Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Naruto or any of its characters.
This one has to be my longest chapter yet. I hope it isn't too boring! I'm finding that all of my chapters pale in comparison to my first one. I hope this one is good. (:
Hikari raced out of the hospital's front doors, dragging Sakura behind her. Hikari's eyes smoldered with delight as she looked around at the city before her. As her eyes trailed up to see the grand mountain with faces carved in it, a feeling of familiarity surged through her mind.
Hikari turned to face Sakura, "Sakura-chan?" Sakura's eyes gave Hikari their attention, "Where am I exactly?"
Sakura seemed a little surprised at her question, but answered, "Konohagakure, why?"
"Mmm." Hikari's gaze turned back towards the mountain as she became lost in her thoughts, forgetting to answer Sakura.
"Sakura-chan!!" a voice came from behind.
Hikari turned to see a blonde, blue-eyed boy about the same age as her, running towards the pink-haired girl from behind. Sakura had barely turned to face the boy when he collided with her, and they both fell onto the ground.
"Naruto!" the girl's voice was filled with rage, and her facial features were flooded with murderous intent, "Watch where you're going you bastard!"
Hikari was taken aback by her words, "I thought she was too nice for such anger. That pink hair really does throw a person off."
Naruto lifted himself off of Sakura, "Sorry Sakura-chan." He began to rub the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his lips.
Sakura stood up and started brushing the dirt off of herself. Naruto's gaze turned to Hikari.
"Who're you?" he asked.
Still somewhat shocked from Sakura's outburst, Hikari replied, "Uh-h, Hik-Hikari."
"Let's go Hikari," Sakura grabbed the girl's arm and started walking in the opposite direction, "Naruto is an idiot, don't mind him."
"Hey, hey!" Naruto caught up with the girls, "In my defense," Naruto smirked at Hikari, "Sakura is a real bitch half of the time."
Sakura turned to face Naruto, a vein protruding from her forehead in anger, "Do you have some kind of death wish asshole!?"
Naruto raised his hands up, palms forward in a defensive position, "Wha-? It's not my fault you girls get so bitchy once a month."
Hikari turned to face Naruto, slightly angry herself, "Well, we wouldn't get so bitchy if you boys weren't so brainless! God, if you guys would just keep your mouth shut, so many fights would be avoided. Girls can only put up with so much stupidity!"
Sakura's anger melted and her eyes widened in shock at Hikari's outburst. Naruto's mouth dropped a little in shock as well.
Hikari regained her composure, and let her anger fade before speaking again, "Can we please g—"
Her words were interrupted when a growl rumbled from her stomach. She placed a hand on her stomach, mentally telling it to shut up.
"Let' get some food first," Sakura suggested with a giggle.
Naruto grabbed each girl by the wrist and yelled, "Ramen time!" before running down a street, dragging Hikari and Sakura behind.
--
"I wonder if he's single." a random girl commented.
"He's too hot, he has to be gay," said another.
"Oh my gosh! I think he looked at me!" squealed another with delight.
Itachi let out a loud sigh, and put his hands in his face.
"This is for Hikari," he thought, "You can take it a little while longer."
When he let his hands drop from his face, he saw a group of girls in front of him.
They quickly turned to stop staring at him, and squealed to each other.
"Damn girls," thought Itachi, "They'll squeal at anything in tight pants. I'm going to kill Deidara."
He sighed again and stood up from his seat. He walked up to the counter and tapped on the wood.
"Excuse me, miss?" he saw a cluster of girls form a few feet behind him out of the corner of his eye. When one nurse came up to the front of the desk his attention turned to her.
"Y-yes?" her cheeks were a bright red as she put her glasses on.
"God," thought Itachi, "These girls are all the same."
"Could I please go see my wife? Hikari?" he answered.
He heard a disappointed "Aw," from the cluster of girls behind him, and they soon dispersed, dragging themselves back to their seats groaning.
The nurse also seemed a little disappointed.
"I'm sorry sir, but I cannot allow any visitors right now." The nurse wore a satisfied look.
Itachi rolled his eyes slightly, "You've got to be joking," he thought. His lips formed into a cocky smile; as he leaned onto the desk, placing his face close enough to the nurse so she could feel his breath.
