CCNote: Alrighty then folks! Happy Foundation Day! There's no school today so I had all day to bang this chapter out for you! Here's a fact that you need to know before you read this chapter and that's a small thing about the Japanese school system.
Elementary schoolers are from age 6-12. (Hikari is 11yrs old)
JHS students are from 13-15 (Honoka is 13yrs old)
SHS students are from 16-18 (Hajime, Hiroto, and Ito are all 16yrs old)
What about Hanabi's phone call?
Good question! What about it? Well, it's going to be addressed in the next chapter. In fact, the next chapter is an ItaHana so if you don't like that pairing you can totally skip 'X is for Love' and not be too lost. If you like ItaHana, you will really enjoy the chapter…I hope.
In other news, it's Valentine's Week starting tomorrow. If you want to witness the struggle bus I'll be driving go check out my SnapChat. Excuse all mistake, I'll fix it later. Anywho please enjoy!
W is for Family
Monday October 1 2034 4:15pm
Konoha Liberal Arts Campus
….
"Very good Hikari!"
The Uchiha smiled shyly under her teacher's praise as she drew her bow out for the last note. Kurenai Yuhi stood in front of her, arms crossed just underneath her bosom, and a broad smile of her own. Kurenai wasn't usually this gracious with her students. When class was regularly in session she was always very stern. There wasn't a class that went by when she didn't bring the practice to a halt to correct someone's posture or remind them how important it was to regulate their breathing. After class, she was even worse. There was not a mistake that got past her watchful red eyes and it was even more intense when Hikari found herself as the sole pupil. Her teacher was not one to dole out praise easily so part of the Uchiha swelled with pride knowing that she'd actually done well.
"You're going to perform marvelously in the competition this weekend." Kurenai continued as she ran her fingers thoughtfully through her long, curly hair. "Have you decided what to wear yet?"
Hikari's eyes widened. Since when did her teacher care about such frivolous things like fashion?
"Don't look so surprised." Kurenai laughed. "I'm here to make sure that you showcase yourself, and by extension me, in the best light. That means everything from flawless sight reading to what gorgeous earrings you're going to wear missy."
The Uchiha blushed from embarrassment at making a false assumption but nodded her head. Her mother had already shown her her performance dress last night. It was a very simple dress, dark blue velvet with quarter length sleeves. She pulled out her phone to show her teacher a picture of the dress and Kurenai clicked her tongue.
"It's a bit simple isn't it?" she sighed and Hikari shrugged her shoulders.
It would definitely be more muted in comparison to what many of the other performers she was competing against would wear but she knew it was more than sufficient. It didn't matter what she wore really. She just wanted to play and do so in a way that distinguished her among her peers. She was an Uchiha after all. Her clan deserved nothing less than her doing her best.
Kurenai removed her open folder of sheet music off of the stand and closed it, a sign that their lessons were over for the day. Hikari stood up from her chair, cello and bow still in her possession and gave her teacher a bow of gratitude as best as she could. Kurenai waved off the formality but smiled none the less.
"Make sure you stretch your fingers before bed alright?" she said and Hikari nodded dutifully.
She then tucked her bow under her armpit and carefully brought her cello over to the other side of the room. The case was still opened from earlier so she easily laid it inside and placed her bow in its appropriate sleeve. Once her case was all zipped up, Kurenai helped her strap it to her back and handed her her school bag as well. Hikari gave her teacher one last wave as she left the classroom before making her way out into the empty halls.
The gifted art school that she attended after her regular lessons never had too many people milling about. It was the very best that the country had to offer and only accepted a handful of attendees every year. The fact that she was an Uchiha had no bearing on her being accepted into their afterschool music program but it did mean she was able to pay to exorbitant costs of attendance. The tutelage of musical experts like Kurenai certainly didn't come cheap. The class sizes were all small and her one on one practice after music class meant that she left well after most of the other students. Hikari didn't mind that too much. The other students usually kept to themselves in their own little groups anyway so they weren't very good company.
"Leaving alone today Miss Uchiha?" the front office lady called out as she reached the school's main entrance. She adjusted her gold-framed glasses worriedly and let out a short sigh when Hikari smiled and nodded. "Be careful then. See you tomorrow!"
