I am soooooooooo sorry for this very late update!:( I've been SUPER busy with the holidays and my job but hopefully I'll have time to write this story for you guys!
STORY NOTES: Some of the dialogue is from a direct Naruto episode, which I do not own. Plz read Broken Wings, and I hope you enjoy!
Ch. 3: Bloodlines and Dreams
A week had passed and Naruto and Hikari were always eager for each school day. Either Naruto would go to Hikari's house so they could walk together, or Hikari would go to Naruto's house and they would walk together from there — just whoever woke up and got ready first. Sometimes they would meet each other half-way and then laugh about it as they ran to the Academy.
Their friends: Shikamaru, Choji, Akamaru, Kiba, and now Shino, would hang out together. Hikari had been impressed when Shino began to hang around her and Naruto — Naruto had accepted Shino as long as his bugs stayed away from his ramen, and then the rest of the boys accepted Shino as well, not being really afraid of his creepy crawlers though Shino rarely talked. They mainly stayed in a group when Iruka-sensei took them out to do some ninja training or they went somewhere outside the academy.
Today, they would be on the Academy's training ground, learning how to throw shuriken the right way and hit some moving targets — Iruka clones.
Many had already went up, and now it was Hinata Hyuga's turn, the shyest girl that Hikari hadn't really spoken to yet. Hikari watched her as she focused hard — harder than the rest of the kids that had went up previously.
She threw a series of shuriken and they hit two of the five Iruka clones. Hikari brightened up that she nailed two of them so quickly and looked around at the other kids only to realize that none of them were even paying attention to the Hyuga girl. This puzzled Hikari, didn't she have any friends to praise her for what she done?
Looking back at Hinata, she saw that her face was downcast as if she were upset or disappointed in herself . . . which further puzzled Hikari. It took Naruto forever to manage to hit one . . .
And then it hit Hikari. Hinata was a Hyuga — one of the most royal and powerful clans of the Hidden Leaf Village. They had been learning about their history in class, finding out that they had a true genius in their year — Sasuke of the most powerful clan in the village, the Uchiha's. And then the other one from a powerful bloodline was Hinata. Hikari had looked into it more and realized that in big, dominant clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga, the clan leaders expect more from their heirs. Hinata's cousin, Neji Hyuga, who's a year above them, is seemingly the more gifted one out of the two and thus pressure is put on Hinata to try and not fail in the eyes of her father.
Concern for the girl that she had never directly spoken to before began to strike through Hikari, and she suddenly found herself driven to be a good friend to her from now on.
Putting a bright smile on her face, she called out to the girl. "Great job Hinata! That was awesome! Do it again!" she yelled encouragingly, capturing everyone's attention.
Hinata's unique pearl eyes were wide and glistening in pure shock as she looked back at Hikari.
Naruto gazed at Hikari and then at Hinata with a questioning face while everyone was shocked by the sudden outburst and was staring wide-eyed at Hikari but she remained oblivious. Iruka smiled, looking up from his clipboard that contained the grades each student was performing.
"So what's up, Hikari?" Naruto asked from beside her.
Hikari continued smiling and nodded toward Hinata. "She just hit two of Iruka-sensei's clones like it was nothing, and on her first try too!" she deliberately said in a loud voice so Hinata would hear her too.
Naruto was rather impressed by this, but caught on to what Hikari was doing and got a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. "Whoa — you're kidding! That's amazing!" he exclaimed, both he and Hikari turning to face the white-with-shock Hinata.
All eyes were on her now and she immediately started blushing madly. Iruka saw this and looked at her with a smile.
"Well, Hinata?" he urged in a soft voice and she snapped out of her flustered state.
"Uh, yes, of course!" she quickly spoke and turned around, gaining a mysterious confidence she didn't know existed as she thought about what Hikari said . . . The first time anyone has ever encouraged her like that.
She nodded to herself and began focusing on the last three clones. Driven as she was, a tiny hint of her Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, showed deep within her pupil-less eyes.
