Well and after a long absence i'm back, and after a long preparation we are finally getting into the FINAL BATTLE!
The beta for this chapter was Hikari no Okami (is there any other?) and i want to thank specially at Dusk Eclipse for also reading and helping me with his opinions
Lets get this started!
Final Battle at the Bridge! (Part 1)
That night the moon shone brightly on the starry sky, I was looking at the sea through a window, just feeling the salty air against my cheeks and my hair, relaxing myself after a long tiresome day. I wondered how he could have the endurance to still be out there training himself. Then again, that was one of his good points, one of the reasons to why I fell for him…"one of the reasons for which I love him" I finally thought feeling how the hot blood rushed to my cheeks, with a sigh I thanked for the cool breeze.
I heard a sound and moved out of the window in the blink of an eye, activating my byakugan, just in case an enemy would be nearby.
"Do you mind some company?" I heard Midori-sempai's voice and turned my head over there, looking through a wall. She was outside the house on the other side of the wall, Inari-kun was with her, she took a sit beside the boy and they both looked at the ocean. Relaxing I cursed in silence how the ninja life was starting to get on my nerves, making me a little, maybe too much, paranoid about things.
"In name of my teammate I wish to offer you an apology" she said "Naruto-kun tends to be a little blunt on the way he says the things, but I assure you he's a good boy, and even with all his harsh words he means you no harm"
Inari-kun stayed in silence, but paid a glance to the older girl letting her know he had heard what she told him.
"You know?" Continued Midori-sempai since, apparently, Inari wasn't that talkative right now. "Naruto-kun, is probably the one who best understands how you feel, and I'm not just saying it 'cause he's the only boy on our team" she gave the little boy a warm smile which he answered with surprised interest "since the day that boy was born he was been alone. He had no parents, no friends, and he wasn't exactly a popular guy in our hometown either. My guess is he got tired of crying, got tired of being alone. I'd bet any day that those words he said to you, are the very same words he kept telling to himself when he was about your age" Inari-kun's attention was completely caught now and after a few seconds Midori-sempai said out loud "Hey! Hinata! Why don't you come out here and help me?"
I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks (again): I got caught using my byakugan to peek into other people's conversation… I could think of no worst shame for any Hyuuga, or any girl for that matter! I knew it was futile to try and play innocent with Midori-sempai, she had discovered me completely, because she had even turned around towards the wall in the exact point I was.
Slowly and stiffy I went back to the window and let myself out of house to join the other two youngsters.
"G-g-Good Night! Inari-kun, Midori-sempai!" I greeted them a little too high out of my nervousness.
"Is what this girl said true?" asked me Inari-kun
"A-about what e-exactly?" I replied
"About the loud boy" he added. I looked at him in silence not knowing what to say.
"Now now Hinata-san, why don't you sit down, try to relax and give the kid an answer?" invited me Midori-sempai with a smile, her expression was calm and nonchalanty, not only as if she didn't care that I was spying on them but also as if she knew I would be doing that.
"O-ok" I said taking a seat on the other side of Inari-kun
"Well?" pressed the boy
"Ah! Yes! Naruto-kun!" I was about to start rambling when I stopped, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and tried to control myself "yeah, that's pretty much how it is" I said with my eyes closed, waited a second or two and opened them to look Inari-kun to the eye "we had been classmates since the first day when we went to the academy, and he was always alone, even after classes he stayed by his own, later on I learned that he had no parents and lived by himself. It wasn't until we were about your age that we became friends and started hanging around each other. In those days he entrusted to me the words which had kept him together during that lonesome time, and I can assure you, that this night I heard them again, word by word, and even if he said them in anger, he did trying to help you" I finished looking at him with the nicest smile I could muster, and apparently I did a good job because he seemed to like it "its very sad to see you crying and mourning all day, but it's even worst to see you taking out your frustration on all those around you Inari-kun. I'm sure your mom and grandpa feel the very same way. You should enjoy them. I feel kinda envous about you Inari-kun, I don't have a mom nor any grandparent, and my relation with my father and my sister isn't what I would consider healthy. You should enjoy what you have Inari-kun. And please, have faith in us, both your granpa and we, ninja, are working hard for your sake, and we will gladly die to protect your family if we must, in order to protect you and your mom, so please have faith, and try to smile"
Inari-kun didn't say anything but he looked calmer. I sensed a presence and turned around to see Anko-sensei leaving while whispering
"Apparently there's no need for me to participate, you girls have it all covered"
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Early in the morning the next day Midori-sempai was combing my hair as usual and applying a little make up on my face.