Hikari gave the woman a short nod before pushing open one of the double doors of the school's entrance. The front office staff always worried about her whenever Honoka wasn't already there waiting for her at the end of practice. Her older cousin was rarely on time to meet her most days anyway. It was kind of sweet how they worried about her but she really could take care of herself. She wasn't an invalid.
Hikari smirked at the thought as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the large glass windows of the school. Short black hair. Black eyes. It was very easy for her to blend in with the crowd. Some people in her clan liked to remark how similar she looked to her mother but Hikari didn't really see it. Her mother was beautiful. Whenever she walked into a room she got everyone's attention. On the rare occasion, she was allowed to attend a business event, Hikari was always in awe of her mother's grace and beauty. She was nothing like her mother. Most people didn't even realize she was there until they bumped into her.
With a shrug, she adjusted her cello bag and bookbag and made her way towards Hydrangea Park which was only a block away from her school. All she had to do was wait there until her brothers and Honoka finished with their own afterschool activities and a car would be there to pick them all up.
It didn't take long to reach the park and as soon as she sat down on her usual bench her phone started to ring in her backpack. Carefully, she sat her cello case on the ground before reaching into the side pocket for the device. She swiped in her passcode to unlock her photo and was greeted with a picture of Honoka with a red uniform scarf tied around her like a noose and two pencils stuck up her nose. Hikari snorted at the picture and shook her head. Honoka should really stop using her cellphone in school, that's how she got detention in the first place. She smiled at the picture as she took a seat on the bench and sent a smiley face text message in return.
Once that was message was sent, she put her phone back into her bookbag and pulled out some of her homework to work on. Since Honoka wasn't there to distract her it was a good opportunity to do some actual work for once. The park that surrounded her was pretty peaceful for a Tuesday afternoon. Usually, there were couples walking through the park and children playing but today was actually calm. She didn't even need to put in her headphones to block out all of the noise. With a sigh, she opened up her dark purple school folder and got to work on her math homework. It was simple long division but some of the problems were giving her a bit of difficulty. Instead of focusing on them for long though, she circled the problems she didn't understand and made a mental note to show Hajime the paper later. Hajime was the best when it came to numbers.
Just as she was almost halfway through her homework, the boisterous laughter of a group of boys behind her alerted her to the fact that she was no longer alone. Hikari rolled her eyes at how loud they were, thoroughly shattering the groove she'd found with solving her math problems. She didn't even have to turn around to know who some the voices belonged to. She could pinpoint that obnoxious laughter even a crowded room.
"Hey Dai!" a redheaded boy shouted, racing past her park bench and waving his arms above his head. "Throw it here! Throw it here!"
"Go long!"
The redhead ran a bit further ahead and Hikari placed her homework folder in the bench next to her in favor of digging through her book bag. If she was going to be forced into the company of her loathsome classmates she was going to need earplugs for it. Her fingers had just brushed against something in the bottom of her bag that felt like wires when someone shouted loudly to watch out. The next thing she knew there was a sharp pain in the back of her head that propelled her body slightly forward. The motion caused her to push her bookbag off of the bench as her hand automatically came out of her bag to protect the back of her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to rub away the pain in the back of her head. As her stuff spilled to the ground she heard the group of boys rushing towards her.
"Hey, we said to look out." One of the boys said and Hikari opened one of her eyes to see the owner of the obnoxious laughter from earlier. "Oh wait it's you."
Daisuke Inuzuka. The shortest boy in their grade. All scraped knees and messy brown hair and a laugh that made her skin crawl. He constantly got into fights at school and disrespected the authority of their teachers. The only reason he hadn't been reigned in more was because the Inuzukas were a big donor to the elementary school. Daisuke didn't mess with her too much if he had better targets but today it appeared she didn't have the fortune of being able to blend in. With a sigh, she slid off of the park bench and started trying to put her things back into her book bag. Three pairs of scuffed up tennis shoes surrounded her but she didn't look up at any of the owners.
"You're the weird mute girl." Daisuke said, lifting his foot to poke her shoulder.
The other boys laughed at the mute comment. Their feet kicked up dirt from their shuffling and playfully hitting each other. Hikari brushed off the dirt his shoe left behind, disgusted that he'd even had the audacity to touch her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her pen case had been kicked underneath the bench so she turned away from the boys to grab it.