"Please?" he asked in a suave voice, "It'd disappoint me so very much if I couldn't see my wife, just one last time. The doctor says she doesn't have very long to live."
The nurse's entire face was glowing crimson, "I-I, can't…allow…" she could feel heart beating so hard; she was worried that he could hear it.
"Just 5 minutes?" Itachi said, leaning a little closer, "Please?"
The nurse's glasses were fogged over by now, she couldn't even speak. She just nodded her head.
Itachi smiled seductively, "Thanks."
He quickly walked down the hall, "Jeez, I hate girls with jelly-spines." He sort of laughed to himself as he thought, "At least Deidara's pants were good for something." He gently knocked on Hikari's door.
"Sweetie?" he said in a very charming but sarcastic tone. When he got no answer he opened the door.
His jaw dropped as he stared at the empty bed. His senses came back a moment later. He turned and ran out the door, "Damn it!" he mumbled to himself, "I should have never let that Haruno chick talk me into leaving her alone!"
As he ran through the waiting room and out the door, he heard multiple gasps from the girls, followed by squeals.
He stopped on the road in front of the hospital, "Where could she have gone?" He panicked even more when he began to realize, "If anyone recognizes her…" his heart nearly stopped as he thought, "They'll take her away…"
He brought himself to the roof of the hospital, and looked down onto Konoha, desperately searching for Hikari.
"I won't let anyone take her away," he thought as fury built up inside of him, "Not again." He balled his fists, and then jumped from the roof, and began darting from rooftop to rooftop.
--
Naruto had dragged the kunoichi to his favorite ramen shop.
"Ichiraku Ramen?" Hikari asked as they took a seat.
"Yeah yeah!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly, "This place has the best ramen!"
Hikari's eyes locked with Naruto's for a moment. She shrugged, and then commented, "Food is food. I've never been one to judge, it all tastes good to me."
Naruto smirked, and then turned to a man and ordered three bowls of ramen, then turned back to Hikari.
"So what's your story?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Hikari asked confused by how vague his question was.
"Well for one," Naruto started, "Where are you from? I mean, I know everyone here in Konoha, and I've never seen you around here. And trust me; I'd remember a pretty thing like you." He put on a cocky grin with his last statement.
Hikari rolled her eyes and mumbled, "I doubt you have the brain capacity for that."
"Huh?" asked Naruto.
"U-Uh." Hikari started, "Well, truth be told, I don't really know where I'm from. I was found alone 8 years ago, and I've never really been able to remember my life before then."
Naruto and Sakura both leaned in closer, their interest being peaked.
"Really?" asked Naruto, "Don't you have any family?"
Hikari felt a slight twinge of pain in her heart when she processed both his statement and her reply, "I-I," she looked down at the counter and fiddled with her fingers, "I'm not sure."
Naruto recognized the pain he saw in her eyes; when he looked at her, he envisioned himself as a child; lonely.
"Well," started Naruto awkwardly, trying to change the conversation, "At least you have friends like me and Sakura-chan."
A wave of surprise swept over Hikari, but then she smiled and nodded her head.
Before anymore was said, a bowl of steaming ramen was placed in front of each of them.
Naruto rubbed his palms together in excitement, "Oh boy, oh boy."
All three of them began to eat, about halfway through their meal, Hikari broke the silence, "So," she began, "you two are ninjas right?" Her eyes looked up at Naruto's ninja headband.
Naruto slightly tugged at his headband and said, "Believe it!" A large smile spread across his face, "And I'm going to be Hokage one day!"
"As if," commented Sakura indifferently.
Naruto glared at the pink-haired kunoichi.
"You're training as a medical ninja right Sakura-chan?" asked Hikari.
Sakura smiled and nodded, "I'm Tsunade-sama's apprentice."
"Wow," replied Hikari before stuffing some more ramen into her mouth. After swallowing Hikari commented, "That's great; training so hard so as to be able to help people. I always did admire medical ninjas, they're so important despite the fact that they don't participate in combat often. I mean, they're like the keystone of a good ninja team, without them, the entire team would probably fail." Hikari's thoughts trailed to the snowy-haired medical ninja she had always looked up to in Sound.