Focus! she screamed at herself as she threw three shuriken at the last remaining clones. The spinning stars hit squarely on with the moving Iruka's, causing them to disappear as Hinata's shuriken engraved themselves into the tree where other shuriken lay.
Hinata stood back from her hunched over form and breathed deeply, visibly relaxing. Then her classmates began cheering behind her, surprised, she turned around to see that they were all watching her, all cheering at what she had done, with Hikari in the lead. For one split second, the Hyuga heir didn't feel like such a disappointment, a failure.
And that's when she smiled brightly.
Iruka nodded, pleased with her results. "Great job, Hinata. You can go take a break," he told her.
"Okay!" she said, happiness lacing her voice that took the shy stammer-ness away. She quickly ran away, and to the group that had been cheering her on the most, the one that Hikari and Naruto belonged with.
"You were amazing out there!" Hikari complimented with a big smile.
"Yeah, you were all like whoosh and then —" And Naruto began elaborating everything in a hyper-active way.
For the rest of the period, the small group of kids talked, watched, and cheered each other on as they each went up to practice throwing shuriken. Hikari had done well, almost as well as Hinata, and she spent the rest of the hour telling Naruto she would help him train and get better at it since he seemed a bit disgruntled after Kiba teased him that two girls did better than him.
After shuriken practice, it was lunch break and Hikari and Hinata went in to get the lunches while the boys tried to find a decent spot to eat. On their way out, Hinata slowed to a stop and Hikari stopped, coming up beside her questioningly.
"Hikari . . . th-thank you f-for ch-cheering me on before . . ." Hinata said quietly, looking down.
"Well someone had to," Hikari smiled warmly, inviting the girl to open up.
Hinata nodded, not knowing what to say and Hikari pulled out some confidence.
"Hey," she said, holding out her hand and Hinata stared at her, confused. "We haven't really officially met yet, have we? I'm Hikari Kyoko." She smiled, and Hinata noticed the stunning glow of light around her before smiling too and shaking her hand.
"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga," she said before they let go.
"Let's find those boys so we can eat!" Hikari said and Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Right!" And together they found their group sitting under a shady tree.
"Finally! I'm staarving!" Choji whined, patting his stomach with a frown on his face.
Hikari gave him a comforting smile as her and Hinata sat down with the food. Hikari noticed that Shino was already sitting with the group and she smiled to herself that all of her friends were together.
She mainly talked with Naruto, Kiba, and Choji since they were the most talkative of the group — Shikamaru immediately began relaxing right after he ate and even started snoozing lightly. Shino remained quiet, studying his bugs and Hikari often involved Hinata in their conversations enough that the guys grew to like the quiet girl and cherish her as a friend like Hikari.
When they packed up their lunch and headed inside, Hikari walked with Hinata while all of the boys walked in front of them.
"Wow, your um, fr-friends are n-nice H-Hikari . . ." Hinata said, still a bit shy.
"They're your friends too," Hikari told her with a smile and Hinata seemed to brighten up at that fact.
Friends . . . Hinata thought contently to herself, liking that feeling of companionship.
Together they all went back to their classroom for more lessons before school ended. Naruto began whispering to Hikari in the middle of the lesson.
"Pssst, hey Hikari!" Naruto said in a somewhat loud whisper but no one could hear him because they were in the very back.
"Huh? What is it Naruto?" Hikari quietly whispered back, both of them having one hand up to cover their mouths so no one would be able to tell what they were saying by looking at them.
"Well, uh, please don't be mad but I was going to go hang out with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba after school today. They say its guys only so I couldn't bring you no matter how much I pleaded!" he said with a guilty expression.
Hikari thought it over. So this means I'll be alone after school . . . she thought sadly to herself, and Naruto could sense her train of thought.