"I think the Mute is ignoring you Dai." One of the boys snickered and Hikari felt the tip of a shoe poke her lower back.
"Oi, Mute. You ignoring Dai?" another boy asked.
"I bet she's deaf too."
Once again they laughed at each other as though they were the funniest group of eleven-year-olds in the world. Hikari rolled her eyes as she grabbed her pencil case and calmly put it back into her bag where it belonged. She most certainly wasn't deaf and it really rubbed her the wrong way that these boys would make fun of someone who was. The only people she could speak to freely that weren't her family were her classmates in her sign language classes. They were loads funnier than this lot.
With a short sniff, she stood upright and placed her bag back on the bench but not without ensuring that it was zipped up. It would be awful if it fell and she had to pick everything up again.
"She might be deaf and mute but she'd not dumb." Daisuke said and the ruffle of papers made Hikari's entire body go rigid as she wiped around to see the source.
The brunette callously flipped through her purple folder, brown eyes greedily soaking in the opportunity that had presented itself. Before she could even snatch the folder away from him, the other two boys crowded on either side of the Inuzuka.
"Whoa this is the homework for tonight?" the redhead gasped and Daisuke nodded and flipped through to more pages in the folder.
"Yep and the answers to the study guide for the test." Daisuke shrugged.
"I bet the teacher helped her with this."
'No.' Hikari thought, her fingers tightening around the handle to her bookbag. 'My brother helped me.'
"Probably. I bet that's what she does after school because she doesn't have any friends."
'I do have friends!'
Daisuke turned to her with a broad, lopsided smile. Hikari took a half step back.
"We'll be your friends Mute." He said. "Do you know what friends do? They help each other."
The other two boys nodded their heads vigorously as though they knew where their ringleader was going with this. Daisuke turned his cunning smile away from her for a moment to lazily wrap an arm around the red head's neck and pressed the purple folder into his chest. The redhead kept the folder closed, the puzzle pieces finally clicking in for everyone. They were going to take her homework and pawn it off as their own. Hikari's eyes widened and she shook her head. Daisuke laughed at her reaction and let go of his friend so he could take a step towards her. He might be the smallest boy in their class but he was still an inch or two taller than she was. He seemed to relish the momentary height advantage and sneered down at her.
"Do you not want to share Mute? No wonder you don't have any friends." He said and his friends giggled behind him.
He took a few steps closer in an attempt to intimidate her. Hikari glared at him and tried to push him away. It worked too for a brief moment to get him off balance. Frequently carrying around a heavy cello did have it's side benefits. However, she wasn't able to get him off guard enough and he turned to push her back. This time she was the one to lose her balance and tripped over her own feet into the dirt. Hikari winced as her body hit the ground but she couldn't use her hands to catch herself. If she hurt her hands in any way everything would have been ruined. The other two boys laughed at her fall but Daisuke crouched down next to her, brown eyes narrowed and upper lip curled.
"I didn't push you that hard Mute. Get up." He hissed.
The Uchiha tried to get up on her own but he shoved her back down again. This time she bit her bottom lip hard enough that an unsettlingly familiar copper taste flooded her mouth.
"Get up Mute."
"Ya know I would have gotten it if you learned how to pass." A familiar voice said.
Hikari's heart jumped a bit in her chest. She knew that voice belonged to Ito and if Ito was coming, her brothers were here as well. She wanted to call out to them. She wanted to tell these three stupid boys to go to hell. Yet, as she opened her mouth and tried to will her voice to come out nothing happened. Daisuke grabbed the lower half of her face and grinned.
"Is the Mute trying to speak?" he mocked, awkwardly squishing her face between his fingers. "Go on then Mute. Speak."
"What the hell is going on here?" a monotonous voice said as three taller shadows were cast over the group.
Daisuke let go of her face and straightened himself up to address the demand. As the scuffed tennis shoes of the other boys moved to flank Daisuke on either side, Hikari started to pick herself up off the ground. A slightly tanned hand presented itself in front of her and she immediately took it. When she was steadily on her feet again, Hikari looked up to see Ito grinning mischievously at her. His light-hearted aura was a stark difference to her brothers who looked like they were ready to murder someone.