"What about you Hikari-chan? Are you a ninja" Naruto asked.
Inside, Hikari was slightly alarmed at his question, but her eyes held no panic as she thought of a way to answer him.
"You could say I've learned a few jutsu here and there," she replied with a smile, hoping he wouldn't notice that she had dodged his question.
They all finished their ramen before speaking again.
"What kind of jutsu?" Naruto asked.
"Eh," Hikari shrugged, "nothing special. I don't like fighting anyways."
Naruto seemed a little shocked, "But fighting is so much fun!"
Hikari's muscles tensed slightly.
The kunoichi never did like to physically fight much. She avoided conflict as much as possible. The only reason she would usually seriously hurt another person would be because they had threaten someone or something precious to her. Sure, she'd punch guys, not like she was sexist or anything, just that guys brought her temper out more than women; and if she ever punched a guy, it wasn't very hard, just enough to show them that she wasn't someone to be messed with.
She'd never had a bad experience with conflicts herself, none that she could remember that is, but she saw what war and fighting did to people. It turned them into monsters, and it left so many other innocent people hurt. Nothing good ever came out of conflict, only more hurt, and more reasons for even more conflict to take place.
"Naruto," she started with a somber tone, "have you ever seen…the toll fighting takes? Not on the fighter, but the people that care about that fighter? Have you ever seen a mother that's lost a child, husband, family member, to a fight? Have you ever lost someone close to you, because of a fight? Fighting isn't fun, not the way I see it."
Naruto's energetic smile faded as Hikari's words registered in his mind. He thought about his raven-haired friend Sasuke; how he had abandoned his village and friends to gain power…to fight. Naruto came out of his thoughts as Hikari spoke once more.
"I'm not saying that you should stand by while people get hurt Naruto," Hikari began again; "I'm just saying that fighting just for the sake of fighting isn't noble or courageous; Fighting to protect people important to you, that's noble. But fighting just to kill, just because it's something to pass the time…do you think the Hokage carved into that mountain got to be the Hokage because all they did was fight? I don't believe so. Of course they fought, but I mean, they fought to protect their village, and all the people they loved so much in the village."
Naruto looked down at the counter, staring at the palms of his hands with a sort of sad look about him.
Hikari giggled a little, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I talk too much, I know. You just happened to bring up a subject I love to debate about. I'm really sorry for the lecture." She rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile on her face.
Naruto looked back up at her, "Naw, you're completely right. And I want to be like that; fight for people important to me. Like Kakashi-sensei, Granny Tsunade, Sakura-chan, all my other friends, and you, Hikari-chan." A child-like smile conveyed the truth in his words.
Hikari was a little surprised at his mentioning of her, "You sure do make friends easily Naruto-kun."
"Well," Naruto started, feeling odd, he never did act so sensitive-like around people. He quickly thought up an excuse, "you know what they say, big boobs are very attractive."
Hikari's smile faded. Both Sakura and Hikari were glaring at the blonde, "Naruto!" they both screamed.
Naruto seemed to crumble inside, and then he began to run as Sakura and Hikari chased him.
They were running through the streets, and Naruto quickly summoned a clone. Coming to a break in the one-way street, one Naruto ran left, while the other went right. Sakura and Hikari exchanged glances and nodded before they split up to pursue one of the Narutos for themselves.
After what seemed like running for 20 minutes, Hikari caught up behind Naruto. She quickly preformed a substitution jutsu with a small rock that was about 10 feet in front of Naruto. His blue eyes went wide as the kunoichi appeared in front of him. Hikari landed a punch right on his face, and upon contact a smirk pulled at her lips.
Her smile quickly faded as Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke.
"So Sakura got the real Naruto? I hope she beats the shit out of him!" Hikari yelled aloud.
Surprised by the sound of her echo, she looked around to see an empty district.
"Where am I?" she whispered.
--
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, only a few feet behind the blue-eyed boy.
"Shit!" Naruto thought, "Too close!" He tried to force his legs to move faster.
Sakura stopped for a moment, and quickly thrust her fist into the ground, causing it to crumble. The rupture caused Naruto to fall flat onto his face, just as she had planned. But, the quake had also caught the attention of someone else nearby.
