A/N: hey guys! so the end bit of this was an idea from FOREVER ago and im sure ur getting sick of canon arcs, so i did this.
also, since it's already written, expect another update soon. ill give it two weeks or so.
anyway, thanks to my reviewers and followers. i hope you like this extra long chapter!
xoxo, Lala
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He didn't survive his battle.
As the entire shinobi strength left in the village prepared for the Sandaime Hokage's funeral, I held the mourning clothes in my fingers, unable to let his death sink in.
I could still hear his voice, telling me that he believed in me; that I was strong. Now he was gone, and nothing could be done about that.
I knew deep down that if he were still alive, we would be telling me the same thing, and I knew that I would believe him just the same as well. But what hurt the most was the fact that someday, my future children would never hear his words of wisdom or listen to his vague yet beautiful poetry. They would listen to some other Hokage, and the message would be completely different from them.
I slid on the black skirt and long shirt, and tied my regulation headband around my forehead. I rarely wore it, but I wasn't allowed to wear my boots.
I grabbed the pair of black sandals from beside my door and made out to the door to the apartment, my Kaa-san waiting emotionlessly for me.
"Kaa-san," I greeted, just as emotionless.
We parted ways at my training ground, where my similarly clad team was waiting. With dispassionate faces, we walked to the tower, where the funeral was being held.
We were each given a white flower by Mei-sensei, to place at the picture of the Hokage.
The truth was that every single person in this village had some matter of memory with Sandaime. He took it upon himself to be a father, grandfather, and friend to every person in Konoha. So in reality, I had vague memories of picking flowers and giving them to him with Sakura and Ino; playing with him on occasion with Neji, Izumi, and Sunai as just small children. We would miss him; especially those close to him.
I glanced at Naruto, who was gazing down at a sobbing Konohamaru. Iruka-sensei was trying to comfort him, but couldn't find the words. Apparently, neither could Naruto, because he just stayed silent and placed his flower.
Naruto was one of those special few to Sandaime. I wouldn't blame Naruto for grieving the Hokage's loss; the two were much closer than I could imagine.
"Iruka-sensei…" the blonde finally spoke. "Why do people risk their lives for each other?"
It was a justified question, I suppose. I'd never thought about it before, but we always say that we would give our lives for each other, not knowing why we think that way. It was a natural part of life. I turned my head just the tiniest bit to hear Iruka's reply.
Konohamaru had stopped crying, now just staring sadly at the ground. Iruka blinked and turned is head toward Sandaime's photo. "When one person dies, he disappears; along with his past, present, and future. Many people die in missions and wars. They die easily and in surprisingly simple ways. Hayate was one of them," Iruka-sensei seemed to direct that bit away from us. I barely recognized the name as the proctor for the preliminary rounds for the Chuunin exams.
"Those who die have goals and dreams," Iruka continued. "But everyone has something as important as those. Parents," I thought of Kaa-san and my lips twitched, "siblings, friends," I thought of Izumi and Sunai and Neji and all my other friends, and my smile grew, "lovers, people who are important to you," I moved my eyes back over to the Hokage's picture. "They trust and help each other. The bond between your important people since birth, and the string that binds them grows thicker and thicker as time passes. It's beyond reason. Those bound to you by that string will do that."
I turned to see every single person I'd graduated with, plus Neji's team and several others, were listening intently. Neji looked up and caught my eye. I smiled just a little and he nodded back at me. "Because it's important," Iruka finished. I heard Naruto's faint and rough reply, and I managed to exchange sad glances with Izumi and Sunai as well. I turned back around to the picture of the man we all looked up to as Naruto said, "But… it's painful when someone dies."
I couldn't have said it better myself. I felt empty and a little sick. I felt like I had lost a very close family member.
"Sandaime didn't die for nothing," Kakashi-sensei told Naruto. "He left something very important in all of us. You'll find out eventually." And the silver-haired jounin left it at that. I felt too drained of emotion to respond.