"Have you been waiting long Kari?" he whispered and the Uchiha shook her head as he draped his navy blue uniform jacket over her shoulders to hide how dirty she was. "Good."
"Are you going to answer me." Hiroto asked the younger boys.
"Who are you?" Daisuke sniffed cockily despite the fact that his companions' knees were shaking.
Hikari couldn't help but feel sorry for the brunette and his attitude. He didn't realize it but her older brother had an even bigger attitude and only backed down to their father. Everyone else was fair game for his temper. Quicker than anyone could blink, Hiroto grabbed the front of Daisuke's shirt and lifted him up. The boy let out an uncharacteristically frightened squeak as his feet were lifted off of the ground.
"Do you enjoy picking on little girls?" Hiroto asked, the eveness of his voice betrayed only by the swirling anger in his dark eyes. "Does it make you feel tough to hit a girl?"
"Put him down Hiro or you'll make him shit his pants." Hajime sighed before turning to the other two boys who were now openly cowering.
"I think I'd like to see that." Hiroto smirked which only earned him an exasperated sigh from his twin.
Hajime then held out an open palm and motioned for the red head to hand over the purple homework folder he was clutching for dear life. Instead of putting the folder into the Uchiha's outstretched hand, he threw it down into the dirt and bolted away. The second little boy was hot on his heels with the escape. Hajime sighed again and picked the folder up, brushing off the granules of dirt.
"Is it just me or are elementary schoolers even ruder now?" he said and walked back to where Hikari and Ito were standing. "Here you go, Kari."
Hikari signed him a quick 'thank you' and gratefully took her folder back. Simultaneously, Hiroto let go of Daisuke who was unprepared for being released and fell unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Run along now." Hiroto sneered. "Your 'friends' are gone so you don't have to put on a tough guy act anymore."
He then crouched down so that he was eye level with Daisuke and the boy's eyes widened with fear.
"However, if you so much as lay a finger on my sister again I will make sure you actually shit your pants."
Daisuke gulped and before Hiroto could rise, he was already scrambling to his own feet to sprint away faster than Hikari had thought possible.
"Laying it on thick huh?" Ito chuckled and Hiroto shrugged his shoulders.
"If you give punks like him an inch, he'll take a mile."
"Where's Honoka?" Hajime asked Hikari, ignoring his twin's philosophical justification.
Hikari smiled and held her forearm out in front of her. She then proceeded to swipe her index finger along the distance between her fist to her elbow. Hajime groaned and dragged a tired hand over his face.
"Detention again?" he sighed and Hikari nodded. "I don't know how she's going to get through junior high if she keeps this up."
Hikari giggled and shook her head. She still had another year before she was able to go to middle school so she didn't quite know how it worked. She did know that her brother was probably worried for nothing. Hajime tended to overthink things. Hikari, on the other hand, knew for a fact that Honoka was smarter than all of the other kids in her class. It was because of that fact that her mind tended to wander off task and found other, less scholarly things, to occupy her time.
"Well if she's stuck in detention we need to go to her instead of waiting here." Hiroto grunted as he finally rose to his full height. He then walked over to park bench and grabbed the strap of the cello bag to hoist the instrument onto his own shoulders. "If we leave it up to her she'll get distracted."
"The guards can drive us up the block instead of us doubling back." Ito said, pointing a thumb behind him at two burly men standing conspicuously away from them. When they noticed Ito point at them they started to approach.
"You're so lazy." Hajime replied with a roll of his eyes.
"My feet hurt!"
"I bet your ass hurts too after I kicked it."
"I told you I had it. You should have passed-"
"Hey Uchiha!" an angry voice interrupted.
Four heads turned quickly to the source to find a group of boys rushing towards them in similar uniforms to her brothers and Ito. Although Hikari noted, they didn't seem to take care of their uniforms very well. Their white shirts were wrinkled, and their navy-blue pants had dark smudges on them. Did their mothers not wash their uniforms every day? Hikari glanced at her brothers as the other boys closed in on them. They didn't seem fazed at all by oncomers, in fact, Hiroto was already unbuttoning the front of his jacket and sliding it off his shoulders. The guards started to walk faster towards them but Ito waved them away before rolling up his own sleeves.
"Uchiha!" a brunette boy growled as he and his companions surrounded the quartette. Hiroto put a finger in his left ear and twisted it around with a grimace.
