Chapter 11: Blast from the Past

-That Night, A Short While Before Dawn-

In the small hours before dawn the party at last began to wind down. The food was all gone, the sake bottle was empty, and Usagi and Mizu had finally crashed, Usagi stretched out on Kiba and Tenten's laps, Mizu leaning on one of Gaara's legs. Hinata tucked the little one's into bed and, Temari picking up her own sleeping child, the rest of the group began to file out. Kankuro, a little drunk, almost tripped over the table, and Kiba pulled Hinata into a tight hug before leaving, but at last they were all gone and Hinata was able to return to her, now oddly warm, bed for a few stolen hours of sleep before the day began.

At the base of the tower they all began to go their separate ways. Shikamaru and Temari set off towards home, Tenten wandered idly in the general direction of the Hyuuga compound, and Lee helping a very tired looking Sakura onto his back so he could carry her back to their own warm bed. Kiba and Shino each took off toward their respective clan compounds, and Sasuke drifted after Sakura and Lee a few paces before abruptly changing direction to follow Gaara and Kankuro back to the diplomats' quarters.

Ino hadn't been walking for two minutes when she felt Choji fall into step beside her. She looked up, expecting to see him holding out something she'd forgotten, but instead he was just walking quietly next to her, as though this were the most natural thing in the world.

"Choji-kun, what . . . what are you doing? Your place is back that way, isn't it?" Ino asked, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

Choji nodded. "It is."

"Then what are you . . ." Ino trailed off, looking up at him in confusion.

He glanced down at her. "I'm walking you home," he told her quietly.

Ino's heart skipped a beat. "Why?" she blurted, then caught herself, "I mean, this wasn't a date or . . . or anything."

Choji shrugged. "We came together," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but as friends," Ino protested, a bit halfheartedly.

Choji looked back at her, studying her for a moment. "I know," he said after a moment, "but we still came together. Its just good manners for me to walk you home."

"Oh," Ino breathed quietly. For a few minutes an awkward silence reigned as they walked. Choji glanced down at her once, only to see her eyes focused ahead of her and quickly look away. Of course he missed the eight or so times she glanced up at him.

"Choji-kun?" she whispered, after walking in silence had finally begun to make her twitch a little.

"Yeah?" he asked, still not looking at her.

"What do you think of when you see Shikamaru and Temari together?"

This time it was Choji's turn to miss a heartbeat. What on earth could she possibly mean by that? He looked down at her quickly, only to see her not looking at him and quickly fix his eyes ahead of him again. "I think . . ." he began, swallowing hard, "I think I'm happy that my best friend found such a great girl and has such a great family." There, that was ambiguous enough, wasn't it?

"You're happy that he's happy," Ino finished for him quietly, "that's nice."

"Yeah, I guess," Choji conceded, still wondering what on earth she could be playing at.

"I guess I'm kind of sad, when I look at them," she confessed quietly.

"Why?" Choji asked in alarm, forgetting to keep his eyes front and looking down at her in confusion.

"Well," Ino looked at her feet, frowning, "I'm as old as Temari was when she got married. And then Sakura and Hinata are both my age, and their married too. I guess I just feel . . . I don't know, like I'm not as good as the others, because I don't have a husband. Hell, I don't even have a boyfriend! I've never had one, aside from . . ." she trailed off, going slightly red in the face.

"Ino-chan, don't say things like that!" Choji admonished, looking at her sharply. "You can't possibly think you're not as good as the others, just because you're not married yet! You're every bit as good as them! Better!"

"You . . . you think so?" Ino asked, looking up at him, her eyes wide and her face slightly redder. "Even . . . even though I haven't really been sticking to my diet all the time, lately?"

"I never would have known if you hadn't told me!"Choji assured her, looking down at her with something like longing in his eyes. "Ino-chan, don't you know you're beautiful?"

Ino let out something like a squeak and looked back down at her feet, while it seemed to dawn on Choji what he'd just said and he quickly looked straight again. Thankfully it was right then that they reached their destination.

"Thanks, for walking me," Ino said quietly, not looking at him.

"You're welcome," Choji replied, also not looking at her.

"And . . . thanks for what you said. No guy has ever actually told me I'm pretty before."

Choji finally got the courage to look at Ino . . . just as she bounced up on her toes and placed a very light kiss on his cheek. He stood their, dumbstruck, as she disappeared, blushing, behind the solid front door. He held his cheek and stood their for a good minute before finally turning to go.

-Meanwhile-

Tenten wasn't entirely sure where she was going. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that this wasn't the way to her apartment, and yet she just couldn't bring herself to change direction. Her feet simply carried her toward an unknown destination.

She felt him before she saw him. For the longest time she'd had the strangest ability to sense his presence. She supposed it had really started when . . . well, a while ago. After they'd . . . parted ways, the first time.

He was standing quite in the middle of the street, halfway between the Hyuuga compound and the the Hokage Tower. Tenten supposed it was almost metaphorical, seeing as he was halfway between being the Hyuuga clan leader, and being the Second Golden Hokage. She almost called out 'Neji-san!'when he came into view, but caught herself at the last minute. "Hokage-sama," she said, once she'd gotten a little closer.

For a moment he didn't respond, just looked at her when she stopped next to him. Then he blinked a few times and glanced over his shoulder, before realizing she was talking to him. "Oh," he shook himself, "I'm sorry, what?"