"The rain stopped," I heard Sakura tell Sasuke.
I looked at the sky. I hadn't even noticed that it had been raining.
The clouds slowly moved away from the sun, somehow telling each and every one of us that Sandaime was watching over us, and it would be all right.
As I walked with Neji back to the Hyuga compound, I couldn't help but smile.
"What are you grinning about?" Neji asked in an almost irritated tone.
"Well, whenever Sandaime talked to us, the conversation always turned around to how much he loved this village," I stopped and looked at the now-clear sky. "When we get older, it'll be our job to protect what he wanted to protect. It's our job to carry out his wishes from here on out, isn't it?"
When I looked back at Neji, he was looking at me like I had suddenly turned fifty.
"What?"
"Nothing…" he turned back to the road and kept walking.
"Oi, Neji-kun!" I followed him quickly. "What do you mean, 'nothing?'"
"I mean nothing."
"Aw, Neji-kun…" I whined and we argued just a little as we approached home.
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I jumped up, throwing one knife at the dummy as I was upside down and another as I faced forward again. In a split second I tossed shuriken at three other targets and cut the 'throat' of the final one.
Panting, I looked at my results.
Most of the kunai had almost hit the bulls-eye, and the shuriken were right on target. I wiped my forehead, having repeated this motion about two million times.
"Maybe that's enough…" I said to myself.
Mei-sensei was off in the village doing basic reconstruction tasks, but wouldn't let us slack off on our training. She'd ordered us to train solo, because we knew our weaknesses better than anyone else. I had been training since early this morning, because the days were getting hotter. It was almost noon, and I was ready for lunch. I pulled my weapons out of the dummies and stored them, already heading toward home.
"Kaa-san! I'm home!" I called into the house.
"Welcome home, Aiji!" my mother called her nickname back at me from somewhere within the house.
"Do have any cold food?" I asked, entering the kitchen.
"We have chilled onigiri and you could ice some milk tea if you want," she informed me as she passed the doorway to the kitchen, carrying a large box. "Aside from that, we have leftover miso and some… noodles of some kind," her voice strained at the end, like she was putting down the box.
"Arigato," I muttered, probing the fridge. "What's in the box, Kaa-san?" I asked as the stove heated up.
"I'm not sure yet. Probably just old junk."
"Isn't that my old academy outfit?" I gasped, taking out a clear bag with the clothes inside and examined it.
"Hey, it is."
"You kept it?" I chuckled. The old black t-shirt and green short brought back old memories. "This was from preschool."
"I guess I did. Oh look, a scrapbook," she pulled out a thin, obviously incomplete book that said 'MEMORIES' across the front.
"Oh Kami-sama. I'm going back to the kitchen," I made a run for it to the stove where the miso was finally heating.
"You don't want to see?"
"Not in the slightest. Babies are weird," I shivered.
"You won't think that when you have and Aiji of your own," I heard the smile in her voice.
I made a gagging sound loud enough for her to hear. "They're too wrinkly. It kind of creepy." I took the warm miso off the stove and poured it into a bowl. I grabbed a couple onigiri and sat at the table to eat.
After I finished my meal, I said good-bye to my mother and ran out the front door. My destination was the forest, where training stumps were always empty. My taijutsu had always been lousy; I figured I should practice for a while.
"Oh, Sora-san!" I heard someone say my name far behind me. I turned to see Shikamaru's team walking toward me together.
"Hey Chouji-kun," I smiled at the boy who had said my name. "Ino-san, Shikamaru-kun," I greeted.
"Hey," Shikamaru grunted.
"Sora-san, Iruka-sensei wanted to see you," Chouji informed me.
"Really? For what?"
"A mission. Iruka-sensei's in charge of missions you know," Ino said matter-of-factly.
"Cool. I'll head there now. Thanks guys," I began walking in the direction of the tower.
"Oh, and he wanted Neji-san there too," Ino called after me.
"Arigato," I waved behind me.
