Reaching
LilacLilyFlower © 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately.
Beta'ed by the wonderful Sanctuaria!
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UPDATE: STRAWBERRY DAYS has been updated!
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Chapter 12
It was with irritation that Hikari joined her team at the front gates of Konoha for their mission.
"I detest him," she announced. "I completely detest him and I-"
"Want to set his precious hair on fire. We know," Shoumaru droned. "While it's great that you're expressing your emotions, even though it's towards one of my relatives, I have to tell you the mission details, so pipe down for a second."
He pulled a scroll out of a scroll holster by his hip. "Our mission is to deliver several documents enclosed within this scroll to an outpost in the Land of Iron. We'll have to pass through the Land of Bears to get there, which is considered Earth territory, and the Land of Iron is Lightning territory. What countermeasures do you suggest we take?"
"Replicate the scroll. Carry decoys, and assign one person with the real scroll," Hikari immediately said.
Takahiro nodded. "We should also travel in a formation that prepares us for an ambush. Probably in a line with me at the front, since I'm a Taijutsu user and therefore a heavy hitter and close combatant. Hikari would be second, since she's a close to midrange combatant. Eisuke would be next, in the middle where it's the safest, since he's the medic nin, and Sensei would be last, where he can cover for any ambushes from the back. If there are trees or any other structure that would allow for levels in the formation, Hikari should travel above us so that she can drop down if needed."
"And we should have some sort of system that allows us to identify each other, in case of imposters," Eisuke added.
Shoumaru rewarded them with a rare smile. "Well done."
A chuckle sounded. "Maa, Shoumaru, what are you teaching these kids?"
Hikari turned and grinned. "Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"
He pat her head, the way he always did. "I heard that my cute little student's team was assigned its first C-Rank, so I came to see you off. I also brought something to commemorate the occasion." He placed a clothed package into her hands. She lifted the cloth and saw, to her amazement, a myriad of sharp and shiny objects.
Weapons!
There was a set of thirty senbon kept neatly together with some twine, diamond encrusted razor wire, a brace of miniature kunai, an ink brush with a detachable handle that hid a blade, and, most notably, a double-edged tanto in a metal sheath that could be strengthened with chakra to be used as a blunt weapon.
All in all, it probably cost more than ten D-Ranks' worth.
She took out a blank scroll and sealed the senbon, wire, and kunai into separate seals, sticking the brush into her kunai holster and slinging the tanto across her back with the strap attached to the sheath. Then, she threw herself at Kakashi.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she chanted into his vest, where she'd buried her face. He let her hug him for a few more seconds, then pried her off with some awkwardness.
"The brush has an ink chamber in it, so you don't need a separate well. As long as you channel your chakra into it constantly, it'll keep the ink going. Instant seals. Tell me how your mission goes when you return. I'll be around somewhere to teach you how to use your tanto properly." Kakashi gave a jaunty wave and disappeared with a poof, much like how Shoumaru did at times.
In the ensuing silence, Takahiro coughed lightly and decided to address the elephant in the room. "He's rather similar to Sensei, isn't he?"
Shoumaru eyed him unhappily. "Excuse you, I am nothing like that deadbeat of a Jounin." Hikari choked at hearing Kakashi labeled a deadbeat, of all things. Sure, he was mildly eccentric and tended to read trashy novels in public, and was perpetually late…
Now that she thought about it, he really did seem like a deadbeat. She would have agreed with Shoumaru, if not for one, simple reason.
Kakashi had a fearsome reputation.
Shaking all thoughts of hyperanalyzing one of her teachers from her mind, Hikari gave the necessary paperwork to the Chunin on gate duty before turning to the rest of her team. "Well," she said. "Are we going to take our ceremonial first step outside of Konoha together?"
Takahiro snorted, but Eisuke intervened. "I think we'll have to wait a little longer," he said, gesturing to a point over her shoulder. When Hikari followed his line of vision, she widened her eyes in surprise.
