Hitomi had enough control over her chakra, and reserves large enough, to be able to travel at a decent speed. It took her a few days to master running in the trees, as per Konoha's fashion, but she quickly got the hang of it and chased after Ensui, who took advantage of those last few days together to ensure she was as sharp as possible. Without admitting it, he took slight detours on their way, insisting to stop in inns every night, so that their time together would stretch even a little bit.

Hitomi saw through this and didn't hold it against him. She had the same feeling, the same need, and the way Ensui managed it for both of them was fine by her. It was easier that way, after all. While travelling, he quizzed her on her knowledge and told her about the training he had planned for her while she was in the Academy. Since they would have access to their village's resources, it could include advanced chemistry, and Hitomi couldn't wait. She now had a soft spot for everything that exploded, burned, singed and smoked.

And finally, they reached their destination. The huge doors of Konoha stood before them. His hand on his student's shoulder, Ensui stopped her before they could enter the village properly.

"How are your meridians?"

The tendrils of light hadn't spaced from their cage in weeks, and he knew that. It was his last method to delay the inevitable. Obediently, the little girl closed her eyes and glanced at the pillar and the cage in the midst of her mind. On the face of the pillar, the cat and the deer stared at each other, and a long tendril of blue light slithered at her feet until it was lost in the darkness. She slipped her fingers through the cage's bars, stroked a tendril of night and took a deep breath while analyzing the informations it transmitted to her on nearby ninjas.

"Everything is fine, shishou."

He gave a satisfied nod and authorized her to go through the village doors with a slight push. While she looked around in curiosity, he signed the register with the guard shinobi. When she had left, over a year and a half ago, Hitomi was in too much pain to really pay attention to her surroundings. She was fine this time and she looked eagerly and took note of everything that was around her.

A few minutes later, she was walking towards Nara territory with her master. The only thing that betrayed their bond was the way they walked; the youngest was slightly behind. It was so subtle that only high-rank ninjas or ninjas that had had a master too would be able to understand what their discreet glances meant. Some Jōnins stopped to greet Ensui with a nod, but he was obviously not popular enough for them to actually say a few words. Noticing that, Hitomi gritted her teeth. Apparently, her master was a hero solely in the midst of his clan.

Finally, they arrived in front of her house, near the clan borders. Checking her cage, Hitomi knew that her mother was inside. She silently opened the door and took off her shoes. Her slippers were still there but seemed so tiny... She went bare feet, drinking in the environment she had dearly missed, deep down.

Her mother as in the kitchen washing dishes. She could see her back, her long hair flowing freely to the small of her back, and she had a plate between her hands. Suddenly, it was too much for Hitomi, the emotions in her throat got bigger and bigger and she burst into tears.

"Mummy!"

She rushed to her mother in a crash of broken china, landing in her arms after a few steps. Her discreet perfume overwhelmed her and she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. She had walked on a sharp shard of the plate but she didn't care; she knew Ensui would fix it effortlessly. All her strength was focused on hugging her mother as hard as she could, to fill the hole she hadn't even known she had in her heart.

Later, the man, the woman and the child were sitting in the living room. Ensui had claimed the couch to heal Hitomi's wounded foot after her tears had dried up. He had pretended to be unaware of the fact that Kurenai was crying too since he remembered her as a modest woman concerning her feelings. Holding his apprentice's foot between his hands, the greenish medical chakra flowing between his fingers, he listened absently to their conversation.

"And that's how I discovered that we can find water in cacti. Can you imagine, Mum? If I have to go to a desert again, I'll never be thirsty!"

Both adults laughed at the same time, moved by her candour. They were both trained ninjas, used to fulfil missions everywhere in the world for the sake of their village, but Hitomi's innocence was a blessing to them, putting all their knowledge back into perspective, reminding them how extraordinary and precious their knowledge could be.

The rest of the day was wonderful. Ensui left them after a few hours, and mother and daughter worked on reinstalling the youngest in her day-to-day environment. All of her clothes were now too small for her, and the few travel clothes she had was not a suitable option. It took them more than an hour to fold everything and store it inside boxes. Kurenai would donate the clothes to the village's orphanage in a few days.

And it was time for Hitomi to discover what normal life was in Konoha. For the first time, she was allowed to go with her mother in town, outside the clan territory, to buy her clothes. Before her journey, she hadn't been able to go because of her oversensitive meridians and all the foreign chakra that attacked her system. Now, she wasn't bothered in the slightest. She was able to discover the streets Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji had said so much about, to wander peacefully among ninjas and passerby's, without experiencing any pain.

With her mother's benediction, the little girl chose her own clothes. She liked different shades of grey and discreet notes of red. She chose two kimono and a yukata but besides that, she focused on practical clothes for the Academy. After all, school started in only two months... She really couldn't wait.

They had dinner at Shikaku's and Yoshino's house that evening. Shikamaru had a surprising jolt of energy when he saw his cousin at the door and hugged her so tight it hurt a little bit. She couldn't have cared less. He had grown a lot too, and he was almost two inches taller than her. He seemed to have favoured his father on that side since he was tall and slim just like him, but on his face, there was a softness that belonged to Yoshino.

During the meal, she good-naturedly recounted her adventures again. She didn't really share a lot of details about Gaara but made a duty to detail everything else, especially things Shikamaru didn't know about. His eyes were wide with wonder when she talked about the fennec couple she had met during their second travel through the desert, and he wanted to hear everything about Suna's caravan's members.

She had missed him so, so much.