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"Hey, Neji-kun!" I called to him from a tree just outside the danger zone. "Iruka-sensei wants to meet with us!"
"Is there a mission?" he landed on the branch with me. I glanced at him.
"Duh, Mr. Genius. The guy in charge of missions wants to meet with us; what do you think he wants?" I stuck my tongue out at him. His eyes rolled.
"Who else is coming?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. Let's go," I gestured to the way I'd come.
"Alright. Tenten, Lee!" he called to his teammates and they stopped sparring to look at him. "I'm going on a mission!"
"'Kay! Bye!" Tenten waved and they returned to their fight.
"Let's go," he said and we jumped away.
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"What kind of mission do you think it is?" I wondered aloud.
"Probably a simple one. We are still just genin."
"True, but you proved to be awesome in the Chuunin Exams, and I doubt that he would be uninformed about it," I replied, a thoughtful finger on my chin.
"Let's just find out," we stopped in front of the right office. Neji knocked.
"Come in!" a man's hard voice came from inside.
We opened the door and walked in.
"Hello, Sukai-san, Hyuga-san," Iruka-sensei greeted formally.
"Just Sora, Sensei," I bowed respectfully.
"Okay, Sora. Nice to see you," he smiled. I studied his face. He had a light tan from hard fieldwork, and a scarred face. His light brown hair was tied into a ponytail akin to Shikamaru's and his stray bangs hung over his dark eyes. Suddenly, I found myself liking this woman.
"What's our mission, Iruka-sensei?" Neji asked, blinking me out of my moment. Apparently, he didn't find this moment any different than any other mission. I glared at him. He evidently sensed my look and I saw his lips purse, a smile tugging at the corners. Iruka noticed too.
"We're still waiting on the other two members. Sit tight," she replied with a grin. I almost flinched, knowing his mood swings pretty well from being in Naruto's class.
"All right, then," Neji closed his eyes and crossed his arms. I noticed Iruka-sensei sizing him up and I looked at him, trying to portray with just my eyes that he was harmless, he really was. He actually seemed to kind of understand.
A knock on the door. "Enter," Iruka called stiffly.
In walked another genin and a jounin sensei: Kiba and Kurenai.
"Hey! It's Sora!" Kiba waved. He saw Neji. A strange look passed his eyes.
"Hey, Kiba-kun! Hello, Kurenai-sensei," I smiled in greeting. Well, whatever. Their business is theirs, not mine.
"Good, you're all acquainted," he rested his crossed arms on his desk and kept a straight, serious face.
"This is a pretty simple mission," he started in a stern voice. Although, I got the vivid feeling that his voice could change into something much worse. "You are to escort an expensive artifact. It's not an incredibly long mission, maybe a week or two, but there are some bigger dangers."
"Bandits," Kiba assumed.
"Exactly. These bandits are well versed in ninjutsu, so the client requested help. This is a c-rank mission. Be careful."
"Hai," we all said together.
"Alright! Kurenai-san will be this team's captain. Kurenai-san, here is the mission scroll. Dismissed," Iruka waved his hand, sifting through more papers on his desk and saying something to a messenger.
We hurriedly exited the office and Kurenai told us to be ready by tomorrow morning at around dawn, and to get some sleep. Neji and I nodded our assent and flashed away toward the Hyuga estate. Once we reached the main door, we removed our shoes.
"Later, Neji-kun!" I waved and padded to my room in a hurry.
"Sora, what's happening with your mission?" my mom, Tsuki Hyuga, asked as soon as I came in. I paused in my rush to tell her the brief explanation. She nodded and shooed me to my room to get ready; she had dinner in the oven and she had a meeting to go to as well. I smiled happily and went to my room.
Most Hyuga rooms were alike. I wasn't much of an exception, but I did adjust a couple things. Instead of just a few green banners, I had both green and blue, the green with a Hyuga symbol on it and the blue with the Sukai crest: a pearl-white feather. Both hung over my headboard, and I had one more of each, hanging above my desk and above my door.