The silver-haired man was leaning against the wall of a building, with his nose stuck in a book. His silver hair spiked against the force of gravity, and one could only see his right gray eye because the rest was covered by a combination of a face mask and his ninja headband.
Upon feeling the quake, he closed his book with a sigh, and pushed off the wall to go investigate. He turned the corner and saw his two pupils, fighting again. Sakura had Naruto pinned to the ground, and she was kicking him continually. The man sighed again.
"Sakura! Naruto!" he yelled.
His two students froze, and looked up, "Y-Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" they asked sheepishly.
Kakashi crouched down to look at Naruto, "What did you do now Naruto-kun?"
Naruto's eyes widened, "Why do you suggest that I did anything?! It was Sakura and Hikari-chan that got so touchy!"
Kakashi's eyes widened and he felt his heart skip a beat. "Hik-..." he couldn't get the words out.
"Naruto was rude to my patient sensei!" whined Sakura.
"Wha-," Kakashi still couldn't speak.
"H-Hika...Hikari-chan?" he thought to himself, "There's no way, there's just no way."
"Where is this girl you were talking about??" asked Kakashi anxiously as he found his voice.
"Umm." Sakura placed a finger to her chin and looked up at the sky, "She ran after Naruto's clone. I'm pretty sure they were heading to the Uchiha district."
A slightly strong burst of air caught Naruto and Sakura off guard, their sensei was no longer with them, but was running towards the Uchiha district of Konoha.
"I wonder what got into him…" commented Naruto.
--
Itachi was racing from rooftop to rooftop, scanning the streets below him.
"Where the hell are you?" he asked himself, hoping that if he asked enough he would receive an answer. His crimson eyes carefully took in each and every face on the street below, and he only got angrier as he saw that none of them were Hikari's.
His thoughts began to wander back to that night 8 years ago.
The sky was completely clouded over with hints of an impending storm.
Itachi lay on his back and gazed up into the black sky, exhausted after another mission. Being an ANBU captain really sucked the fun out of being a teenager. But, no matter how trivial and boring the work of a captain was, he always did have a small gleam of hope to look forward to. She always kept him going, on every mission, his anticipation of seeing her smile again pushed him forward.
It wasn't like him at all, to be so warm and kind to a person. But that girl, she just brought out a whole different side of him. There was no need to hide his emotions; there was no need to wear his mask, not with her around.
He smirked to himself.
People thought it was odd that a 13 year old boy would spend so much time with an 8 year old kunoichi, a child. No one saw her the same way that he did. They saw her as a strong kunoichi that, with much training, would one day be a very useful military tool. People thought her to be a hateful and selfish child for often refusing to fight. Everyone treated her harshly for wasting all her talent; they all called her a failure as a shinobi of the Land of Fire, a disappointment to her people.
"Hikari-chan," he thought as he heard thunder roll in the distance.
Only her parents understood, of course they did, they were her parents. They were slightly disappointed that she wouldn't engage in battle to further her career as a kunoichi, but they loved her nonetheless.
True, Hikari was a child, but she was intellectually farther in years. She was always such a comfort to talk to. Itachi sought her company whenever he felt burdened by his duties both as an ANBU captain and as the so-called pride of the Uchiha clan. She was his only release from the pressure, and he felt that his company did the same for her. They both took the load off of each other, and through that, their love was sparked.
Itachi sat up as he noticed a small fire in the distance.
"Hikari's home is in that area." He was already racing towards the fire before he finished this thought.
Upon arriving, Itachi felt a part of him die inside as he looked upon the spectacle of Hikari's house burning to the ground.
Without thinking, Itachi raced into the flaming house, shouting Hikari's name. He knocked over the burning remains of the door to their living room, and saw the bodies of two people. He was repulsed as he observed how brutally and inhumanly the man and woman had been murdered.
Itachi raced outside upon hearing a scream, leaving the bodies of Hikari's parents in the flames.
Outside the house, he saw two dark figures; one that was of a man and the other…
"Hikari-chan!" he yelled.
But it was too late; the man had her in his arms. A bolt of lightning flashed above head, revealing an unconscious Hikari in the arms of a sinister looking smile, with a pair of gleaming yellow eyes.