Four little specks, two blonde, one pink, and one black, were racing towards her. As the specks grew closer, she could make out the grin on Ino's face.
It was, however, Sasuke who slid to a stop before her first. He stood there with an impassive look on his face, blinking at her teammates. Then, his expression contorted to one of surprise and annoyance as Naruto barreled into him, crashing them both into the spot Hikari had been standing before she sidestepped.
"Idiot," he grunted, shoving him off of his lap, where he lay sprawled.
"Jerk," Naruto returned, sticking out his tongue.
"Boys, boys, settle down," Ino said as she pulled up by them. Sakura was leaning over with her hands on her knees, catching her breath.
"You should be in class," Hikari reprimanded. She was pleased, really, but they were here, which meant that they weren't in class.
Unless they somehow managed to make clones that could travel far from the originals and maintain stability. And no jutsu, except for the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone), could do that.
"It's break time right now," Naruto proclaimed. "So we're only breaking the rule about not leaving the Academy grounds."
"Oh, great," Takahiro interjected. "You're only breaking one rule. No big deal, it's not like you're doing anything bad."
Everyone stared at him.
"Taka-bro," Naruto said slowly. "You're very bad at sarcasm. You should leave it to Kari-nee."
Takahiro grimaced. "I know. I just realized that."
An awkward silence ensued. Hikari, who had never really been the driving force of a conversation, inwardly panicked. They're clearly here to see me off, she thought. So it's up to me to do something, isn't it?
Luckily, Sakura spoke up. "Who are you?" she asked, looking at Hikari's team. The blunt nature of the question threw Hikari off, because she thought that Sakura was rather timid.
Hikari finally took charge of the conversation. "This is my team. That's Kurosawa Takahiro, Oshiro Eisuke, and Kitagawa Shoumaru," she said, pointing at each person. Turning to her team, she introduced her friends. "And that's Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."
Eisuke bowed at them. "It's very nice to meet you," he said. He glanced hesitantly at Shoumaru. "But, um, I think we need to go on our mission now." He flashed a sheepish grin.
Naruto immediately latched onto Hikari. "Good luck! Kick some butt for me!"
She hugged him back tightly, capturing the feeling of the hug in her mind and storing it in her memory. She wouldn't see him for at least a few weeks.
"It's only a delivery mission," she replied. "No butt-kicking involved."
Reluctantly, she let go and stepped back to squish his cheeks together. "Don't get into too much trouble— wait. Sasuke, don't let Naruto get into too much trouble."
"Hn."
"And be nicer to the others."
His look screamed go away and stop nagging at me.
"Well, see you," she said a bit awkwardly, looking at each of them. The team turned to go to the goodbyes of the four Academy students. As an afterthought, Hikari called back, "Sakura, remember what I said about medical ninjutsu!"
Eisuke perked up— "Wait, what about medical ninjutsu?"— but Hikari was cheerfully pushing him through the gates of Konoha.
And Team One took its first step outside of Konoha together.
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A week on the road with her team, Hikari decided, was simultaneously fun and frustrating. It was one thing to enjoy the company of her teammates and train nearly all day with them, but it was another to spend literally every waking moment with three males.
It's not like she hated males, but the idiocy that Takahiro could sometimes cajole Eisuke into joining in on, such as scaring someone's chickens under the pretense of stealth training and getting pecked to a near catatonic state, was so completely moronic that Hikari felt like tearing her hair out or blowing up a nearby tree with exploding notes. Or the boys, which Shoumaru scolded her for trying to do.
In her defense, if they couldn't sense a seal on their body, they had no business being on a C-Rank. So really, her method of training while on the road was better than the boys'.
"Senseeiiii," Takahiro whined. "Teach us something. We're bored, and we've taken all the necessary precautions for the mission. Teach us, teach us, teach us please."
"No." Shoumaru walked on, completely impassive. Hikari decided to join in.
