CHAPTER V
HIKARI
The world had always seemed weird to Hikari. When she was born, she was showered with love by her parents and two older brothers and for the first three years of her life, it had been just them. Then, Sosei arrived and though she hadn't understood then the implications of his appearance, she had been excited to have another big brother added to her life. In the end, however, it seemed life had determined that she only needed two brothers in her life. Takuma died shortly after his battle against Hajime during the Chunin Exam and Hikari hadn't fully grasped why it had happened when she was a child. She thought that Hajime had killed her brother and for a few months, she found herself resenting him in a way only a five year old Uchiha could. It wasn't until years later that she realized the kind of emotional turmoil her brother had gone through and what had pushed him to kill himself.
That realization had awakened her Sharingan at age seven.
Sosei left shortly after Takuma's funeral and the loss of another brother had hurt Hikari greatly. With only Kichiro left, the two of them grew even closer than they had been. Even though she was five years younger than he was, Kichiro often confided in her and trusted her. He had revealed secrets to her that she had held close to her chest and accepted as parts of who he was. It hurt again when Kichiro had left home after an argument with their father. That argument, along with the stress and anguish caused by Takuma's death, had also caused her parents to separate, leaving Hikari with her mother.
Outside circumstances hadn't been the only thing to make Hikari feel abandoned and alone. Ever since she had started realizing her potential and power as a kunoichi, she had felt like she was far more advanced than her peers. While her classmates struggled learning clone techniques, she had perfected them and started elemental jutsu training. She had a grasp on tactics and formations that often left her instructors feeling lost. People called Hikari a genius but all she felt was alone. Something about the way she thought and understood things made it difficult for her to identify with the other children in her class. The only people she felt comfortable talking to was her mother and Kichiro. Sure, she forced herself to interact with the other girls and boys but she never felt as if she was being her true self. She couldn't tell anyone about how she felt alienated from people her age or how her family being ripped apart had torn her up on the inside.
Hikari sat in class while her instructor droned on about the topic of the week, the "transformation jutsu". Her fingers circled one of her short pink pigtails as the girls next to switched between attentively listening and gossiping. She ignored them, trying to imagine what animals she saw in the clouds until she thought she heard her name. She honed her ears in to listen to what was being said.
"We should ask her to help us," one girl with long flowing black hair said. Another girl, blonde, rolled her eyes.
"Hikari wouldn't help us, she's stuck-up and thinks she's better than all of us."
"Well," the girl with the black hair said. "She is. When is the last time you saw her struggle with any jutsu?"
"Ugh. It's just a stupid transformation jutsu. We'll get it."
Hikari tuned them out again and sighed as she stared out of the window. In the front of the classroom, she heard her instructor call for volunteers to perform the transformation jutsu. When no one answered, the instructor sighed.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to call on anyone," he said before looking up. "Tetsuya Senpuku...come on down."
Hikari turned her head to the sound of a chair being pushed back and blinked when she saw a young boy sigh and stand to his feet. He had short sandy brown hair and eyes that were several shades darker. Hikari had noticed him before. Like her, he often seemed to be completely bored by the lessons of the week. But unlike her…
Tetsuya's transformation jutsu was incredibly poor. Before the smoke had even cleared, Hikari could tell that it was a poor imitation of the appearance of the Hokage, bleached and hollowed like a zombie. When the instructor shook his head, Tetsuya shrugged and returned to his seat. Hikari watched him as he ascended the stairs and as he passed, the two of them locked eyes.
Hikari was called up next to perform the transformation jutsu, doing so without performing a hand seal. She looked over the class through the eyes of the Hokage, admiring how tall she was and how small everyone else appeared to her. After a few moments had passed, she reverted back to her normal form and coolly walked back to her seat. Tetsuya was eyeing her this time and she met his gaze with her inquisitive green eyes.
When the class was over, Hikari grabbed her bag and headed outside. Across from her school building, she sat on the swing underneath the tree, dug into her bag and pulled out a sandwich that her taste buds had been lusting for.
She hadn't even opened her mouth to eat her food, before she had to pull her sandwich back to avoid it getting slapped from her hand. Hikari's eyes shot up and saw a group of girls from her class. The lead, the blonde girl from earlier, folded her arms and stared down at her.
"You think you're special, don't you? With your cotton candy hair and frog green eyes," she said.
Hikari inwardly rolled her eyes. "If that was the best you could come up with, you shouldn't have bothered to come over here."
The blonde girl's eye twitched and she balled her fist. She looked like she was prepared to throw a punch. "You little…" Her hand raised and Hikari had had enough.