"Hey, I don't care what they say! I'll bring you along anyway! Believe it!" Naruto told her, not wanting her to be hurt. But Hikari knew that this was important for Naruto, hanging out with new friends could help him better than she ever could.
"No, it's okay. I'll find something better to do, maybe hang out with Hinata some more — you go and have fun!" she told him with a smile, and Naruto studied her for a moment, trying to see if there was any hint of sadness.
Finding none, he mirrored her smile with a grin of his own. "Thanks, you're the best Hikari!"
They both began giggling to themselves, not paying attention to how loud they were getting.
Iruka loudly cleared his throat, catching the two giggling children's attention. "Is there something you would like to share? Naruto? Hikari?" he asked them, and they both flushed, Naruto laughing to himself and Hikari scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.
School was over and Naruto had already left with Kiba and the rest, her waving them off and telling Naruto it was fine, and them telling her that she could come next time.
Sighing, she looked around and saw Hinata, but she was just leaving with her father. She saw them leave quietly, almost without a word, and Hikari found herself at a loss on what to do for the time being.
"Jeez, you have such a giant forehead billboard brow!" A girl teased harshly in a loud voice, causing Hikari to overhear a group of girls ganging up on something.
Confused as to what they were doing, Hikari walked up closer to them. And then she saw that a gang of girls were cornering the pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno.
And Sakura was . . . crying. The brutal verbal assaults coming from the mean girls triggered something inside Hikari, she didn't like how they were ganging up on the defenseless girl like that. It reminded her of her past, something she didn't like to think about, especially when Naruto wasn't with her — he was always her rock, as long as he was near, she knew she would always be safe.
"How could you ever think you would make it as a ninja with that big forehead of yours always gettin' in the way?" Came a snooty remark from one of the girls, and she said this while pointing at Sakura's forehead and Sakura shrunk back in embarrassment and tears.
"Stop that right now!" Hikari found herself yelling, face set in a scowl to show her disapproval of their actions toward the innocent girl.
She stepped right in between them and the teary-eyed girl, her arms outstretched from her, effectively blocking their way.
Sakura stopped shaking and crying for a moment to look up in shock at the snow-white haired girl who was defending her. The gang of girls were equally shocked by her sudden intrusion before they began frowning at Hikari.
"That's that girl my parents told me to stay away from," One of the girls whispered to the one in front.
"Fine. Whatever." She said out loud, turning to leave with the rest of them following her.
Hikari watched them leave, the defiant look still on her face until she heard Sakura sobbing behind her.
"Hey, are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?" Hikari asked her softly, her face concerned as she knelled down in front of the girl and placed her hands on the sobbing girl's shoulders in an act to calm her down.
Sakura couldn't believe it. Someone had actually stood up for her. Her! The one that they make fun of because of her extra-large forehead. And it was none other than the girl who had drawn everyone's attention today by encouraging the shy girl, Hinata, during shuriken practice.
She looked up at the girl, Hikari.
"There now, you see? Everything's going to be all right!" Hikari told her with a bright smile, her positive glow beaming and it stunned Sakura out of speaking for a few moments.
What is this girl? Why is there a light around her? Sakura thought to herself before regaining her composure and looking down. "Uh . . . thank you, Hikari. For helping me." She said in a soft whisper.
Hikari's eyes slightly widened. "You know my name?" she asked, astounded that someone remembered her name, the outcast.
Sakura looked up at her with big, green innocent eyes. "Of course I do, your the one who's so nice to everyone."
Those words echoed in Hikari's heart, and she almost let herself cry. To anyone else, those words would but have little meaning, but to someone who was branded their entire seven years of life as a freak or monster, it had a special meaning. It meant someone had noticed her, someone besides Naruto, her best friend. She briefly wondered if this is what Naruto felt when Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba asked him to hang out with them. This sense of more friendship . . . of acceptance.
"Hey what's wrong? Did I say something . . . ?" Sakura questioned, seeing how Hikari was on the verge of tears.
Hikari then smiled the tears away. "Thank you, Sakura."
Hikari helped Sakura up and they stood in the empty academy schoolyard.
"If those kids bully you again, just stand up for yourself — you're ten times better than them!" Hikari told her, she didn't like bullies, and she wanted to help Sakura.
"Th-Thank you, I'll try," Sakura said, nodding to herself.
Hikari smiled. "Good. Well, see ya later!" she sung in her high soprano voice, running and waving bye to the girl.
Sakura waved back, a smile on her face too.
The next few days passed by in a breeze, and Naruto and Hikari found themselves falling into a scheduled pattern: Get ready, meet up, go to the academy, have a few classes, when going outside they always fall into their group and start chatting away until the exercise is done, then it's normally always a group lunch (except when it's those rare days and everyone pairs off to themselves, usually Naruto and Hikari eat together while the others pair off), they go in and do more classes, then they all leave for the park after school — usually it's just Hikari, Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Akamaru since Shino and Hinata leave with their parents. Hikari had become really good friends with the quiet Hyuga girl, she was actually pretty fun to talk with once you got to know her well, and she was ever kind — one of the traits that Hikari immediately liked about the girl, though she could say the same for all her friends since they were all kind in their own way. Though one day, while Hikari and Hinata were off talking to themselves during an outside activity one day, Hinata's question took Hikari off-guard.
She said she had been wanting to ask something for a while now, but didn't exactly know how to approach the subject. When Hikari told her to go ahead and ask, Hinata did, while furiously blushing.
"I-I noticed h-how y-you and Naruto were h-holding hands the f-first day w-we all came to th-the academy . . . I-I was just wondering if y-you t-two were . . . t-together . . ."
It was Hikari's turn to blush madly. "Wh-What're you talking about Hinata? Of course we're not together!" she told her while looking down in embarrassment and Hinata's eyes grew wide as she too looked down, both girls blushing red.
"O-Oh . . ." Hinata whispered, embarrassed as well at her false assumptions. And she was so sure too . . .
"But you know . . ." Hikari said, looking up into the cloudless blue sky above and Hinata looked at her in surprise. "We do care for each other. On a level that no one else knows . . . it's like we have our own special bond . . . and I wouldn't give it up for anything!" Hikari told her, looking back at Hinata with a smiling face.
Hinata smiled back before (speak of the devil) Naruto began yelling at them to come over there and watch something. Hikari and Hinata shared a secret smile together before both getting up and joining their group of friends.
While she was getting ever closer with the friends she already knows, she hadn't heard anything about Sakura and found herself worrying one day. Their class had a huge amount of students, and it was hard just to find one person. So Hikari hadn't heard nor seen Sakura in the past few days since she last helped the girl from the bullies and began to worry and feel concerned.
"C'mon Hikari! What ya standin' around for?" Naruto said as it was time to leave.
Hikari had stopped walking and had begun looking around the schoolyard, her concern growing as she began getting a bad feeling. Hikari snapped out of it though when Naruto spoke, and she quickly covered up her concerned frown with a reassuring smile, closing her eyes in the process so he wouldn't be able to see her inner turmoil.
"Sorry, I'm coming!" she quickly told him and he snorted, turning back around as they began walking around again.
"We'd better hurry — the others are waitin'!" Naruto said while behind him, Hikari had stopped smiling and looked off into the distance.
Elsewhere . . .
Sakura was being bullied by even more girls, and she was completely alone. All of them making fun of her because of her large forehead.
"Whatcha gonna do now, Billboard Brow?" The leader of the girls said in a snide voice, hitting Sakura on the forehead and causing her to fall down.
"Yeah! There's no one here to help ya!" Another girl voiced.
Sakura cried, "Just leave me alone!"
"Or what? You gonna make us, Billboard Brow?" The girl said, hands on her hips as she leaned down to Sakura's level and poked her harshly in the forehead, causing Sakura to whimper. "Face it, you're hopeless!" she told her heartlessly.
Sobbing, and not knowing what else to do, Sakura ran away from them.
After running for who knows how long, she collapsed unto the sidewalk, hands wrapped around her knees as she continued sobbing.
I'm sorry Hikari, I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger like you said I could be, she thought to herself, feeling like she let Hikari and herself down.
Her sobbing was quite loud and a girl with light blond hair heard her crying and went to investigate. She found a girl with pink hair huddled up, sobs raking her body and the girl's blue eyes registered that she was the girl that the kids at the academy always made fun of. In truth, she felt sorry for the girl and wanted to help her out, so she went and kneeled down in front of her.
"Hey, aren't you the one their always teasing because ya got such a big forehead?" she asked the girl.
Sakura looked up from her crying to see a smiling girl sitting in front of her, she didn't look like any of the mean kids that always bullied her but her question caught her off-guard.
"Wh-Who are you?" Sakura asked her in a voice thick with tears.
"Who me? Well that's easy, my name is Ino Yamanaka. Who are you?" Ino said in a clear voice that matched her personality.
Sakura began sniffling. "My name is . . . Sa-Sakura . . ." she said in a muted voice, her words indecipherable due to her sniffling.
"Huh? Hellooo! I can't hear you. Let's try that again, okay? Who are you?"
"My name is Sakura!" she yelled out.
"That's better!" Ino told her as she drew closer and pointed at Sakura's forehead, and Sakura's eyes went wide. "So this is the famous forehead, huh? Whoa, it is kinda big . . . So that's why you hide it with your bangs?" she asked, hitting her back lightly, causing Sakura to start sniffling slightly. "That's dumb, it just makes it worse. Makes you look like a sheepdog . . ." Ino said, brushing her bangs away with her hand so she could see all of Sakura's face.
Ino studied the girl before smiling, knowing just what would improve Sakura's look and confidence; the red ribbon she had at home. She would be able to pull her bangs away from her face so that way it would frame it — because she actually had a pretty face, she just needed to show it off some more.
"So your Sakura, huh?" Ino said, still smiling.
Sakura sniffed. "Uh-huh," she murmured to the girl and Ino let her bangs fall back down as she began to walk away.
"Hey, you know what? I've got something special for you, come back here tomorrow okay?" Ino told her, and Sakura looked up at her in surprise as she waved bye.
Little did she know, that this would begin Sakura's first friendship.
A few weeks later . . .
Hikari was psyched! Today would be her first kunoichi class!
Excited, she quickly got ready and began running to go get Naruto. She ran up to his apartment and knocked on his door.
"What? What? Jeez, you look excited!" Naruto said with a chuckle as he opened his door.
"Uh-huh! I can't wait for class today!" Hikari told him with a beaming smile, which Naruto mirrored, and they soon speedily made their way to the academy.
Naruto was excited too, but he was already missing Hikari since she would be gone most of the day, along with Hinata. But he was happy to see her positively radiating that strange glowy light of hers. It always seems to wrap around him and fill him with nothing but happy thoughts and emotions.
The girls of the class were quickly rounded up by a female instructor, taken outside the academy, and into a forest with wildflowers everywhere!
"Oh wow, this place is so pretty!" Hikari spoke to Hinata as they both gazed around them in awe.
Hinata nodded and, sharing a smile with her friend, walked to where their teacher was calling them all to sit in a group. They both sat toward the back since the front was already taken.
"Kunoichi have a special role to play, they must not only learn ninjutsu, but also a wide range of knowledge and refinement as women. If you can't blend in to enemy territory by adapting the customs of the women there," she mused, fiddling with her glasses. "Then you'll never be able to succeed as a spy. In any event, today's class is flower arranging." She told the class as everyone began standing up. "Now then everyone, go into the fields and gather distinctive flowers."
Everyone cheered a "yes ma'am!" and the girls paired up or went out into groups to hunt for flowers.
"C'mon Hinata! Let's go!" Hikari cheered, taking her by the hand and leading her out into a spacious area filled with all different types of flowers.
The two quickly began picking different types of flowers to make them look good, but somewhere nearby . . .
Sakura and Ino paired off together, the two were very close friends now, ever since the day Ino helped Sakura overcome her embarrassment.
Picking a flower, Sakura spoke in a somewhat timid voice. "I'm just not very good at this kind of stuff. What about you?" Sakura asked her friend as she sat down beside her.
"Well that's not good considering your named after a cherry blossom. Okay, look, it's simple — I'll explain it all right?" Ino told her and Sakura looked up in surprise. "The first thing is, find a main flower for your bouquet. Then you find other flowers that compliment the main one. You see, flowers have to highlight each other's beauty. There's really nothing to it once you know all the tricks," Ino explained without missing a beat (considering she was practically raised in a flower shop). "For example . . ." She than began looking around and Sakura followed her gaze to a batch of pretty pink flowers. "Look. You see those cosmos flowers over there? Well if they were the main flower in your arrangement, than the thoroughwort flowers you picked would compliment them." She said, pointing to white flowers that were less-appealing than the cosmos flowers. "Cosmos flowers are also called autumn cherry blossoms, and they're the prettiest flowers in the fall. Their name comes from an old word that means harmony, they can harmonize with all of the other flowers and any autumn grass would go just perfectly with them in a flower arrangement." Ino further explained, leaving Sakura in awe of her friend's in-depth knowledge.
Sakura looked down, wishing she had known that, when Ino picked a thoroughwort flower from Sakura's small bouquet.
"So, tell me, do I look as pretty as the cosmos flowers now? C'mon, am I cute?" Ino asked her, holding the flower up in front of her and giving a wink.
Sakura took a moment, always in awe at Ino's outgoing nature.
"Uh . . . yeah!" Sakura told her, her voice soft.
"Sheesh! Took ya long enough to say it!" Ino teased, acting angry which Sakura laughed loudly at.
"Well, well, you sure look like your havin' a lot of fun. Billboard Brow. Ha!" The mean girl from before who always bullied Sakura the most, came up with two other girls. Her snide remark stopped Sakura from laughing anymore as she turned around to face the intimidating girl.
Ino just sat there, glaring daggers at the girl who was making fun of her best friend.
The mean girl walked up closer to the frightened girl, causing Sakura to shrink back.
"You know you're still nothing but a hopeless little girl, Sakura. So don't go strutting around like your hot stuff, got it?" She threatened while thumping Sakura's forehead harshly, causing Sakura to gasp and whimper.
Suddenly, three flowers sailed sharply through the air and landed squarely in the mean girl's mouth, causing her to fall backwards.
The other two girls shouted her name while rushing to her side.
Ino withdrew her extended hand.
"Sorry, that head of yours is so empty that I mistook it for a vase, and thought I might put some flowers in there," Ino said in a sarcastic tone, fed up with all of the rude teasing of her friend.
The girl swiftly sat up and screamed, "INO!"
"It's aconite, a shinobi flower. I guess it's not really that poisonous, but still, ya might wanna spit those out when ya get the chance," Ino said in a threatening voice, causing Sakura to look back at her with wide eyes.
The three girls squealed and ran away to rinse out the 'poison.'
Ino suddenly giggled, causing Sakura to look over at her.
"I forgot to say that only the root is poisonous!" Ino chided, sticking her tongue out as she continued to giggle to herself.
Sakura began smiling. Ino is so . . . great! She knows practically everything! Her clothes are so stylish, and she's way cute! She's even good with her shuriken! Compared to that . . . I'm . . . nothing . . . Sakura thought to herself, becoming down and Ino could sense it.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Ino asked her softly while Sakura gazed down at the tiny, insignificant thoroughwort flower in her hand.
"Ino if you're a cosmos flower . . . than am I just a thoroughwort?" Sakura mumbled, more to herself, and Ino sighed.
"Now why would you say that?" Ino asked her with a smile on her face and Sakura looked up at her. "Well, let's see . . ." Ino thought before giving Sakura a huge grin. "Actually, I don't think you're a flower at all, Sakura. You're still a bud waiting to bloom!" Ino told her in a comforting tone.
This shocked Sakura, and she began to laugh without humor. So I'm not even a flower . . . she thought sullenly to herself, looking down once more while Ino gazed at her with a serious expression, wanting her to see the hidden meaning behind what she said.
Silence came over them and Ino started daydreaming until Sakura began speaking. Ino didn't hear the first part so Sakura repeated herself, looking up at her shyly.
"Why did . . . you give me this ribbon? What's it suppose to mean?" she asked in a quiet voice and Ino smiled at her.
"Well actually . . ." Ino gazed out in front of them at all of the flowers. "Let's just say I thought it would be a real big waste for you to wilt away as nothing but a bud," Ino gazed at her before looking down and softly caressing a bud of a yellow flower. "I mean, how sad is it if flowers never bloom?" A breeze passed through and Sakura began to process what Ino was saying. Ino looked back at Sakura. "For all we know, that little bud . . . It might become a flower even more beautiful than a cosmos," Ino gave her a warm smile.
Sakura sat there, inspired by Ino's heartfelt words that held so much meaning to her. Her eyes began glistening up with happy tears she's never shed before. Thank you, Ino. Thank you. Sakura thought the words she couldn't speak out for fear that her tears would be unleashed.
Ino looked up, snapping out of the moment.
"Hey, c'mon," Ino said softly, standing up while Sakura visibly shook from all of the emotions coming at her. "We've gotta finish our assignments."
"Uh, okay . . ." Sakura said in a teary voice which Ino noticed.
"What's wrong Sakura?" she asked her.
"U-Um . . . I got some dirt in my eyes when I fell."
Ino snickered to herself, "You're so clumsy!" she giggled.
They both began to look in a spacious field of flowers.
When Hikari thought her flower arrangement looked good enough, she turned to face Hinata.
"So . . . what do you think?" Hikari asked, showing her flower bouquet.
Hinata smiled. "It looks great Hikari!" she told her with a smile, to which Hikari returned.
"Hey, yours looks better than mine!" Hikari teased, but was truthful, it seemed Hinata knew a little more about this stuff than she did.
Sakura and Ino both heard two girls laughing and Sakura turned to look when she thought she heard the name "Hikari."
She then gasped in recognition when she saw the white-haired girl, along with Hinata Hyuga.
"Hikari!" Sakura yelled out, crossing the field to get to where they were, Ino followed her with curiosity and confusion.
"Huh?" Hikari and Hinata both looked up to see a pink-haired girl running happily toward them with a light-haired girl following close behind.
Then Hikari recognized the girl and immediately shouted out her name with a huge grin on her face.
The two smiled at each other as Hikari began the questions that had her concerned. "Where have you been? Are you okay and everything?"
"I'm fine, I've just been hanging out with my friend, Ino!" Sakura told her, gesturing to the girl beside her and Hikari gazed at her before smiling.
"Hi, I'm Hikari!" she told her, and Ino remembered her from class, how captivating the glow of light was . . .
"Hi there," Ino said with a smile.
"This is my friend Hinata," Hikari introduced the girl beside her.
"Uh, hello . . ." she said a bit shyly, a slight blush on her cheeks appeared whenever attention was on her.
Sakura and Ino both said a friendly "hi" to the girl and soon enough, the four girls were all sitting together amongst all of the flowers.
"Wow Ino, your flower arrangement is so beautiful!" Hikari said in awe as she studied the complimenting colorful flowers.
Ino smiled. "Thanks, but it was easy!"
"Huh?" Hikari looked up at her questioningly, as well as Hinata.