"Say, Midori-sempai?" I asked
"I already told you to just call me by my name" she replied
"You already know a lot about me, and I said even more last night, but, I just noticed that I don't know a lot about you"
"What would you like to know?" she asked back
"Well, what about your parents? Or siblings?"
"I live with both my parents, and sadly no, I have no brothers nor sisters: my mom had complications when she gave birth to me so I won't ever have a little bro or sis. I'm an only child, but I'm happy"
"Are they ninja?"
"No, my mom is an actress, she usually takes part in plays in the capital, and my father is a business man"
"Then why did you choose the shinobi life? I remember that you…" I started to ask but she interrupted me .
"There's something I need to do" was all she answered, but the tone she used was almost elderly, as if it was something said by my father, it gave no room to further discution "now, let's go have breakfast, or Tsunami-san will get mad" As soon as the tone had come it had disappeared. Dropping the subject and once Midori-sempai finished with me, we went to meet the others at the table; however, Naruto-kun wasn't there.
"He didn't arrive last night" explained Tazuna-san while drinking a cup of hot tea.
"Anko-san" asked Tsunami "you don't think that maybe he…"
"Nah, Sunshine's a proud ninja of the leaf, he's fine, I'm sure" asured Anko-sensei, tranquilizing both Tsunami and me. I finished my breakfast as fast as I could without forgetting to breath or chew the food and then I stood up.
"I'll go look for him, I'm sure he's hungry, and probably just felt asleep somewhere in the woods" I explained and with a little reverence I gave my thanks for the food.
"Ok, but, isn't the boy's supposed to go get the girl and not the other way around? Anyway, just don't nag your dearie too much on the way back, it might scare him… now that I think about, I thought you two weren't an item…?" asked Anko-sensei
I could feel the color rising as I heard each one of her words "ANKO-SENSEI!" I said loudly almost yelling, I was so embarased "we aren't!" and with that I left the building completely ashamed.
I ran as fast as I could until the house was no longer divisable, and slowly I let my pase fade into a slow walking…but my mind was still going as fast as it could.
"If only that night we hadn't been interrupted there was a chance that I could have answered proudly and with confidence that Naruto-kun and I were going out…I could have showed them a nice smile while saying it too" I fantasized about how I could have given that answer, every thought more girlish than the previous one.
I arrived at the woods where we usually trained and started looking for him, but I could feel my heart being squeezed when, in the distance, his figured appeared, and he was sitting on the grass with another girl! I rushed to hide behind a tree and activated my byakugan, keening my ears so I could hear what they were talking about
"Are these the herbs you're looking for, miss?" asked Naruto-kun to his companion, showing her a little plant he had picked up.
"Yes that's the one, I'll need several of those please" her voice was a little deep, but it was very beautiful. They put the herbs they were picking up in a basket the girl had nearby "Sorry to ask, but what where you doing in this place?" asked the girl to Naruto-kun. The girl had long dark hair and big, brillinat eyes, her face was gorgeous, and her pale, skin like marble topped perfectly with her thin figure; she was wearing a nice pink kimono.
"I was training of course!" replied Naruto-kun without a second of delay.
"Training? What for? You already look very strong" said the girl
"But I want to be stronger, so that everyone will acknowledge me!" said the blond with determination.
"Tell me, do you…have anyone you want to protect?" her question got both Naruto-kun and me surprised "I think that someone can become truly strong when that person is protecting something or someone"
Her words made me remember when Naruto-kun stood up to Sasuke-san in the academy, when he protected us from Misuki, and how both he and I were able to stand before a jounin as strong as Zabuza to rescue our sensei. I hoped Naruto-kun was thinking about the same things.
Naruto-kun smiled at the girl "Yeah, I understand perfectly what you mean" The girl picked up a few more herbs and stood up "are you leaving miss?"
"Yes I have to go back now. You'll become truly strong" assured the girl before making a light bow and starting to walk away, once she was a little away from Naruto-kun she added "By the way, I'm a boy"
…
She was actually a he.
I can only imagine my expression as she, I mean, he said that, but, Naruto-kun's was priceless. We both froze there unable to say a word. I waited a few minutes, seeing Naruto-kun trying to get over the shock (and I was too, trying to get over the shock, but at least it made me calmer, Naruto-kun hadn't been with another girl) and after that I approched Naruto-kun.
"Good morning" I said lowly,
"Ah, Hina-chan! Good morning!" he replied smiling.
After the little incident with the herb-gatherer I took Naruto-kun back to the house (despite his desire to keep on training, and I horribly did felt like I was nagging him about feeding himself properly) and after that he joined Midori-sempai in the training, while Anko-sensei and I went to the bridge to protect Tazuna-san.
