet, Sensei?" Sakura asked, happy to be learning something that not many knew about though a little upset that Hikari might impress Sasuke with her skills.
"She will but she hasn't gained her marougan yet since she has no one to teach her how to train the Himura way. Instead she has been under the training of her guardian, Rye Hyuuga so she knows the fighting techniques of a Hyuuga which doesn't help her much since she isn't one."
"Doesn't the Himura clan have records on their training methods?" Sasuke asked, getting more into the conversation.
"Yes but the training books are hidden away in their compound somewhere and no one knows where to find them." Kakashi answered, hoping that he wouldn't have to indulge anymore information.
"Sensei, I understand how this is all important but I don't see how this has to do with why Hikari hasn't waken up yet." Sakura frowned, confusion etched across her face.
Kakashi gave the genin a cheery smile and continued. "Like I said Hikari has had her seal removed several times but the first time she had seal removed the ANBU had to move fast. There would only be so long before Hikari would die and the demon would have control of her body. The ANBU team that found Hikari and her kidnappers when she first lost her seal was trying to dispose of the kidnappers quickly and in the process the blood they had was destroyed."
"Blood? What are you talking about? I'm confused!" Naruto whined.
"Years back the Hokage started to notice that the Himura clan was slowly dying out, he as well as the Himura clan took precautions to make sure that they could have a chance of rebuilding the declining clan. One of the precautions was that whenever a Himura was reported missing the ANBU would be sent out immediately and they would each have two vials of blood from the clan that certain Himura needed in case they came too late. That way they wouldn't have to worry about having a member of a certain clan in each team."
"So how did Hikari get her seal redone?" Sakura asked curiously.
"One of the members of the ANBU team happened to be from the clan she needed blood from so he became her sealer. The Hokage decided it was best that not many know about the fact that Hikari's seal had been removed since it would cause alarm and it would raise questions on who her sealer was. We didn't want kidnappers to find out who her sealer was either otherwise they might threaten family of the sealer to get Hikari. So it was kept a secret from everyone even the clan."
"What clan was it? Come on, tell us Sensei!" Naruto begged, listening in excitement.
Kakashi ignored the question and continued, "Her sealer must have made sure she wouldn't wake up for a long period of time so that Hikari wouldn't have to go through all the painful aftereffects of having her demon removed. That is why she hasn't awoken yet."
The way Kakashi's tone changed at the moment he mentioned Hikari's sealer didn't go unnoticed by his students who looked at their teacher in confusion.
"Sensei, is that a problem? I mean, the way you sounded just now when you were telling us about Hikari's sealer . . . it sounded like you aren't happy that her sealer helped her."
Kakashi debated over whether or not to say more but knew in the long run what was best. "Her sealer seems to generally care about Hikari's well being, protecting her even when he has been away from the village for a long time . . . he always comes back to save her. He saved Hikari once again I suppose. He doesn't seem to like people harming her, maybe he sees her as his property I am not sure but. . ."
Naruto grinned like an idiot, "So Hikari's sealer has a crush on her? Who is he? Is he strong?"
"But . . . he is a missing ninja, like Zabuza, a criminal that the ANBU are searching for."
"WHAT! Hikari got saved by someone like Zabuza!"
"Lower your voice Naruto. Yes, Hikari's sealer is an enemy of the village and we have tried to find him but haven't had much luck. He is a threat and may kill her once she no longer serves a purpose to him."
"WHA-! B-b-b-but he can't! I'll help protect Hikari and prove I am a great ninja! Believe it!" Naruto declared, standing up and grinning with determination and pride.
"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke muttered.
"What did you-"
"I think that's enough for tonight. We have a long day tomorrow. Everyone to bed!" Kakashi cut in, a cheerful smile hidden under his mask.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes, Sakura?"
"What is Hikari's demon? What clan does her sealer come from? You never told us." Sakura asked curiously, making Sasuke and Naruto turn towards their sensei for the answer.
"Well, I believe that is something you would have to ask Hikari."
"It's the bat demon . . ." a voice said, making the three genin and Kakashi turn to see Hikari standing at the door to the hallway, blind grey eyes staring at them or more likely through them.
"Hikari, you're alive!" Naruto cheered.
"Your eyes . . ." Sakura whispered, causing Hikari to blink unconsciously.
"You're blind." Sasuke stated.
"What! Sensei, help her." Naruto exclaimed.
"She's been blind the whole time, Naruto. Since she was six years old to be exact. Hikari, are you alright?"
Hikari closed her eyes and turned her back on them, "I'm fine, Sensei. . . Sakura, you asked what my demon is and what clan my sealer comes from. I appreciate the help in explaining everything, Sensei . . . but I am the one that should have told them. You see, Kakashi-sensei was right about all that stuff, I will probably only live to see the age of eighteen tops."
"What! Hikari, don't worry. I'll protect you from your sealer. Believe it!" Naruto declared.
Hikari couldn't help but smile though her team could not see it, "That's sweet Naruto but my sealer isn't the one that I am afraid will kill me. He's the one keeping me alive at the moment. It's the demon that will kill me. The bat demon . . ."
Hikari wrapped her arms around herself, fearing the worst as she uttered her next words.
". . . The bat demon of the Uchiha clan."
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REVIEW! If I get enough reviews I will update on August 29, my birthday. :-)
AN1: I mentioned my OC Kane in this chapter. He isn't really the partner of Zabuza but rather another ninja that was paid by Gato. There will be more on him in the next chapter plus and interesting encounter between him, Hikari, and Sasuke.