"Leave me alone." When Hikari looked up, she could see the blood red glow of her Sharingan reflected in the blonde girl's colorless and fearful face. The other girls behind her ran away, leaving the blonde girl in front of Hikari. The little girl frowned. "Go."
The blonde girl was out of sight before Hikari had the chance to sit down and deactivate her eyes. Smiling now that she was finally alone, Hikari took a bite of her sandwich and sighed to herself.
"That was super freaky," a voice said above Hikari. The girl looked up and took another bite of her sandwich. It was Tetsuya.
"Bit more weird that you're watching me from a tree. Why are you up there?" Hikari asked. Tetsuya shrugged.
"The view is nice," he said. Hikari looked forward and then all around her, then raised her head to look up at Tetsuya.
Smiling and kicking her feet on the swing, she said, "You're a better climber than a liar." Tetsuya swung down from the branches of the tree and landed in front of her. He then walked to her side and sat down at the base of the tree.
"Why'd those girls try to knock your sandwich out of your hand?"
"They're scared and jealous of me."
"A pink haired girl is kind of weird," Tetsuya said. Hikari gave him a sideway glance and the boy shrugged.
"They think bullying me and making me feel like I 'don't belong' will make up for their insecurities but they're wrong," Hikari said, after chewing another bite of her sandwich.
"Hm, that's why I don't try." He made a hand seal and transformed into a perfect copy of Hikari, except he kept his own clothes. "I don't like standing out. It's a hassle. People just don't leave you alone."
"You're still a liar," Hikari said. "You climbed that try and hid from me so you could show off to me. If you didn't want to stand out, you could've just walked over."
Tetsuya looked up at her with a smug grin. "So what if I did?"
"Then don't lie to me." Hikari had finished her sandwich and stood up from the swing and fixed her bag strap on her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tetsuya," she said. There was a puff of smoke and Tetsuya returned to his original visage.
"Hikari Uchiha, right?" he called.
"Yep."
"See you later, Lady Hikari." When Hikari turned, Tetsuya waa gone and the pink-haired girl blinked then shrugged.
"What a weirdo…" she said under her breath. The walk home was a solitary and quiet one, allowing Hikari to be absorbed into her thoughts. She enjoyed this time alone without her mother crowding her with questions and her presence. Hikari ran through a list of things she wanted to do when she got home, from practicing a new fire technique to trying to hone her Sharingan.
The apartment building that she and her mother now lived in looked overhead and Hikari stepped into the building and headed upstairs. Her keys jingled at the end of her finger as she opened the door. The sweet smell of pastries hit Hikari's nose and she saw her mother over the stove. Her mother turned when she heard her enter and smiled.
"Hey mom," Hikari said, setting her bag down near her room before climbing up on a stool in front of the kitchen counter.
Sakura walked over to her and kissed her forehead. "Hey, sweetie, how are you?"
Hikari shrugged. "Fine. What are you making?"
"Lemon cakes."
"Should've known," Hikari said with a smirk. She had requested some the other day. Sakura laughed, a rare sound these days.
"You should have." Sakura knelt down and pulled the pan from the oven. "How was your day?"
"It was ok. We just went over the stupid transformation jutsu again and I had to do it front of the class." The annoyance in her voice was clear and Sakura raised a finger.
"Even the most simple jutsu if applied correctly can be effective in a matter of life or death," she said. Hikari rolled her eyes.
"You sound like my instructor."
"Well, it's true." Sakura shrugged. "So, what else happened?"
"Some girls tried to knock my sandwich out of my hand…"
Sakura froze.
"But, I scared them away with my Sharingan."
Sakura turned.
"Y-you...Hikari, why did you do that?"
Hikari frowned. "Do what? Show my Sharingan?"
"Well, yes, but I mean scare your classmates with it?"
"Because, Mom," Hikari said. "They think I'm a freak that thinks I'm better than them so they try to bully me and make me feel like I don't belong. Like I'm a monster or something. So, I reminded them that I can be what they see me as if they push me."
Sakura stared at her, wordlessly and her eyes looked as if she was searching for something to say. Finally, with a sigh, she looked away. Hikari inwardly knew what that meant.
"You're thinking I'm just like Daddy, aren't you?" she asked. Sakura didn't turn for a while and when she did, she had cut out a piece of the lemon cake and placed it on a plate for Hikari.
"A little. I just...don't want you to feel like there's anything wrong with you." Sakura slowly pushed the plate towards Hikari. "You are special. Extremely special. You have enormous potential that you're barely tapping into now. But that doesn't make you a monster."
"But it makes me different…" Hikari said. She sighed softly. "That's just what we are. The Uchiha…" Her mother rubbed her head and looked in her eyes, smiling.
