NOTE: Strawberry Days has been updated.
Reaching
LilacLilyFlower © 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately.
Credits to Scuro for beta-ing.
-O-O-O-O-
Chapter 4
"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!" the man behind the counter greeted as Hikari entered the stand. She halted when she saw bright, yellow hair.
Naruto. Little brother. Precious. Preciouspreciousprecious.
Her breath hitched and her face suddenly felt very, very warm, and her eyes grew hot before her vision blurred unexpectedly.
I can't do this.
She sniffled, and saw with (slight) horror that Naruto had heard and was beginning to turn around.
No! I don't know what to do!
Hikari panicked. What if he didn't like her? What if he didn't want to be even friends? What if she didn't like him?
She froze as their eyes met. They were identical.
Naruto opened his mouth. "Hey, are you okay?"
She only stared back in silence, not daring to breathe. He had a verbal tick too.
"Um, can you speak?" he asked, slightly weirded out. She nodded back, voice stuck and refusing to come out. Finally, she let out a shuddering sigh and blinked rapidly, preparing to turn away, when Naruto said, "You should eat ramen with me!" Then, he added in a timid voice, "Do you wanna?"
He was offering. To her. A stranger he didn't know.
He wants to get to know me.
Hikari dropped onto a stool besides him, quietly tucking her feet underneath the seat. "Hey, mister! Can I have another miso ramen over here?" Naruto yelled.
The man yelled back in affirmation, and he told her, "The ramen here is the best! Have you had ramen before? No one else in my class at the Academy likes ramen like me. They're all too busy trying to get Sasuke's attention. I'm Uzumaki Naruto! What's your name?"
"Um, Hikari."
He beamed at her. "You talked!"
She shot a small smile back at him. Encouraged, Naruto continued. "I'm gonna be Hokage one day! Then everyone will have to say that I'm an amazing shinobi! Do you have a dream?"
Did she? Her only goal was to find Naruto, and it was accomplished.
"Not…not yet."
"Then you should try and become a great shinobi too! But not as good as me," he said, "because that means you would be Hokage, and that's my spot."
He blabbered on, and Hikari listened with a patience she didn't know she had. Something warm grew inside her, and she found herself done with her ramen sooner than she expected, much too soon. Naruto's chatter gradually faded as he noticed her empty bowl too.
The inevitable hung over them. He suggested, "I'll order you a new bowl," but Hikari shook her head and abruptly got up, because she knew that if she didn't tear herself away, she wouldn't be able to leave.
A hurt expression flickered across Naruto's face. It was horrible, seeing it there because of her.
Never unhappy. Please smile.
"Naruto, do you want to be friends?"
A smile split his face from ear to ear, and she felt arms encircle her, before she heard, "Yeah! I'll be the best friend you ever had! Promise of a lifetime!"
She didn't hesitate to hug back.
-O-O-O-O-
She skipped along the road, humming to herself under her breath. After Naruto had promised, they'd decided to eat at Ichiraku's sometimes after she trained.
"Have fun?"
There was a rustle of paper before Hikari felt a current course through her body, immobilizing her and causing her to drop to the ground. She saw standard Konoha sandals walking towards her before a masked face filled her vision.
That jerk.
He used the Electrical Paralysis Seal on her, and judging by the way she couldn't move, he pumped it a quarter-full of chakra.
Earlier, she'd fibbed a little to Fumiko. It was true that Hikari had designed the seal, but Kakashi had been the one to revise and change (almost all of) her work, and she wouldn't have been able to make it without him.
And here he was, using it against her.
She glared at him, channeling all the hate she felt through her eyes, and spiked her chakra wildly, but Kakashi merely smiled at her sardonically.
"I thought you said that you'd hang out with Fumiko, not little Naruto," he sang as he pat her head. Then, his eye opened and she felt him clamp down on her head with a little more force. "And that means you lied."
Her surroundings changed rapidly, and she found herself at the training grounds with a very serious, deadly Jounin, unable to move or talk.
This is not good.
"You'll be able to move in a few more minutes, but until then, you're going to listen to what I have to say."
Kakashi plopped down in front of her and pointed a finger directly at her nose. "You decided to see Naruto when I did not give permission for you to meet him. In doing so, you've gone against my orders of prohibiting you until you made a friend. Today, you spent time with Fumiko, who you claim to be your friend, but I doubt that that's the truth. You're exceptionally talented at acting, and it would be easy for you to fool stupid little Academy students."
"You're wrong."
The paralysis was gone. She could move. She could speak!
"Fumiko's not a stupid little Academy student. She's smart and nice and skilled, and you never said that I couldn't see Naruto when I told you yesterday! You never gave any orders saying that I couldn't do anything, and I'm going to keep meeting with Naruto. He's my twin, he's family, and I won't let you take him away!"
By now, she was directly in his face, gasping for breath. Her anger flared beneath her skin, and her back was burning in a tickling sort of way.
Kami, I just yelled. Not only that, I yelled at my sensei.
But she was willing to do it again to defend her friends and family.
"I see," he hummed, scrutinizing her carefully. "Okay."
What?
"What?" she asked out loud, dumbfounded.
"Okay, you can meet with Naruto, as long as you don't tell him anything about the night of your birthdays," he explained. "I decided that you were telling the truth."