With his Sharingan active, Itachi leapt at the figure with his Hikari-chan in his arms, but was stopped short.
The man had put a kunai knife to Hikari's throat threateningly, and Itachi dared not take another step, refusing to risk Hikari's life.
The man smiled and said, "Itachi-kun, don't be mad at me. Hikari-chan will be more useful in my hands, Konohagakure is not suited for such a powerful little girl; I'm only looking out for her well-being."
"Then leave her with me!" Itachi yelled at the pair of yellow eyes.
"She won't remember you; I don't plan on forcing her to live with such painful memories. Believe me when I tell you, Hikari-chan will be much happier with me. "
The man smiled once more. A bolt of lightning flashed again, and when the lightening retreated back into the clouds, the man was gone…along with Hikari.
Itachi fell to his knees; tears began to stream down his cheeks. As if to mourn with the boy, the clouds began to pour rain. Itachi beat the wet ground underneath him crying and yelling. His Hikari-chan was gone; his joy, his happiness, his heart, they were all gone.
Itachi's crimson eyes flared with determination, "I won't let that happen, never again." He ran faster.
--
Hikari walked through the empty street, looking at the red and white symbol that was hung everywhere in the form of flags and posters. She came to stop at a door to one of the houses. She didn't know why, but she was compelled to enter.
She walked around the inside of the house, down every hallway, looked into every room. She felt a familiar air about the house. Each room seemed to hit a chord in her memories, leaving a sense of past
events to resonate through her. She walked into the remnants of a kitchen, a vision flashed through her mind.
She saw a smiling dark-haired woman preparing a meal on the counter.
The woman turned to her and smiled warmly, "Hikari-chan," she said, "Are you looking for Itachi-kun?"
The vision drifted out of her mind, and she turned to depart from the house.
She stepped out the door and stood in the middle of the silent street. She put her palm to her forehead, confused and dazed by the feelings that the house stirred in her. She stared at the ground, trying to force the memories into her mind.
She snapped out of her trance when she felt the presence of another chakra not too far from her. She looked up to see a silver-haired man jump down from a rooftop to stand about 20 feet away from her.
She stared at his exposed right eye; the mixture of emotions that single eye portrayed captured her.
She felt her heart rate increase, "Why does he look so familiar?" she thought to herself.
The man known as Kakashi took a stepped forward, "H-Hikari-chan?" he said in an awestruck tone.
Hikari felt her heart stop at the sound of her name, "He sounds so familiar." She thought. She didn't know why, but a tear escaped from her eye, and slide down her cheek. As the single tear hit the ground, Hikari turned her head. She felt the presence of yet another chakra, this one was stronger though.
"There she is!" Itachi said to himself. He felt a sense of dread befall him as he saw Kakashi standing across from her. "I have to get her out of there," he raced towards her faster than the blink of an eye.
As Kakashi saw the man race towards Hikari, he ran to protect her, but was left standing where she had once stood.
Itachi had gotten to her first, and was soon running away with her in his arms. Hikari watched as the figure of the silver-haired man shrunk into the distance.
Kakashi stared at the two shrinking figures. He couldn't decide whether the sight of Hikari after all these years caused him joy or worry.
"Maybe…" he thought, "Maybe it wasn't her."
He shook his head, trying to clear the denial from his mind.
"But why?" he said, "Why after 8 years? All of a sudden? It doesn't make sense."
He pushed his hand into his vest, and removed a chain necklace he hid under his shirt. Attached was a square pendant. Kakashi smoothed over the square with his thumb, before opening it to reveal the picture he had held onto all these years. He looked at the small girl in the picture, the wide beam
plastered on her face. Surrounded by her parents and Kakashi; he sighed and hated thinking how things could never be as happy as they were then.
After his mind resurfaced from his memories, he closed the lid to the pendant and slid it back down his shirt.
"I have to go inform Lady Hokage." And with that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Well, there you have it. I tried to mix in some drama there, and before anyone gets their panties in a wad, this isn't going to be a KakaXOC thing. You'll find out the role Kakashi plays in all of this in the next chapter. The next chapter should explain a lot more things; I hope I don't make it too boring though! Anyways, please review! (: