"It wasn't that funny..." Shirou said, just a little downcast as his old friend laughed openly at him. After they got greetings out of the way, they started catching up, exchanging short stories about what they had been up too.
Shirou had made the grave mistake of sharing a story about when he was playing host a four man group of ninja who were throwing a party of sorts to celebrate that they all made it back alive. They all got impressively drunk and two of the female ones... Shirou cursed it. He cursed the fact that he was now in what girl's would consider an adorable child's body. He cursed his cursed the existence of alcohol. He cursed his E rank luck. And most of all, he cursed his own stupidity for sharing the story with Rin. What the hell was he thinking?
"I can't help it! You meet the weirdest people!" She laughed, holding onto her sides as she rolled backwards. They were sitting down next to each other underneath the sakura trees.
"What, you mean like you?" He grumbled, only to be punished by an open palm being shoved straight into his side. A small burst of chakra invaded his body and he cringed with the extreme pain.
"What was that, Shirou?" Rin said in her 'you have now irritated me' voice.
"No... nothing at all, Rin-chan." Shirou said, twitching as he gripped his side.
He shouldn't have dismissed the Holy Shroud. It would have protected him from such a cheap shot. Rin had told him to put it away, since she didn't want other members of her clan seeing that he had such an easy method of evading their eyes. Damn her logic making him drop his guard.
She claimed that she could tell anyone who saw him to 'go to hell', since she was the next head of the clan and had near absolute power over everyone, save for her father and grandfather. So no one would dare try to throw out anyone she said could stay, and even if they would question where they had met, they wouldn't ask her and probably wouldn't ask Shirou directly either. They would probably try to dig up that information themselves instead.
After a few seconds of Shirou resetting his own body to recover from the attack, he was caught off guard by Rin's next question. "Shirou... are you... angry with me?"
Shirou looked over at the girl on near shock, half believing that the to his system had caused him to start hearing things. But Rin's expression was rather uncomfortable. Her white eyes were carefully not looking at him, her shoulders were a bit tensed and she shifted her legs uncomfortably.
"Rin, you hit me all the time, it's not that big of a deal." The way she was acting didn't really match up with Shirou's picture of Rin.
"That's not what I meant!" Rin snapped before turning a little meek again. "I meant... about us being sent to another world. Being forced to go through childhood again. We died, Shirou. We died because of my experiment."
"Uh... huh..." Shirou said looking away into the distance. A slight pause went by as he lost himself in thought before Rin was on him again. He found himself gasping for air as he was pulled into a headlock by the short fused girl.
"That's it!? We died and all you can say about it is 'huh'! Just how stupid are you, Shirou!?" Rin growled at him as she did her best to pull his head from his shoulders.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Shirou cried, trying to get loose of the death lock. "I just didn't really think about it. I was more worried about how to find you than how we got here." Rin glared at him but let him go so that he could get back his breath. Rubbing the back of his neck, he added, "Besides, after everything we've been through together, when have I ever managed to stay mad at you?"
The reincarnated girl's eyes widened and a soft blush came to her cheeks at Shirou's words. She looked down and a soft smile spread across her face. "Shirou..." She said softly.
Sadly, Shirou had to ruin the moment. "You alright? I didn't say something wrong again did I?" Shirou said, his voice and confused eyes saying everything.
Rin twitched before she gave a heavy sigh. "No Shirou. I had just forgotten how monumentally dense you are. Thank you for reminding me that your skull is harder than steel." She said, leaving Shirou even more confused, and now on guard for any kind of attack that she might make in her anger.
But there was no anger in it. It was just the simple truth. Regardless how many women Emiya Shirou mistakenly charmed with his big heart, determination and impossible dreams, he had never once noticed any of it.
Rin personally blamed his lack of parenting. He had never actually seen a relationship, functioning or otherwise. He also never watched any TV, so he didn't learn anything there either. Even if that source tended to be more perverted, it would have been at least something. And now in a second life, he again was orphaned and grew up alone, surrounded by unmarried mercenary killers.
Sometimes she wondered if the boy even knew where babies came from. Maybe she should slip him some book on the subject. It would probably bring quite the blush to his face. The thought of that little prank brought a smile to her face and cheered her up quite a bit. Though she realized she would have a hard time getting the book herself, given that the Hyūga Clan never let her leave the grounds alone. They also didn't give her any money she could spend herself, so if she needed materials for her magecraft, she had to convince them as to why she needed it. Something that wasn't easy.