Her jaw dropped, and her reasoning skills with it. "Wait, what?"
He stared at her flatly. "This was a test. You passed."
Oh.
"Besides, if Hokage-sama didn't want you to see him, you never would."
Oh.
"Hikari? Are you listening to me?"
She raised her head slowly. "Sensei…"
"Thank you very much," she said as she bowed 90 degrees.
She would not admit it to herself earlier, but it had been highly unsettling, not knowing if she was allowed to see Naruto or not, and what sort of punishment she would have received had she been wrong. Hikari would still meet Naruto even after being forbidden forever, there was no way she was giving her little ball of sunshine up, but it was good to have approval. It was nice.
And deep down, she respected Kakashi and the Third Hokage.
Hikari felt a hand pat her head again, only much more gently.
"Aa," Kakashi said. "It's no problem."
-O-O-O-O-
Hokage Mountain was beautiful at sunset.
Hikari could see the entire village stretched out in front of her from her vantage point on the Second Hokage's head. The setting sun bathed the sky in streaks of red and yellow, highlighting the clouds with a golden red that instantly caused a wash of warmth and comfort to come over her. She closed her eyes and laid back.
It's so soothing. Like Naruto.
She jolted upwards when she felt a certain flinty chakra approach. Stumbling to her feet, she whipped around. "Hokage-sama!"
He grinned wryly at her around his pipe. "Hello there, Hikari. Have a seat."
She lowered herself to the same spot as before, only sitting up. She winced as the Hokage slowly crouched down. I know he's the strongest shinobi in Konoha, but he's old.
"I hear that you met Naruto today?" he asked after taking a puff of his pipe.
A smile automatically broke out on her face. "Yes, I did."
He quirked his lips as he took in her expression. "How did you find him?"
She struggled to find the right word that described Naruto. Bright. Warm. Open. Loud. Soothing. Hated. Joyful.
"He's wonderful," she said, eyes lighting with joy.
They sat in silence for a while, watching the sun. After it set, when the sky was still streaked by a glow of purple, Hikari spoke.
"I have a question."
The Hokage's eyes flicked to her, and she took it as a confirmation to ask.
"Whenever I think of Naruto, my insides become warm and tingly," she explained. "Why does it do that?"
He began chuckling, before resting a hand on her head.
"It's love."
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari settled into a happy pattern of days. She'd go to the Academy and sit with Fumiko, whispering and laughing about various things, then either spend time with her afterwards (to which Shisui, Itachi, and/or Sasuke joined, maybe even at Fumiko's house) or train, then meet with Naruto for ramen.
One notable time, she commented on how Naruto didn't eat healthy.
"Ehhhhhhh, Hikari, but vegetables are icky!"
"Naruto, you still need to eat them if you want to grow."
"You're like a nee-chan! Hikari-nee!"
Her heart skipped a beat, and she nearly cried. Naruto wouldn't stop calling her "Hikari-nee" from then on, even when she told him that they were the same age (and secretly, she was very, very pleased with this development).
Time passed and Hikari found herself turning 8. She lied about her birthday, of course, saying that it was on April 30th, but it was still lovely to receive various presents from others.
Fumiko gave her a hair needle while pointing to her own hair, which was half-up in a bun with a similar needle speared through. "It's good as a backup weapon, if you ever find yourself without anything."
Shisui presented her with a scroll on Katon (Fire Style) Jutsu. "You probably don't know what your chakra nature is, but it doesn't matter!"
Itachi gave her a standard set of kunai and shuriken. "Happy birthday."
Sasuke, instead of giving her anything, showed off his new Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. He turned around and smiled at her smugly, ignoring the smoke streaming out of his mouth.
But Naruto, sweet, wonderful Naruto, gave her a light blue ribbon. "I know it's not much!" he said, toeing and frowning at the ground, "But your hair is pretty and it matches your eyes!"
She attacked him with a hug.
So the days passed on with relatively no change, always happy.
Until one day, Fumiko didn't show up for class for three days in a row.
Strange. I wonder if everything is ok?
Hikari rushed to the Uchiha Compound after class. When she reached the gate she always used, she found a human wall blocking her way.
"No one other than clan members are allowed."
She pursed her lips and left. When she was sure that the guards weren't looking, she circled around to a gateless point in the fence surrounding the district and prepared to jump over.
"Hikari-san?"
Hikari whipped her head around, scared witless but prepared to run. When she saw that it was Itachi, she relaxed.
"Itachi-san, nice to see you. I was wondering if I could see Fumiko-chan; I was worried because she hasn't shown up for school," she said.
Itachi stared at her for a while, never looking away. Hikari began to grow apprehensive, wondering what happened.
Come to think of it, Itachi looks more tired than usual.
"Fumiko's grieving."
What?
He continued without pause.
"Hikari-san, Shisui is dead."
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: And that's a wrap!
Sorry I didn't update for a really long time! I got WRITER'S BLOCK (that darn thing), and for me, I learned that instead of trying to churn out something, it's better to let it pass and focus on something else.
That being said, I'm still not satisfied with this chapter.
Well, shit is starting to hit the fan now, so the pace of the story will pick up after this chapter. Plus, more Takahiro and Kakashi coming up soon!