Hanzô National Academy, May, morning
Three years already.
Three years Ikaruga and Katsuragi were studying, training, and fighting for this day.
Three years, they smiled, sweat, and cried with their friends.
But now, it's just the two of them, sitting next to each other, politely waiting.
"I'm coming…"
A male voice solemnly says before entering the room.
Kiriya the teacher is walking to his makura, neither Ikaruga nor Katsuragi look at him.
Kiriya sits down, in his hands there's a small box which he delicately puts down right in front of them. The teacher then takes a huge breath and slowly opens the box.
He takes two scrolls out of the box, two scrolls symbolizing the success of his two students, and the end of their journey as shinobi students.
Kiriya then stands up, then walks to Ikaruga.
"Congratulations, Ikaruga" he says, smiling.
The class rep shyly smiles in return, and gently takes her graduation scroll while bowing.
"I am the one who should thank you for all you taught me, master Kiriya" Ikaruga says in return, blushing a little. Katsuragi can't help but giggle a little by seeing her closest comrade acting so shy.
But Kiriya turns to the blond-haired girl, walking to her and offering her scroll to her.
"Congratulations, Katsuragi" he tells his other student, exactly like he did with Ikaruga.
Katsuragi proudly takes the scroll.
"Thank ya, Master Kiriya!"
She says this with a victorious face, Ikaruga can't help but sigh at her friend's nonchalant attitude.
"You can leave now, you have three hours before we go to our superiors' quarters", Kiriya tells his now former students by smiling.
"Yes, sir!" the two girls said in unison.
One hour later, Hanzo's roof
The six girls are eating lunch together to celebrate their oldest members' graduation.
Ramen and tea, their respective favorite food.
It was supposed to be a wholesome moment… But it's not.
"Kat! Stop this!"
Asuka screams, her breasts assaulted by Katsuragi.
"Come on, Asuka! It's our last day together! Plus, Ayame needs to learn more about sexual harassment!", Katsuragi says while smirking.
"That's right!" Ayame says, staring at the two girls with amazed eyes.
Their three other friends, Ikaruga, Yagyû, and Hibari, all sigh. Even if they won't miss this show, it still feels weird to know they won't be able to see it anymore.
"Anyway, congratulations, Ikaruga!" Hibari says in a cheerful voice.
"Congratulations." Yagyû also says, smiling too.
"Thank you, I wish you luck for your future graduation" Ikaruga answers, cheerfully smiling.
Hibari is still smiling, but Yagyû is not. Ikaruga's words made her realize that, one day, she'll have to say goodbye to this school too… Which also means she'll have to say goodbye to Hibari.
"Oh! I forgot to ask… what do you two plan to do?". Ayame asks both Katsuragi and Ikaruga.
Astonished by this question, Katsuragi stops her groping, and Asuka uses this opportunity to free herself and moves away from Katsuragi.
"You mean, since we're official shinobi now?", Katsuragi asks.
"Of course!", Ayame enthusiastically answers.
In fact, everyone there would like to know, now that Ayame asked about it.
"Well…"
Katsuragi hesitated.
She keeps a serious look on her face for a while, increasing her friends' curiosity.
But then, she smirks and, in a proud voice, yells:
"I wanna fight busty shinobi and play with their boobs!"
Of course, everyone looks disappointed, except Ayame.
"Wow! As expected of Katsuragi the great!" Ayame says with stars in her eyes, her friends can't really deny they should have expected such an answer.
Asuka decided to ignore Katsuragi, and looks at Ikaruga.
"What about you, Ikaruga?", she asks with a cheerful smile.
But the former class rep doesn't really know what to say. She does have an idea, but she's still unsure of it.
Four hours later
"Masters, here are our newly graduated shinobis, Ikaruga and Katsuragi."
The two girls bow in front of their three shinobi superiors. two old men and an old woman, all looking serious.
After a moment of silence, the old man in the middle speaks up.