But that wouldn't be as much of a problem now. "Hey Shirou. I've been needing a few things for my magecraft. Would you mind going on a few errands for me?" Rin said sweetly, giving the boy a charming smile.
Shirou's face fell. He knew that this was coming. He took up both blacksmithing and being a sort of landlord in order to gather money for magecraft expenses. The problem was that Rin's style of magecraft was very... very expensive. But it was as expensive as it was powerful and useful. So the aged four year old boy bit down the bullet and simply asked, "What do you need?"
"You're such a good boy, Shirou." Rin giggled but then she changed her body language. Her legs uncrossed, and she shifted her shoulders in a sort of double take. It was a signal. Someone had crossed the edge of the Bounded Field she had set up to give them a bit of privacy.
It had only been a weak one. A simple ward meant to prevent anyone from listening in, but now that it was crossed, they needed to guard their tongues.
"Hello Otou-san. It is a nice evening, don't you agree?" Rin said, standing up to greet the man.
Shirou's first impressions of Hyūga Hiashi were mostly about the way he walked. It was so strange when compared to the various ninjas he had encountered. Most of them walked around with an air of being totally relaxed even though they were prepared to counter an attack at any given moment. Hiashi on the other had seemed tighter than a bow string as he walked with a noble step. This man was dangerous, and he knew it, and he knew that everyone else knew it. No need for misdirection. He would fool no one.
His face was hard, both cheekbones and jaw line being extremely distinct, and his white eyes were cold and focused. Though he seemed to share all the more basic traits like skin, hair and eye color with Rin, the father and daughter looked absolutely nothing alike. She must have taken after her mother, or else her appearance must have been more heavily influenced by her soul or magecraft than her genetics because this man wasn't winning any beauty contests.
"That it is. It is good to see you taking full advantage of it by playing outside." Hiashi said. Even though it was just simple conversation, his voice was still that of a stern father figure grudgingly giving his approval. It seemed almost weird. "Hikaru, are you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Rin smiled, she knew what her father was after. A name to allow him to begin digging around to try to explain his daughter's connection to the outside. They would give it to him, but no reason she couldn't have some fun first.
"I think you misunderstand, Otou-san." Rin said, puffing out her chest proudly. A sign that Shirou knew meant the Rin was about to be Rin. "Shirou-chan isn't my friend, he's my pet." She said with a completely steady voice while gesturing at the boy.
Hiashi's jaw dropped a little as the stern man couldn't believe what his daughter had just said. Shirou unfortunately could very much believe that she had said such a thing and was giving her an indignant look. It was a heavy hit to his pride.
Seeing his face, the girl pushed it a little harder. "Is something the matter, Shirou-chan." She even dragged out the 'chan'.
Shirou knew there was no recovery, so he simply counter attacked. "No, nothing is wrong. I am merely lamenting my misfortune of having such a cruel and unfair master." Shirou said, letting his face drop and playing the part.
Hearing the familiar line, Rin burst into a fit of laughter. She laughed so hard that she fell over and ended up holding her sides as tears rolled down her cheeks. It was even more shocking to Hiashi than the girl's earlier declaration of ownership of the boy.
Shirou smirked. He had won that particular battle. But he turned to the confused Hiashi. "Sorry. My name is Ena Kuroshi, though your daughter seems to have dubbed me Shirou. Please take care of me." Shirou said, giving a little bow.
Hiashi accepted the rather formal greeting in the middle of the strange burst of chaos. 'What is with kids these days?' Hiashi only returned the greeting with a nod before turning to his daughter. "I have decided to postpone your Taijutsu trying till tomorrow. Please, try to spend your afternoon productively."
"Ye..s of course, Otou-san..." Rin said, trying to control her giggles. "Shirou-chan, how about I introduce you to my imōto, Hinata." The boy didn't put up any resistance as she grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away.
Hiashi watched them go, and saw the Fūinjutsu barrier that had surrounded them go down, letting noise travel freely again. He had no idea where Hikaru had learned to make these barriers, and she wouldn't give him a straight answer even if he asked. Hiashi's father had once tried to forbid the girl from using them because of the dangers involved in any mistakes, but she simply ignored him. She rarely ever listened to the elder. It made several white eyes widen when she called the elder a 'cowardly old fool', straight to the old man's face.