"Shoumaru-sensei, it would be more efficient for us to learn as we go. So teach us?"
"Don't feel like it."
Takahiro and Hikari exchanged glances then turned on Eisuke with identical smiles. "Eisuke." "Eisuke-kun."
He eyed them warily but sided with them. "Sensei—"
Shoumaru threw his arms up and shot them an irritated glare. "Okay, fine!" He paused to gather his thoughts. "Do you all know what our team's specialization is?"
The team system in Konoha was a bit rigged and tended to create units that would later join divisions already existing in the village. This had the advantage of refilling the ranks of those divisions with shinobi who functioned well together and had the experience of being in a team with one another. One such famous unit was the Ino-Shika-Cho, comprised of Ino's father and a Nara and an Akimichi. It was known for its impeccable teamwork and intelligence gathering that helped turn the tide of the Third Shinobi War to the benefit of Konoha.
Hikari thought about her own team, made of a combat medic, a fuinjutsu user who also doubled as a sensor, a taijutsu specialist, and a mysterious half-Hyuuga that was an all-rounder.
"Misfits?" she suggested.
Shoumaru snorted but shook his head. "Espionage, assassination, intelligence, interrogation. You're being groomed for ANBU."
Hikari's mental functions screeched to a halt. Looking at her teammates, she could tell the same had happened to them.
"Think about it," Shoumaru continued. "A medic knows the anatomy of the human body the best, and therefore knows the most ways to kill someone. Also, a medic can keep a prisoner alive during interrogation, which usually involves torture."
"You," he said, pointing at Hikari, "are on this team because of your speed. Don't get me wrong, fuinjutsu is always extremely helpful in the field because seals can do literally anything, and your sensing will help with our specialization, but your speed takes top priority in terms of assassination and espionage. If you choose to pursue water jutsu, you can use those during interrogation. Water torture is a very real thing, and you've already shown several signs of being capable of acting and taking on another persona, which is essential for torture, usually used to present a sadist."
"And you, Takahiro, are the necessary manpower for the team. Assassinations are supposed to be quick, with relatively no combat, but most of the time, that's not the case. You're the force that'll get us out of tight spots in the future. Of course, that's not saying that the rest of us will be lax in our combat training, since this team could easily become combat-oriented, but you're the main combatant."
"As for me, well, I've got these. Byakugan." Shoumaru tapped his temple, gesturing at his eyes. "Useful for tracking a target and seeing through walls."
Eisuke was the first to respond. "That goes against my medic's oath. I can't just kill people," he said, shuddering.
Shoumaru leveled a glance at him. "You're a combat medic. It's necessary for this lifestyle. Think of it as saving the people of Konoha."
"ANBU are the elite! They technically don't even exist, since they're a secret faction that only responds to the Hokage! That's how high-profile they are," Takahiro protested.
"And you'll be a part of them. You're a rather exceptional team, you know, and the others know it. Hatake, an ex-ANBU captain, didn't give Hikari a tanto today for no reason. All the jounin and higher know about this team."
Probably because I'm Naruto's sister, Hikari thought.
All eyes turned to Hikari, who hadn't said anything about this revelation yet. She met each of their eyes. It was understandable to protest. After all, it was ANBU. The elite. The best. It was terrifying to think of, of standing among the elite, of being of the same caliber in the very near future, if the rumor of the average age of recruits being fifteen was true. Eisuke especially, since he was thirteen to her nine and Takahiro's ten.
"If we committed to ANBU," she began slowly, analyzing all outcomes and possibilities, "then we would effectively disappear for periods of time. Our social lives would probably lag behind a little, and the mission risk is huge. There's no guarantee that we'll be safe, but then again, there's no guarantee for safety in a shinobi career anyways."
Plus, she'd be strong. She'd be able to protect the people she loved. She'd be able to take down potential threats to Naruto and gain enough clearance to get some sort of hint as to what Itachi had been talking about, because she couldn't puzzle out what he was saying.