Tenten giggled. "You're going to have to get used to people calling you that, you know," she told him.

Neji just sighed, shutting his eyes and bowing his head a moment as though in exhaustion. "I would prefer it if you didn't."

Tenten looked up at him in shock. When she didn't reply he looked back at her, confused. "What?" he asked, almost defensively.

Tenten shook her head. "Nothing," she told him quickly, "it's just . . . well what should I call you, now?"

Neji frowned. "You don't have to call me 'Hokage-sama'!" he snapped, "Just call me 'Neji-kun', like you used to! I haven't changed."

"Alright," Tenten agree quietly, deciding not to point out that she hadn't called him 'Neji-kun' in almost seven years, not since, well, a long time ago. She giggled.

"What is it?" he asked warily as she laughed.

"Nothing," she smirked, "its just that . . ."

"What!" he demanded.

"Well, its just that Naruto always hated being called 'Hokage-sama' too," Tenten reminded him gently.

Neji snorted. "So that means we're the same?" he asked, still looking sour.

Tenten shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted, "but I guess . . . I guess he named you Second Golden Hokage for a reason, Hokage-sa, I mean, Neji-kun."

Neji looked down again. "I'm nothing like Naruto," he told her quietly. Tenten remembered a time in their lives, a very long time ago, when that might have been a compliment. Now it seemed almost like the ultimate strike against his character.

Tenten drew closer to him. Slowly, carefully, she slipped her hand into his. He stared down at the hand that now held hers in shock for a moment, then looked up at her. She smiled brightly. "You're more like Naruto than you think, Neji-kun," she told him, "I know you'll be an excellent Hokage."

Neji stared at her for a moment, blinking. Then a small smile spread over his face, and he closed his eyes almost serenely. "Thank you, Tenten-chan."

-Meanwhile-

Sakura was asleep by the time they got home. Lee carried her gingerly up the stair and laid her on the bed. He unbuttoned her medic's top all the way before carefully easing it off her, and slipped a nightgown over her head before slowly sliding her legs out of her skirt.

He sat on the bed for a moment before getting undressed himself. He watched her, his beautiful Sakura-chan, sleeping peacefully on their bed. He sometimes found it hard to believe he'd actually married such a perfect woman. He stroked his cherry blossom's hair, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before moving to take off his vest and jumpsuit.

Once he was clad only in his boxers, he crawled into bed beside her. Again he was still a moment, just watching her as she slept. Leaning over, he brushed his lips against hers tenderly. "Goodnight, my Sakura-chan," he whispered. Then he moved lower, until he was hovering over her belly. He kissed her stomach, nuzzling the soft skin before whispering quietly, "And goodnight to you too, my little one."

-Meanwhile-

The darkness was coming alive. All over the village the shadows lengthened, stretched, and one by one broke off from the objects that cast them and fluttered away. They flitted over the village, taking the shapes of tiny creatures; squirrels, birds, butterflies. Each one left in its wake a trail of dark smoke, the stench of blood lingering in the air behind them for just a moment. They whispered like the wind, forming words on tongues of darkness that sounded like tricks of the ears.

"Hatred of the father, hatred of the son."

"No love to be had amongst the family, no love to be had anywhere."

"Fade into the abyss little one, for you are bound to oblivion by the chains of fate."

Each one laughed as it spoke, tiny, mocking cackles drifting over the sleeping houses and falling on sleeping ears as the tiny beasts drifted away on the wind.

Kakashi watched all of this out of the window of a small, two bedroom house on the edge of town. His one visible eye narrowed as he saw the great congregation of dark creatures all flitter off as one, over the wall and out of the village in the same direction the First Golden Hokage had left in just a few nights before.

There was a small noise from the bed behind him as a tall, slim woman with very straight, very long brown hair stretched and blinked her large blue eyes at him. She rested her head back on the pillow and just stared at him for a moment.

"What's the matter, love?" Ayura asked, as he watched the last of the little monsters disappear from view, "what are you looking at?"

"Something I never thought I'd have to see again," he replied quietly. Ayura stared at him pensively for another moment, waiting. When it became apparent that he was not coming back to bed she wrapped a sheet around herself and stepped daintily onto the hard floor. She padded silently across the room to the window and, tying the ends of the sheet together so they would stay wrapped around her, she came to stand beside him and reached up to cup his cheek. Pulling him down to her, she lifted his forehead protector off his sharingan eye and gently kissed the scar that ran straight down it.

"Please tell me what's wrong," she whispered when he pulled back.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her. "It's nothing. You don't need to worry about a thing."

"Promise?" she asked, looking up at him worriedly.

"I promise," he said, after a split second's hesitation, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead.

She pulled away from him, shaking her head. "You never could lie to me," she told him, turning away.

He caught her about the waist before she reached the bed, pulling her back against his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered against her hair, "but I don't want you to worry. There's nothing for you to be afraid of. I won't let anything happen to you."

She turned abruptly in his arms and grasped the front of his shirt. "I'm more worried about something happening to you," choked into the soft fabric.

"Then you really don't need to worry," he told her seriously, turning his head to look out the window once more. "My generation ceased to be the ones to deal with this a long time ago. Now the most I can hope for is to be able to offer a little good advice to someone who needs it."