"Ena Kuroshi." He mumbled to himself. He didn't know of any ninja clans called Ena, but that hardly mattered. He would need to find out everything he could about this boy. His habits, his family history, his ideals, and most importantly, how he had met his daughter. Maybe if he found out something about these strange chakra paths, he could divine just why it was that his eldest daughter was so rebellious.
The first place to stop would be the Hokage's office in order to request the background information. He could lay out the groundwork and delegate the task from there. Reminding himself to place a man on tailing the boy back to his home in the off chance that he had been given a fake name, he moved quickly, disappearing in a flurry of leaves.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had called for all records on Ena Kuroshi's family history and was personally going over it with Kakashi, trying to make sense of what had happened.
When he had found out that the boy had moved into his old family home and was using the forge to make iron kunai and throwing stars, or by melting old steel, he had been a little worried about possible accidents, but more sympathetic.
Little Kuroshi's entire family had been killed in the demon's attack and none of his distant relatives would take him in. It seemed as though the boy had been trying to keep the only connection he had to his family alive. It wasn't uncommon for orphans, even if the boy was a bit young. So Hiruzen had positioned off duty ninja to watch him and take care of any fires that might pop up.
Sure it had been strange for a boy to start working as a blacksmith at the age of three, but the work he had been doing had mostly dealt with molds and was hardly complex. Kakashi had become a full fledged ninja at the age of five, performing B rank jutsu at the age of six. Things much more advance and personally dangerous than pouring hot metal into a mold and sharpening it. Even if the child had cut off his finger, it would hardly have been the end of his life. There were even medical ninjutsu which would have been able to reattach the finger if something like that had ever happened.
Perhaps being around so many geniuses had dulled the old man's perspective a bit, but even he had been dumbfounded when he heard that the boy had actually reforged Hakkō Chakura Tō. Such a thing shouldn't have been possible, and Hiruzen was searching everywhere to try to find an explanation. Paperwork could wait. He hated the stuff anyways. The other Hokage were all lucky to die young so that they could get away from the mess.
The village leader didn't even look up when he heard Hiashi request entry. He gave a quick nod. "It's a surprise to have the Hyūga's head come here in person. How long has it been? Three or four months, and even then it was a clone rather than you yourself," asked Hiruzen sounding a bit like an bitter grandfather who wondered why his grandkids didn't come to visit more often.
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama. Though I would think that our positions keep us too busy for idle visits." Hiashi said with a short bow as he entered the room.
He didn't even spare Kakashi a glance, nor did he react to the short glare from Kakashi for being so clearly brushed off as not noteworthy. 'Stupid rich prick.'
"That's the exact reason why I need people to stop by. I'm too old for this job." Hiruzen said with a shake of the head. "What do you want Hiashi?" The Hokage said, not bothering with formalities. Why be formal when he practically wiped the boy's ass growing up.
"I'd like to request access to some of the village's old records involving a 'Ena' family, in relation to an Ena Kuroshi." Hiashi said clearly.
"You too?" Hiruzen snorted, to the Hyūga's surprise. "Get in line. Anbu and three other clans are already on my ass about it. Danzou has already requested that I give him exclusive control to matters involving the boy and restrict all intelligence about his history. Of course I told him that I would discuss the matter with whoever I damn well please and that he should keep his nose out of civilian business. Still, he's doing his best to go behind my back and silence any rumors. Not to any great success considering you're here. How long is it going to be until the Uchiha's are knocking on my door as well?"
"Hokage-sama... I do not know about the rumors in which you speak." Hiashi admitted slowly after weighing the pros and cons of pretending like he knew what the old man was on about.
"Huh? You don't know? Then what are you asking about him for?" Hiruzen asked before sighing and sliding back in his chair. "If you're going to be asking around about the boy you are going to find out anyways. Kakashi, show him."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said before grabbing onto the hilt of a blade on his back. Hiashi had to half shield his Byakugan eyes, even without them fully activated, the chakra surrounding the blade was intense, so intense that it would be visible to the normal eye. The swirling white light was like a miniature sun in the white eyes of the Hyūga's eyes.
"What... is that chakra?" Hiashi said in slight awe.
"This is Hakkō Chakura Tō." Kakashi said, a little smugly as he flourished the blade before putting it back in its sheath.