I went to my dresser. I shuffled through my clothes and brought out a couple different things: two more sets of my ninja uniform—a blue tank top with a Sukai crest on the back, a short black skirt, and black leggings, as well as a t-shirt and shorts, plus my only pair of blue regulation genin sandals. I strategically folded my clothes so they'd fit into my backpack and added some ration bars to the pile. Then I placed in a couple rolls of bandages and clipped the bag shut. I placed it next to my bed and started the annoying process of putting together my makeshift med-pack.
I didn't believe a genin should have the double sized hip pouch. I thought that awesome accessory should be used for real mednins, chuunin or higher. So I put needles and a half-used package of sutures into a small hip pouch and a matchbook to sterilize the needles. In that almost full pouch, I added a hand towel and buttoned it.
I prepared my kunai pouch and holster, putting in a basic amount, plus a small scroll that I could summon more from. I put an open, plastic-covered tube of shuriken inside as well and sealed it. I was balancing the pouch on top of my backpack when Mom called me to the kitchen.
"Coming!" I yelled back. I stood up again and trotted to the kitchen. "Mom, do you think I could go get Neji? I'm sure he would love to come over here," I asked.
"Sure, sure. Hurry back," she muttered, putting food on the table.
"Okay!" I hurried to the door and used chakra to build my speed. I landed in front of Neji's door and waited for him to answer it. I knew he would sense my chakra.
"What is it?" he asked as he opened the door to his room.
"You want to eat with us? If you're done packing, that is," I added.
"Of course. Let's go," he actually looked kind of excited. I didn't blame him, though. Tsuki was known among my friends as a spectacular cook. No one, and I mean no one refused a dinner made by her.
"C'mon," I ran back to my house with him following behind. I felt like a little kid. We'd done this almost every night after Neji's father died. I was fairly certain that he'd gotten used to every nook and cranny of my house. Then, when we became ninja, every time we went on a long mission, there was an unspoken rule that he would eat at my house. It had been that way for a while.
"Neji-chan, Sora-chan!" Tsuki smiled at us as we entered, and I couldn't help it, I cracked up. Just hearing my mother calling Neji Neji-chan made my whole day. Neji glared at me and stepped up toward the table.
"Aw, c'mon Neji-kun! You know I'm kidding," I giggled.
"Hn."
I sighed. "Back to grunting, eh? Well, then," I crossed my arms in mock defiance. He rolled his eyes at me and sat down at the table.
"Itatakimas," we all said, and started to eat. We ate fairly quickly. Neji and I needed to get some sleep and Mom had some branch family meeting that night.
"I'm going now," Neji said at the door.
"Bye, Neji-kun!" I waved at him from the kitchen sink where I was washing dishes. "See you tomorrow morning, bright and early!"
"Aa. Bye, Sora-chan; bye, Tsuki-san. Dinner was delicious," and he left.
"I'm glad he's doing all right," Mom said.
"Me, too. After being beaten by Naruto-kun, he's changed a lot. He's better now."
"That's right. He was defeated by the Ky-" she glanced at me, "Uzumaki kid. How could I forget?" she grumbled his name grudgingly.
"Stop doing that, why do you hate Naruto-kun so much?" I stared her down. She returned it evenly, analyzing me. Then she turned and walked to the door.
"Get some sleep, dear. And leave me a note when you leave tomorrow."
"Hai," I muttered after she left.
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I woke up to my alarm clock blearing in my ear. I shuffled my hand around the nightstand for the device and I growled when I accidentally knocked it over.
"Great. Now I actually have to get up."
The clock still ringing, I sat up on the bed and stared at it. With a defeated grumble, I put my bare feet on the floor and picked it up, turning it off and putting back where it had been.
The house was utterly silent. Mom was probably in her room asleep and nothing else was running. I yawned and headed for my dresser.