"Nothing can take away the honor you have obtained today, both of you make our faction proud", he says in a very serious and deep voice.
"Tell us what your wish is, Katsuragi, shinobi of the dragon."
The second old man, at the right, orders Katsuragi.
The blond-haired girl, knowing a joke like the one she did sooner would just kill her shinobi career, seriously answers this time.
"I'd like to take part in dangerous missions, master. In order to restore honor to my parents' name, please.", the blond-haired girl says with a determined face.
The three ancient shinobi take a deep look at Katsuragi. Then, the first old man answers:
"A war is incoming. If we win it… We promise your parents will be pardoned."
Those words make Katsuragi smile, almost to the point of crying… But they also motivate her even more regarding the unavoidable fight against Shin.
Right after it, the three of them turn to look at Ikaruga.
"Tell us what your wish is, Ikaruga, shinobi of the phoenix.", the old woman says.
Ikaruga thought a lot about her choice, especially after Asuka asked her.
This time, she's sure of her decision.
"Honorable masters, if you would accept this decision, I would like to become a shinobi teacher.", Ikaruga says, closing her eyes and bowing.
She stays like this, waiting for the answer.
"Very well."
The first old man says, Ikaruga immediately rises after hearing it.
"You have my thanks", Ikaruga answers, containing her joy and bowing again.
A few hours later, Houou family's manor
"A teacher?! Are you kidding me?!"
Ikaruga's father yells.
Ikaruga was expecting her father to dislike her choice of career. However, she wasn't expecting him to get so mad at her.
"I apologize, but I really want to be a teacher, so", Ikaruga starts, when her angry father puts a stop to her sentence.
"YOU WILL NOT, GIRL! I adopted you to honor our family! Not to take care of", Ikaruga's father starts, but just like her daughter, someone won't let him complete his sentence.
"Father, enough!", Murasame yells.
Both Ikaruga and her father are astonished by the young man's intervention, especially in defense of Ikaruga.
"Murasame, you…"
The old man tries to complain, but his son won't allow it.
"You wanted Ikaruga to be a shinobi. Even as a teacher, she'll still be one, no? So, let her do what she wants", Murasame orders, for the first time since Ikaruga met his brother, she feels impressed by his attitude.
"H-How dare you! I'm the CEO of Houou's Zaibatsu! I decide what MY representative shinobi must do!"
The father tries to argue again, but he just makes Murasame smirk.
"Really? Didn't you forget that you gave me the CEO post last month, my dear father?", Murasame says in a taunting voice.
The father looks shocked, but also feels embarrassed to have forgotten such an important detail.
"T-That's true, but…"
He starts, but Murasame decides to put a stop to this conversation.
"As the new CEO of Houhou's Zaibatsu, I choose to let our representative shinobi, my little sister Ikaruga, decide on her own path! She wants to be a teacher? Well, she will be, and no one has the right to complain about it! Not even you, am I clear?", Murasame proudly says.
The father is shaking, but above all, he's frustrated.
Ikaruga feels a little bad for her father, but she's also happy to get Murasame's support.
However, what makes her even happier is that, for the first time in her life, Murasame called her "little sister".
"Fine", the father says, grunting while leaving the room.
Now that the two siblings are alone, Murasame can relax.
"Dammit! What did you make me do?!", Murasame screams, as if his bravery just vanished.
Ikaruga smiles, and answers:
"Nothing, my big brother just helped me! Thank you so much for this", Ikaruga says before giving a hug to her big brother.
Murasame freezes for a few seconds, shocked by Ikaruga's sudden affection toward him.
But after a deep breath, he takes his little sister in his arms.
"You owe me a favor now", Murasame says, blushing.
Ikaruga sighs, but doesn't stop smiling.
"Alright", she says, still hugging her brother.
Special thanks to NeoDingelbat and LostSoul for their proofreading.
Also, I noticed I didn't have the Creative Workshop Discord server link in my bio... And the link I can share actually lasts one week. Feel free to PM me if you wanna join us!