"Do you have to be so loud Inuzuka?" he asked and the question only made the brunette angrier.
The boy that Hikari now knew to be of the Inuzuka clan spat on the ground at her brother's feet and sneered up at him. If she didn't know any better he looked like an older version of Daisuke. A shuffling behind the wall of scruffy older boys confirmed her suspicions when she noticed a familiar pair of tennis shoes.
"What's this I hear about you bullying my little brother?" the older Inuzuka demanded and Hiroto removed his finger from his ear.
"Teach him to keep his hands to himself and we won't have a problem." He said simply and the Inuzuka's fingers clenched into fists.
"He says you grabbed him for no reason."
"Hn." Hiroto smirked and flicked his nose with his thumb. "It appears that lying is a family trait."
The Inuzuka growled and gave Hiroto a hard push, his frustration mounting with the object of his ire barely budged. Hiroto dusted the imaginary dirt off his shoulders with his free hand and it only served to further enrage his opponent. Hikari watched as the rage that was so plain on his face morphed into a sadistic grin.
"It's a good thing that this happened. I've been meaning to pay you back for earlier." He said and his cronies chuckled behind him. "An eye for an eye."
He then snapped his fingers and the other boys started to make a circle around them. Hikari shuffled slightly behind Ito but it served to be fruitless. One of the other boys grabbed her upper arm and pulled her over to their side. Hikari tried to wrest her limb from his grip but it only made his fingers encircle tighter around her. He then proceeded to roughly drag her over towards the older Inuzuka who immediately smiled at her protest.
"Let her go." Hiroto growled but his demand was ignored.
"Daisuke." The Inuzuka called and the other boys parted to let the younger boy through. He glared at Hikari with smug brown eyes. "Is this the girl that took your homework?"
Hikari's mouth fell open at the blatantly lie, in shock that Daisuke would even dare to lie like this. Daisuke smirked at her shock and nodded his head. The older boy holding her pushed her towards the Inuzuka.
"You're a cute one aren't you?" he smirked and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Hikari winced in pain as his nails scratched against her scalp. "However cute you are, you're still a just a cocky Uchiha. Daisuke!"
The boy perked up at the sound of his own name and scurried over to her captor's side. The Inuzuka tightened his grip on her hair and forced her to face her classmate.
"Apologize." He demanded and when no sound came out of her mouth he jerked her head back. "What are you stupid?"
"Let her go! She didn't take that punk's homework. It was the other way around!" Hajime hissed and took a step forward but was stopped by two other boys getting in his way.
"Just like an Uchiha to not apologize when they've done something wrong." The Inuzuka sighed as he jerked Hikari's head around. "Go on, just say 'I'm sorry' or did your bitch mom not teach you any manners-."
Hikari fell to the ground and the Inuzuka's fingers released her, gaining a mouth full of dirt on impact. She scrambled up to her feet a second later and found her captor pinned underneath Hiroto with her brother's fist making contact with his face. One of the other boys tried to grab her again but this time Ito stepped in and punched the boy before he could. Hikari squeaked as she tried to get away from the brawl only to find that all of the boys were fighting now and their side was grossly outnumbered two to one. Hiroto was able to handle himself pretty well even though the older Inuzuka had managed to throw him off and was now tag teaming him with one of his goons.
It was Hajime that she was the most worried about. The eldest Uchiha was a lover, not a fighter. He preferred books over fists. Seeing as how Ito and Hiroto could handle themselves, Hikari moved through the fray to get to the park bench. Once she reached it, she grabbed her backpack and ran back in the direction where Hajime was fighting. The other boy had gained the upper hand on her brother and was now cocking back his fist for a potentially painful punch. Scrunching her eyes shut, she swung her bookbag at his head and knocked the boy backward.
"Thanks, Kari." Hajime said through short breaths before using the distraction to charge at his opponent.
"What the hell-" a perplexed voice said, causing Hikari to nearly jump out of her own skin in surprise by how close they were.
Honoka clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she surveyed the chaos and shook her head. She then pulled a bright red scrunchie off of her wrist and used it to tie her long brown hair up into a ponytail.
"You Uchihas always leave me out of the fun." She whined before turning a bright smile to Hikari. "Sorry, I'm late!"