By the end of the day when Anko-sensei went to check on their improvement, she announced that they both had finished their training and starting tomorrow they would join us at the bridge. I was very happy to be able to spend my days with Naruto-kun again, however, the strain of two rough straight days got the best of Naruto-kun who even skipped dinner and fell asleep early.
The night passed without problem and actually in silence now that he was dreaming, but I kinda felt it empty without his loudly presence full of stamina. I smiled. The next morning Naruto-kun slept in and Anko-sensei told us to let him sleep so that his body could recover from all the training he did. So, that morning Midori-sempai, Anko-sensei, Tazuna-san and I left the house for the bridge and let Tsunami-san and Inari-kun looking after Naruto-kun.
The morning at the bridge passed on without much trouble, but a chill moved through my back when a thick mist covered the place. As a deep laughter sounded around us, the few workers that still were there ran away.
"AROUND TAZUNA! GATHER!" ordered Anko-sensei.
"As we tought Zabuza was still alive" said Midori-sempai.
We all positioned ourselves around Tazuna-san in a second, covering all the sides we could.
"I've comeback to get my revenge on you" Zabuza's voice sounded cold and merciless "I can't allow my reputation to be hindered by the likes of you"
"Come on out, come and fight me!" challenged Anko-sensei
"I have to kill the old man. You know I'm a professional and I can't leave without terminating my target" suddenly his voice came from all around us and a handfull of Zabuzas appeared wielding their massive sword against us "those kids will not stop me!"
"You'll do good not to understimate these kids. BrightEyes, show him" said to me Anko-sensei
This was the opportunity to demonstrate all my physical training from Anko-sensei, my chakra training from Midori-sempai, and my mental training from Habataku.
Concentrating my chakra I started to move my hands "8 trigrams, protection of the 64 palms!" thin lines of chakra came out from my hands and with my flexibility and control I used them to hit all the Zabuzas, stopping their approach. After getting a hit all the Zabuzas exploded into water.
"Hmmm it seems like they have improved" acknowledged Zabuza calmly.
"Even if the water clones posses only a reduced amount of power when compared to the original, she destroyed them all in a single hit" said a new voice.
"It seems like you have just found yourself an opponent, Haku"
At that moment Zabuza and the masked girl from last time stepped out of the mist.
"So, she is an ally of Zabuza" confirmed Anko-sensei
"Haku-kun why are you doing this?!" demanded Midori-sempai "I know you're a good person"
"I don't know how you know me, but that is none of your business" replied the masked girl.
"We have the advantage here, go Haku" commanded Zabuza and with a nod this Haku person advanced in a whirling movement towards us. Reacting to her approach I moved forward too.
"Jyuken: Twin Fist!" we clashed straight on; however, this time I used my technique as a melee attack, thus making it stronger.
Her centrifuged force against my attack were even matched and we both were sent a few steps back each when we our attacks hit each other's.
At that moment I noticed that she was using senbon needles as weapons, matching her I pulled out a kunai blade, however, as the attacks continued we all noted I was lacking speed against her, and sooner or later I would be unable to stop her attacks
"I'll protect Tazuna-san, Anko-sensei, please go help Hinata-san!" pleaded Midori-sempai worried.
"Heh" Anko-sensei showed a smirk "there's no need to ask for it, I was about to" just as she moved to help me Zabuza intercepted her.
"Do you think I'll let you? Let's allow the kids some fun of their own"
The situation was critical, I was loosing terrain with each hit, even if I was a little stronger she was clearly faster, and I was only able to focus on defending myself.
"I don't want to have to kill you, but you won't stand down, will you?" asked me the girl, and suddenly her voice seemed somehow familiar.
"I don't want to fight you either, but I don't think you'd stop this fight even if I did" I said to her.
"We have to kill the bridge builder" she answered.
"We have to protect him" was my reply.
"I see…" she said "but you won't be able to keep up with my speed in the next attack, especially when I already have two advantages. The first one is all the water around us" at that moment I noticed all the water from the water clones that was still around us "and the second one, is that I have already locked down on of your hands" she was talking about the hand in which I was holding my weapon "you won't be able to use jutsu now" and a reply to her own comment she started to use her free hand to mark hand seals, she stomped on the ground and all the water rose around us "Water Needles no Jutsu!" all the water that was in the air took the form of a senbon needle, I knew the technique perfectly, it was my technique, just that this was much, much more powerful that any time I had used it before.
This is bad! she's a water type too!
In that moment all the needles moved towards me.
And for now that's it!
The next chapter will come out in about two weeks when Okami and I return from our summer Vacations
Please R&R