"Earlier today, Kuroshi-kun returned the blade to Kakashi after somehow reforging it to its former glory. A shopkeeper had been so surprised that he dropped a sword on his foot and was rushed to the hospital. While there he told the nurses about what he saw, who told the other patients, who told their teams, bosses, and clan heads, and now four hours later, everyone seems to know about it and are trying to lay some kind of claim to the boy's future. Mostly two smaller clans who are claiming him by blood, though it is four times removed." The Hokage said with an angry grunt. "Shameless fools. They didn't give a damn about the kid when he was just some orphan."
"That boy... created that!?" Hiashi said, shaking his head in disbelief. "How?"
"Who knows." The Hokage admitted with a shrug. "But if that isn't the reason for why you are asking about the boy, then enlighten me as to why you are asking. I'll consider sharing with you what I got if you share what you know."
It was an indirect way of ordering Hiashi to tell him what his purpose was. The clan head could refuse, but it would put him in an awkward position. Which was why the Third did it. These kinds of games were the essence of life for people like them.
"I found the boy earlier today inside of the Hyūga garden, playing with my daughter. None of the guards saw him come in and no traps there tripped. He just suddenly appeared." Hiashi admitted, hoping that Hiruzen would let him in on more information. "The way they acted around each other, I would guess that they have been meeting for months without anyone in my clan noticing."
"Hm... is that so?" The Third said, closing his eyes. "That doesn't match up with our current hypothesis, but our current guesses don't make much sense anyways."
"My I ask what those guesses are?" Hiashi asked, starting to wonder if he should grab a chair.
The Hokage looked to Kakashi and gestured for him to speak.
The white haired ninja sighed and started reporting. "Three weeks ago, I meet Ena Kuroshi at one of the ninja supply shops when I was looking to have the Hakkō Chakura Tō repaired. I'm not sure how, but Ena knew things. He knew secrets about the blade that the maker and my father took to their graves. Things that I thought only I knew." Kakashi said holding the sheathed blade out in front of himself. "He also recounted the history of my father. Something I am almost certain he had never heard before. And then offered to fix the blade. Claiming that he wanted to see it whole. And for some reason, I let him try. The rest is history."
"I'm guessing that the boy has some sort of unrecorded or new Kekkei Genkai, perhaps a Dōjutsu that provides him with a knowledge of the history of items he sees." Hiruzen said, scratching at his chin. "The odds of such a thing are nearly zero, but it is the only explanation we can think of. Kakashi said that he knew about the special traits of Hakkō Chakura Tō before he touched it, so vision is the most likely catalyst. However that wouldn't explain how he got past your guards' eyes."
"Knowledge that can't be explained." Hiashi mumbled closing his eyes and frowning.
"You have any possible explanations? Don't suppose he somehow gained the secrets of the Hakkō Chakura Tō from that miniature Tsunade of yours?" Hiruzen said. He often compared Hikaru to Tsunade, both being out of control genius noble clan heiresses, with extremely powerful attachments to their younger siblings. Though the Hyūga heir was far more talented at a young age than even the now legendary Tsunade had been.
The Third Hokage wished that the girl would be brought around more often. He liked talking to the girl. It was a pleasant interruption from his office life. Kind of like Naruto's visits, though with less written complaints accompanying it. The old man had the sneaking suspicion he had been labeled as a bad influence on the girl, just because he supported her curiosity in all things and taught her anything she asked.
The clan was trying to control her and shape her into their ideal heir, but the more they tried the more she resisted. Some of her resistance came in the form of Ninjutsus and Genjutsus that the girl seemed to have made up herself, earning her a reputation for being a bit sadistic and the nickname 'the Byakugan Yāo', the white eyed witch. A nickname that amused the girl to no end.
Hiashi was quiet for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Forgive me Hokage-sama, but I do not believe I can be of any help." He said. "Since you are already looking into the boy's past, I will keep my clan out of your hair. I am sorry for taking up your time."
"Hm... well, don't be a stranger." The Hokage said, as the clan head dismissed himself.
"Both children have these strange chakra channels, and both possess knowledge that should be beyond them." Hiashi said when he was well out of range of any ears. He could not tell anyone outside of the clan about Hikaru's condition. If the extra chakra paths somehow provided the ability to gain such skills and knowledge, then who knows what some people might do to obtain it. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I trust you with my life, but I must think of my daughter first."