Hikari waved away her apology, unsure of what to even make of it with her family in the middle of a fight. Honoka turned her attention back to the fight and grinned.
"What a bunch of pansies." She said and marched over to engage with a boy trying to sneak up on Hiroto.
She taped him on his shoulder and he whirled around, utterly surprised to even find her there. Honoka smiled innocently at him for a brief second before bringing her leg back and kneeing him in the groin. Hikari sighed at the sight of the boy crumpling to his knees and tightened her grip on the strap of her backpack. Would there ever be a day that went by that was boring?
….
Monday October 1 2034 7:15pm
Konoha Police Department
….
Hikari stared pointedly at her shoes as her father signed the last piece of paper on the deputy's desk and passed it back. She noted how dusty Ito's uniform coat had become and made a mental reminder to ask her mother to clean it as soon as she got home before the grass stains could set in. Ito was the luckiest among them since he'd been whisked away by his bodyguards before the police had arrived. It would have been terrible to have the Hokage's son's face splayed across the evening news for fighting in a children's park. Yes…Ito was definitely the luckiest among them.
As she lamented her own misfortune, she heard the shuffling of papers and a brief grunt of approval from the officer as he reviewed her father's signature. To her right, Hiroto was slumped in his chair and looked bored out of his mind as the clock ticked loudly overhead. To her left, Hajime sat straight and attentive, on alert in case his input was needed. He was the biggest reason they were getting out of the police station with just a slap on the wrist instead of a hefty fine or community service. Hikari had marveled at the way he'd charmed the angry looking adults in the room and really helped them to look good while the Inuzuka and his friends weren't doing themselves any favors. They, on the other hand, had cursed at the officers and caused such a ruckus that they had to all be escorted to a separate holding area.
On the other side of Hajime was Honoka who kept nervously glancing at the clock. Hikari held nothing but pity for the girl who was going to be late for dinner. Her uncle Neji was a stickler for time and if Honoka was late for dinner again he would want to know why. If he found out that it was because she had been fighting…well…Hikari didn't even want to imagine what would happen. She'd likely be grounded for life.
'However…' Hikari thought as the officer cleared his throat.
"Everything appears to be in order Mr. Uchiha." He said and her father stiffly rose from his chair.
'Grounded for life might be better than dealing with Father when he's angry.'
Hikari slowly slid out of her seat and stood up, her family members all reluctantly following suit. As they walked through the busy police station, it felt as though she was walking towards her own funeral. She'd never made her father angry before. It was usually Hiroto's job to get on his bad side. She looked up to him and admired him more than anyone in the world. The last thing she wanted was for him to be angry at her! She watched his broad back intently as they followed him to the entrance. He hadn't spoken to any of them since he'd arrived at the station but the aura he gave off spoke volumes. Just the thought of his disappointment made the elementary schooler's eyes burn and her head hung lower than before.
The evening air smacked her right in the face and she looked around in a bit of a daze. Night time had already blanketed the city, the bright light of cars flashed past them as they zoomed down the road. A black town car with an Uchiha crest on the side pulled up in front of the police station and the driver hoped out to open the back door.
"Hey, Uncle Sasuke." Honoka started, the first one to break the heavy silence that laid over them. "You're not going to tell my dad are you?"
Her father placed a hand on Honoka's shoulder and gently pushed the reluctant girl towards the town car.
"Hurry home Honoka." He said and the Hyuuga's face fell slightly.
She gave Hikari and her brothers a quick wave goodbye before taking a deep breath and getting into the car alone. The driver closed the door behind her and quickly got back into the car himself. When the tail lights of the car turned on and Honoka was whisked away, their father turned around to face them. His dark, angry eyes skimmed over herself and Hajime before finally landing on Hiroto. Hiroto didn't flinch as their father took a step towards him, instead choosing to glare off in the distance. Their father frowned and grabbed his chin so that he was forced to look directly at him.
"What did I tell you about fighting?" their father asked tersely and Hiroto replied in kind.
"Not to do it."
"Unless what?"
"Unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Hn." Their father grunted.
He turned Hiroto's face from one side to the other, inspecting his features carefully. Hiroto smirked at the inspection and brushed their father's hand away.
"The other guys look worse." He said and their father let out another short snort although this time he seemed amused.