I pulled out a clean set of ninja clothes, heading for the bathroom and a nice, hot shower. After a quick shower I put on my clothes and headed for the kitchen for a rice ball and maybe something sweet.
I ate quickly and went back to my room. I shrugged on my pack and clipped my pouches to my hip. I wrote a note to Mom before leaving and walked to Neji's room, hoping to walk with him. But when I got there, he was long gone.
"Probably off to train. Oh, well. I'll see him later," I said to myself.
"Sora-san?" I heard a meek voice ask.
"Oh! Hinata-sama! Good morning!" I bowed.
"P-please don't c-call me that, S-Sora-san," she looked away.
"If you would like. Then would you just call me Sora?" I asked, smiling.
"S-Sure."
"Thank you. Actually, Hinata, I was just heading out. Have a good time with everyone while I'm gone." Something occurred to me. "That's right, you only have Shino-san, huh? Gosh, I feel like I'm stealing your team."
"D-don't worry about it," she replied with a smile. "It's nice to get a break."
I bowed again. "It was nice to see you, Hinata. I'll see you later!" I waved as I leapt away.
I reached the gates about 20 minutes early. No one else was there yet, although Neji would probably be there soon.
"Sukai-san! How are you?" Kotetsu greeted.
"Hello, Kotetsu-san. I've been well! How about you two?" I addressed both Kotetsu and Izumo.
"We've been just fine, Sukai-san," Izumo smiled a reply.
"That's great!"
"Sora-chan," I heard Neji behind me suddenly. I stuttered and fell over.
"Neji-kun!" I whined.
"Sorry."
"Mleh," I poked my tongue at him and he smirked and helped me up.
"Sora, Neji," Kurenai showed up next, almost immediately followed by Kiba and Akamaru. We said good-bye to the pair of guards and grouped next to the gate.
"Alright. Here's what's happening. We are travelling to the border of the land of Tea, picking up an item of significance, and bringing it deeper into Tea Country. There will be someone with the item, who is under protection as well."
"Hai," we replied.
"Alright. I'm going to push you hard. We'll stop twice: when we get there and once before that. Be ready for that."
I smirked and saw Neji purse his lips too. Obviously, Kurenai didn't know Mei or Gai.
"Let's go," we all said in unison and jumped into the trees.
The trip wasn't that bad. Mei-sensei had pushed us much further in the past, and Neji was just as educated in that sense. It was Kiba that had issues. When we took our break, it took Neji and myself maybe a minute to regain our breath. But Kiba had taken a good ten minutes to breathe normally. I offered to help him, but he shook me off. Kurenai had a bit of a problem too, but she hid it better than Kiba. After our break, we set off, a little slower, and reach our halfway point by nightfall.
"I'll set up a fire," Kiba told us, probably not wanting to show us his panting.
"Alright. I'll give everyone a ration bar," I told Kurenai and Neji after he left.
"Thanks," Kurenai replied.
I handed them a hard bar and we chewed on them while Kiba was gone. When he returned, we helped him start the fire and I gave him the disgusting food, too.
"Okay. We'll keep this pace tomorrow as well. Maybe a bit slower, actually. We covered a lot of ground today." We nodded.
"Let's get some sleep. We have lots of running again tomorrow."
"Hai, sensei."
I lay down under my blanket facing the fire. I always had trouble sleeping during missions. It was always so awkward, especially being the only girl. But tonight, I wasn't all that worried. I trusted my comrades and loved both of them dearly.
I glanced over at Kiba and Akamaru. He had been Sunai's best friend for a long time. They had always been close, so naturally I got close to him as well. Not to mention he was Hinata's teammate, so I came in contact with him a lot. I turned my head to Neji. Of course I loved Neji. As a dear friend, and as someone I could trust with my life. I doubted he would ever understand how much I loved him, but it didn't really matter.
The last thing I knew, I was falling into darkness with a smile on my face.
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A/N: R&R! seriously, tell me if you want other perspectives. i feel like this story is going downhill :(