Sakura decided to answer their question. "Ino's family owns a flower shop in town, so she knows a lot about flowers!"
"Oh, wow, really?" Hikari asked, looking back at Ino.
She nodded. "Yep, and I can help ya out if you want," she offered them, and Hikari and Hinata smiled at each other and nodded toward Ino.
"Well, actually Hinata's so far is really good, she has all of the flowers complimenting her main one like mine. All you need is to add some extra yellow flowers and yours is complete!" Ino said to Hinata who mumbled a thanks. "Hikari, yours are a really beautiful pick too, but you need some smaller flowers to go with your biggest flowers so they'll even each other out."
"Okay!" Hikari nodded, and went to search with Hinata.
"Your friends are nice Sakura," Ino mused with a smile, and
Sakura turned to look at her. "Do you think they can be friends with me too?" she asked her with a grin, her eyes closed.
A happy smile stretched across Sakura's face. "Yeah!" she answered before getting up and dragging a surprised Ino along with her to their new friends. All four of the girls giggled and chatted all the way till their assignment was done and they returned o the academy.
Out of all four of them, Ino's bouquet was the best. But Sakura's, Hikari's, and Hinata's were all good too and they passed with high scores. They even got to take their flower arrangement home with them!
Carrying her bouquet, Hikari went into the next class. The final class of the day, and also the class where she would be with Naruto again. Smiling widely to herself, she quickly went up to her usual seat beside him.
"Hey! Look at what I made!" Hikari showed him her flowers and he studied them with a huge smile on his face.
"Wow Hikari! You made this?" he questioned at its greatness.
"Yep, but I had help from Ino and Sakura!" Hikari told him.
"Ino? Sakura?" he questioned and she pointed out the two girls as they came in the classroom.
Iruka-sensei then started the class and everyone took their seats. Today's last lesson would be very important, they would be learning about the Hokage, the leader over their village who made sure it was protected no matter what.
Naruto was in complete awe as Iruka-sensei explained what being Hokage meant. The Hokage was the most respected, most powerful, and wisest shinobi of the village.
Being Hokage meant everyone looked up at him.
After school finally ended, Naruto and Hikari went by their apartments to drop off their things before heading off to the nearby park.
Hikari met Naruto there, he was on the swing with his head down, barely swinging at all and she knew that pose; he was deep in his thoughts.
"What's wrong Naruto?" she asked him as she took the swing beside him.
"I've just been thinkin' about Iruka-sensei's lesson, about the Hokage." Naruto said in a low and serious tone, still looking down.
Hikari looked up toward the sky with a thoughtful expression. "Oh yeah, I betcha being Hokage is tough, but it probably pays off in the end."
"Huh?" Naruto looked up at Hikari, wondering what she was thinking as she continued staring up at the evening sky.
"I mean . . . people look up to you, cherish you, but most importantly . . ." Saying this in a soft voice, she looked at Naruto with a smile, her eyes closed. "You'll get to help others, and be able to call everyone your family. To me . . . that love is what really matters."
Naruto just sat there, eyes glistening as he gazed at his most cherished friend. He felt the moisture build up in his eyes from hearing her words and quickly wiped them away with his arms.
Hikari noticed and looked at him questioningly before he looked onward ahead with a smile on his face and determination lacing his blue eyes.
"Then, that's exactly what I want to be. To become the greatest Hokage, so kids like you and me won't ever be alone — but will always be accepted." Naruto said in a bold voice that made Hikari stare at him in awe. Naruto turned to her with a wide grin on his face, "To be Hokage is my dream!"
Hikari soon laughed lightly to herself, her eyes soft as she studied him. "Then . . . I believe in you Naruto, I know your dream will come true!" she told him, feeling deep down the rightness of her words. And I'll help however I can to make your dream come true Naruto . . . she thought to herself as they both smiled at each other, eyes closed.
Yeah . . . I love happy moments. And Naruto and Hikari, so if you agree, or like this, then plz review and tell me!:D