Hajime and Hikari looked at the pair as if they'd sprouted a third eye in the middle of their foreheads. Their father wasn't mad? How? Why? He just had to leave an important business dinner to come pick them up from the police station. Most parents would be blowing a gasket right now. She'd heard an entire string of colorful vocabulary outside of the deputy's office when Daisuke and his older brother's parents came to pick them up. She'd anticipated a repeat performance with even more explosions from her father. Yet he was, laughing with Hiroto who was utterly unfazed by the fact that they'd been picked up by the cops in the first place. What kind of upside-down world was this?
"Aren't you going to punish us or something?" Hajime asked, just as confused as Hikari was by this turn of events. As he adjusted Hikari's cello case on his back, another car with an Uchiha crest on the side pulled up.
"Should I?" the Uchiha patriarch countered and his response left them even more confused.
"So you're not mad at us? We aren't grounded for fighting?" Hajime continued to ask and their father shrugged his shoulders.
"If you want a punishment I can give you one." He offered but the three of them simultaneously shook their heads. "From the reports you gave to the police, your actions don't warrant punishment from me. If the other guys look worse then you defended your honor as Uchiha. Most importantly-"
He stopped and motioned for Hikari to come to his side. She did so gladly, knowing that he was not angry in the slightest. A warm, comforting hand was placed on top of her head and he smoothed down her messy hair.
"You took care of your sister. There is nothing more important than-"
"Family." Hiroto groaned and got into the car. "We know. We know."
Hikari smiled at her older brother's indignance before climbing into the car to take her position in the middle seat. Hajime followed in after her once he put her cello case in the trunk and their father took the passenger seat up front. When all of their seatbelts were properly buckled the driver pulled off into the night. On either side of her, warm fingers intertwined with her own the way they had always done for her as long as she could remember. She wasn't sure why her brothers always held her hands when they were in the car. She knew that there had to be a good reason for it. Her heart rate always inexplicably sped up when she got into a car…maybe they could hear it? In any case, she squeezed their hands as they made a turn, grateful that they were with her.
"Hey, Hiro." Hajime started. "What was Inuzuka saying he needed to pay you back for?"
Hiroto rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hell if I know." He said. "He probably thinks I stole his girlfriend or something."
"Well, did you?"
"She's not his girlfriend if she can be stolen."
"Oh, Hiro." Hajime groaned and Hikari shook her head in shame.
….
Saturday October 6 2034 4:00pm
Konoha Liberal Arts Campus
…..
"To my best pupil!" Kurenai cheered, raising a plastic cup filled with juice high into the air.
"To Kari!" the room cheered with a toast.
The object of their praise felt her entire face turn red at their cheers and she tried to hide her face in her hands. Why did her family have to be so embarrassing? Slender fingers wrapped around her right wrist and pulled one of her hands away from her face. Big, pale eyes blinked back at her.
"You did so great Kari!" Honoka grinned cheesily at her before completely glomping her with a hug.
Hikari blushed even more at her cousin's antics. She'd only gotten second place. Sure that meant that she would go on to qualify for the regional championship but she'd wanted to come in first. Nothing was good as being in first. Her family thought otherwise though. They'd decked out Kurenai's classroom with streamers and balloons and more food than the group could possibly eat.
Her mother was already slicing up a sheet cake with the words 'Congratulations Hikari' written in blue buttercream frosting while her father passed out the slices. Her aunt Tenten and uncle Neji were busy trying to get the screen projector to work. There were several other clansmen, Hyuuga and Uchiha alike, milling about the room and adding to the overall noise. Hikari felt a bit overwhelmed by all of them being there. If they had planned this party so extensively what were they going to do if she'd lost?
There was no way she could have lost with the piece she'd played. It was one that she'd listened to her father play countless times when he thought that everyone was sleeping. Anyone that heard such a sound was sure to be enamored. However, how did her family know she would even be good? What would they have done with her congratulations cake if she'd been utterly decimated by the competition? Maybe Uchihas really were as overconfident as people claimed they were.