Their evening together dragged on late, with the two children starting a shōgi tournament to try their respective styles that had grown a lot during the last year and a half. Shikamaru had made a lot of progress, and his style now looked a lot like his father's, but Hitomi was no dead weight either since she had played Ensui almost once a day - and more than that when they had been in Suna.

Before she fell asleep, she opened her notebook and wrote to Gaara.

Dear Gaara,

I'm delighted that we're going to start the Academy at the same time. We will be able to compare classmates and teachers if you'd like. Today, I went back to Konoha. It's weird, after being on the road for so long. My mother has had to buy a new wardrobe for me — apparently, I've grown up!

I understand that it's difficult for you to be accepted by your siblings. I think they're more familiar with the villager's gossip about you than with you as a person. Show them the wonderful boy you have been with me. You will win them over, especially Temari, if everything you're telling me is true. They will be your best allies, one day, and you will need allies, you know that. Of course, you can still count on me, but I'm too far to be able to help you if something serious and important happened to you. I'd feel more at ease if I knew you have proper allies in Suna.

For lunch, my mother took me to eat gyōza outside — outside my clan's territory. It was my first time in the rest of the village without a very good reason. Tomorrow, my cousin Shikamaru will show me around the places I don't know yet. Gyōzas, Gaara... I absolutely have to take you to eat some if you come to Konoha someday. It's absolutely delicious.

I hope you're all right, Gaara. Please take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Love from,

Hitomi Yūhi.

After writing her little letter, the child infused the page she had written on with chakra to send the letter to its twin. She was exhausted, but it was healthy fatigue, caused by emotions that soothed her soul. In the guest room, right next to Shikamaru's, she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, incredibly tired.

The next morning, Shikamaru held his promise from the previous day. Konoha was gorgeous, shining like a gem under the laughing rays of the sun, and Hitomi was delighted to be finally able to discover her village's secrets, the places where children gathered to play ninja, and where their parents waited for them discussing politics and their past missions. Children here had a lot of freedom. In the Previous World, nobody would have thought to leave five or six years old children to wander around unwatched. But cars weren't a thing here — even horses were a rare occurrence, sign of nobleness — and security was very tight, with police and General Forces, composed of Genin that hadn't managed to pass their Jōnin-sensei's test when graduating from the Academy. Those Genin weren't likely to be promoted one day.

Once she was alone with her cousin, Hitomi gifted him with one of the communicating notebooks she had made when she had left Suna. He was astounded by the possibilities this new way of communicating offered, trying to convince his elder to sell the concept to the Research and Development department of Konoha. She had thought about this at length, but the notebooks weren't exactly practical for ninjas on a mission. She had been thinking for a few weeks about another form of communication that would use seals as well, but she had yet to find the perfect idea.

Then, she showed him the other things she had learned. He looked at her tantō respectfully but refused to take it in hand. While Hitomi was absolutely made for a frontline position in a fight, Shikamaru was definitely not. He would be far more efficient if he was hidden behind the frontline. Most children didn't think about that at his age, but he was a Nara, and he had been trained in strategy virtually in the crib. Thus, he was extremely interested in Hitomi's new field control skills. The flash bombs she had learned how to make recently would be particularly useful for him since he would be able to stretch his shadow for a second. A second was enough. Once the connection was made, it was only broken by lack of chakra or a physical barrier, like a Doton wall surging from the ground.

Both children talked about their Academy strategy while catching up. Most aspiring ninjas shared a goal: to do their best. But Naras didn't raise their children like everyone else, it was well known. Shikamaru, for example, had decided to stay average during all of his education. That asked for intelligence, patience and a calculation ability that was beyond some Chūnins, and even more so since he would pretend it was not on purpose. If things happened as they had in canon, he would succeed and his teachers would never suspect a thing.

Hitomi's problem was different. She was a clan heiress and thus she would probably be part of one of the three teams selected to keep their Jōnin-sensei after the test no one talked about before it was right in front of them. If she guessed correctly and eliminated the right people, she would probably take Sakura's spot and thus she would make sure the civilian child had a backup plan should that happen. Besides, she didn't' really want to only aim for Best Rookie among the kunoichis. It would be easy concerning the paper tests, but the Best Kunoichi title, as opposed to Best Rookie (which was always awarded to boys), didn't come with any glory. She had to leave her mark on her teachers and to do that, the only way was to shine in practical tests. She had to be where she wasn't expected, and push herself forward every day without showing any sign of weariness. Fortunately, it was what Ensui had expected of her those last eighteen months.

She shared this reflexion with Shikamaru. He would be her best ally in the Academy, after all. He had been able to meet the other children beyond the clan territory since he was four, and she had not had this possibility. She knew Chōji and Ino and her own clan and that was it. But thanks to her cousin's help and some of her plans, she hoped it would change for the best.

But then she had yet another problem. She wasn't really gifted with direct socialization. In her first life, she had been discreet and taciturn and hadn't hesitated to throw off people who wanted to talk to her. She had been lonely and distrustful because of unpleasant events during her childhood. The fact that she had not been bullied since her rebirth would not magically make her socially apt and good at making friends. She didn't know if she would be able to befriend anyone besides the Nara, that were used to particular souls, Ino, who was terribly chatty and amiable, and Chōji, who liked everyone without any reserve or hesitation.

But she still had two months to prepare for that. When time would come, she would be as ready as she could, and do her best to reach her goals. It had to be enough; she couldn't even think about failing.

Thank you so much, from both Zachanariel and me, for your continued support! And remember, reviews are a balm on our distressed souls.