"It does, but as a shinobi, mediocrity and normalcy aren't desirable. I didn't have any special kekkai genkai or techniques so I had to better myself to be useful. You just have a gift and talent no one else has."
Hikari nodded and sighed. At one point, she may have thought that she'd be having this conversation with her father about the power and pride of the Uchiha. It was a thought that made her say, "Why are you and Daddy separated?"
This caused her mother to pause again and Hikari could see a wave of sadness wash over her face. Sakura sucked in a deep breath and then produced a sad smile on her face. "It's complicated, sweetie."
"I know," Hikari said. "But, I want to know." Sakura nodded and gently shrugged as she went to the sink and started washing dishes.
"Well...we argued a lot after Takuma died and Sosei left. Your father was so angry with himself, he lashed out at everyone, including Kichiro and I. When he wasn't being cold, he would be away for days at a time in the forest, training and took every opportunity he could to interrogate anyone connected to the terrorists connected to Yashagoro. And, eventually, he just got consumed with revenge."
"Again?" Hikari asked. When her mother turned to her, she said, "I heard some things about the war in class." The statement had been true. In history, they covered all of the Shinobi World Wars and her father had been a hero of the fourth and supposedly final war. But she had actually heard statements about her father's old obsession with vengeance resurfacing when she overheard her parents arguing.
"Oh," Sakura said, seemingly taking a mental note of that.
"So, are you never getting together again? And is Kichiro going to stay with us?" Hikari asked. Sakura shook the water from her hands.
"I don't know. I know Kichiro just got back from a mission today so maybe. I think he wants to be there for your father." Hikari nodded and ate the last bit of her lemon cake and hopped off of the stool.
"Thanks for talking to me, Mom," she said. Sakura walked over to her and poked her forehead with two fingers.
"Anytime."
Hikari blushed and went down the hallway to her room. The sun hadn't even begun to set yet and despite being bored and full of food, Hikari wasn't tired. With a spark of inspiration, she changed into a black qipao dress with the bright red and white Uchiha crest displayed proudly on her back with black arm warmers and leggings. She fastened her sandals and left her room. As she passed the kitchen, her mother smirked.
"Where you headed?"
"To a training field near some water. I'll be back before the sun comes down," Hikari said. Sakura nodded.
"Alright, be careful. And remember not to over exert yourself," her mother said.
"Yes, mama!" Hikari rushed through the door and out onto the street. She took the rooftops to the nearest training field and landed elegantly at the edge of the trees. The little Uchiha walked out onto the field, enjoying the gust of wind blowing through her hair. Birds flew above her head and Hikari watched them inquisitively as they zigzagged and darted above her, catching small insects. Their movements were hard to read with her naked eye but they weren't the only pair she had.
With her Sharingan active, she could see everything pulsating muscle in one of the tiny bird's bodies and took note of every movement of their wings and feathers. Somehow, she felt herself memorizing every movement of the bird as her Sharingan followed until she could predict where the bird was going to go or do before it made a single move.
Focusing chakra to her feet, Hikari launched herself into the air. She grabbed the bird in her hand, gently caressing it into her other hand as she landed. The bird chirped and Hikari opened up her palm. The constant, shrill sound reminded Hikari of her father's favored technique. As she let the bird go, Hikari let curiosity get the best of her again. She had inherited her mother's looks and chakra control and from her father, she had inherited a predisposed talent for combat and the Sharingan. She also had her father's fire chakra nature. Had she also inherited his natural propensity for lightning?
She had remembered the hand seals but performed them steadily, remembering to focus her chakra with every seal before she released it all into the palm of her hand. The chakra didn't form initially and Hikari furrowed her brow slightly in frustration. Perhaps she had the chakra control to perform the jutsu but not the chakra reserves of her father. At least not yet. But she could feel that she was on the right path. Hikari performed the hand seals again, this time, moving faster and focusing the chakra into her left hand.
The chakra chirped once in her palm, before burning out. Hikari let out a small sigh. She was getting closer. She stared at her palm with her Sharingan and performed the seals once more and applied the perfect amount of pressure to her hand. This time, the chakra formed fully in her hand, although instead of sounding like a thousand birds chirping, it sounded like a single shrill bird call that then faded away from Hikari's hand.
Sweat dripped from Hikari's chin and she wiped it away. Her hand was beginning to feel numb but her curiosity forbade her from quitting. For the final time, she repeated her moves and summoned the small shrill sounding spark of lightning in her hand.
With glowing scarlet eyes and a proud smile on her face, Hikari realized that she hadn't recreated her father's Chidori but had instead created something new and applicable for her. If the girls in her class had been jealous and thought she was a monster before, Hikari could only imagine how'd they react if they ever saw this.
I am my father's daughter. Hikari Uchiha!