Just as Honoka let her go, the door to the classroom opened and the last guests to arrive entered the room. Hikari's eyes brightened as her uncle Naruto came in with her aunt Ino and Ito in tow. Uncle Naruto and aunt Ino were always so busy it was rare to ever see them outside of their annual Christmas gathering at the Hyuuga Winter Estate. Her uncle Naruto went off to antagonize her father but her aunt and Ito immediately spotted her in the overcrowded classroom and made a beeline for her. Once they reached her, her aunt Ino enveloped her into a smothering hug as tightly as she could.
"Oh! I'm so sorry we missed your performance!" she gushed and Hikari patted her back. She didn't mind that they missed it. They were here now which was all that mattered.
"Mom, you're going to suffocate her." Ito laughed and Ino let her go.
"Ito never lets me have any fun." Her aunt Ino pouted before playfully sticking her tongue out to her son.
"Hey! Is this thing on?"
Hikari looked towards the front of the room, as did everyone else, to see her aunt Hanabi on the projector screen. Slowly, she stepped towards the projector, mesmerized that her aunt was even there. She'd only heard about her in stories from her mother or her brothers. Her aunt Hanabi, her only aunt by blood, never came around the family but everyone had plenty of stories to tell about her. Hiroto was especially fond of her and he didn't like anyone. Pale eyes like her mother's stared back at her on the screen and made her heart skip a beat.
"Hikari!" her aunt's recorded voice gushed through the speakers. "I apologize for not being able to be there for you today but I know that you did amazing! How do I know this? Because you're half Hyuuga of course. Hyuugas are only capable of doing their best!"
Her aunt Hanabi smiled and leaned to one side to rest her cheek in the palm of her hand. Absently she pushed a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear.
"If by chance you didn't win, all of the judges are bunk. They're cheats. The system is rigged." She laughed and the room laughed along with her. "Just know, that I am so proud of you no matter how you did today. Thank you for being such a sweet niece, unlike your brothers who give me a heart attack every time your mother calls."
Hikari placed a hand over her mouth to cover the broad knowing smile she possessed.
"I won't keep this video long. Just know that you are the best- Chi what do you think doing?"
The video went dark after a thud small thud and didn't continue after that. Hikari smiled despite the abrupt ending, happy to have seen her elusive aunt Hanabi. As her aunt Tenten and uncle Neji began fiddling with the projector again she was reminded of something that had been nibbling at the back of her mind of the last few days. Her mother had cleaned Ito's dirty uniform jacket just as she requested but she hadn't seen him since the fight in the park. She could have given the jacket to one of her brothers to return to him but they would've forgotten about it and kept the jacket for themselves.
No, she knew that she had to be the one to return the article of clothing to him herself. She had been carrying around the jacket all week in her bookbag in hopes that she would run into him after school but they hadn't crossed paths once. She reached out and pulled the end of the blonde Uzumaki's sleeve and pale, blue eyes looked down at her curiously. She motioned towards the back of the classroom where her bags were and Ito raised an eyebrow. Hikari blushed at his reaction but pulled him along anyway. He probably thought that she was weird since he didn't know what she wanted but she pulled him along anyway.
Once at the back of the classroom, she easily found her bag and quickly unzipped it. She pulled his jacket out of it, neatly folded to reduced wrinkles, and looked away so that the embarrassment she felt on the inside wasn't so obvious. Ito paused for a moment before pulling her into a tight hug similar to the one his mom had given her before.
"Aw thank you Kari!" he laughed. "I'd bought a new one to replace it but now I have two!"
"What the hell are you doing?" a flat voice said and Ito immediately lets go of her. Her brother's flanked him on either side with their arms crossed over their chests and identical frowns.
"Nothing!" Ito protested but her brothers didn't believe him.
Hiroto stepped forward and lazily slung an arm around the Uzumaki's neck while Hajime gave him a tight smile he usually reserved for adults.
"Hikari was just returning my jacket." Ito continued as he tried to brush Hiroto off but the Uchiha didn't budge.
"Sure she was. Let's go have a talk."
Hikari paled as her brother's dragged a protesting Ito away. They didn't care that he was the Hokage's son. They sure didn't care that said Hokage was currently challenging their father in a very close arm wrestling match. Nope. They did what they want, when they wanted to. Hikari shook her head and went back down to join the chaotic classroom party. Even if her brothers were weird and did strange things she appreciated tham more than anything in this world. After all, family was the most important thing.
To be continued…
X is for Love
"You hate me don't you?"