"Would we be wasted as resources if we pursued a path as a combat team?" she asked.
"Yes. We're maintaining a tentative peace with the other villages," Shoumaru replied.
"But that can easily change with a diplomatic incident."
"We're going to have to be combat-heavy if you're entered into ANBU anyways, so in the end, it doesn't matter."
She pursed her lips and blew that annoying strand of hair out of her face, resigning herself to a life of grueling work. It was a bit unfair, how her future was laid out for her, but that was just the way it worked in Konoha.
"Anyways, the reason I brought this up has to do with what I've taught you—well, more like engraved into your mind and body— so far," Shoumaru said.
"Stealth, speed, some tracking, and psychological warfare. And the occasional jutsu," Takahiro supplied.
"Exactly. You've also all continued with your specializations, since it's good to have something to fall back on. I've raised all of your base speeds by about one hundred and twenty percent, and to be frank, you're all good enough at everything else outside of our team designation to take the Chunin Exams and come out alive. Passing the Exams is another level altogether, but it really says something when fresh Genin survive the Exams intact. To complete our repertoire of ANBU basics, I need to teach you how to hide while running away."
"Oh great, a lecture," Takahiro sighed.
Shoumaru grinned. Hikari stiffened, because a grinning sensei was a sadistic sensei. "Not quite," he purred. "We're going to play hide and seek, shinobi style."
The next few hours were hell.
They ran through the trees by the path, avoiding Shoumaru in any way possible, who was allowed to use only nonlethal techniques and not allowed to use the Byakugan. If they were caught, they were sentenced to one of the middle shifts during watch, also known as the deadman shifts since they interrupted your sleep, unlike the first shift, where one slept a bit later but uninterrupted, and the last shift, where one just woke up earlier.
Through trial and error, they learned how to cover their tracks. They applied old concepts to new things, discovering things such as using chakra to walk over leaves without crumpling them, disintegrating their chakra trails, and removing skin oils from surfaces of all kinds. After the first game, where Hikari had unfortunately been caught first, Shoumaru had them reconvene and taught them more techniques.
It was fun. It was happy.
So of course, it had to go to hell.
-O-O-O-O-
After another week, they made it to the Land of Iron, dropped off the documents at the checkpoint, and were out in an hour.
It was when they were passing through Lightning territory that they encountered trouble. Ambush.
Four forms closed in on the team, bringing their progress to a halt. Hikari had been traveling a level above them, chakra drawn in tight to hide her presence. She spotted a cloud on the enemy shinobi's hitai-ate and narrowed her eyes.
Kumo.
Notorious for acquiring bloodline limits from other villages. There was really only one reason that they would be here, and they all knew it. Her heart began to race, adrenaline and fear kicking in, and her back began to burn in a familiar sensation.
The leader of the Kumo squad stepped forwards, smirking. Jounin-level chakra bank, chakra buzzing in pattern common to raiton (Lightning Style) users, too strong.
Her eyes darted to the others. One chunin, two genin aged most likely fourteen at the most. Chakra levels average for rank, raiton users.
If it came to a battle, which it most likely would, she would have to aim for the chunin.
"Hullo there, Konoha nin. What brings you through our woods?" the Kumo jounin enthused with false cheer. Hikari knew better.
"Merely passing through after a mission to the Land of Iron," Shoumaru replied, form deceptively relaxed. Takahiro and Eisuke were tense beside him, ready for action.
The jounin hummed. "I could have sworn that Konoha teams also included a kunoichi. Where's yours?"
Takahiro stepped up. "That's not something you need to know!" he yelled, glaring angrily at him and balling his fists tightly. Hikari mentally applauded his acting skills, because now the Kumo nin would think that she was dead. Or something like that.
The chunin smiled sardonically. "Oh my, how touchy. Was she your girlfriend?"
Takahiro's lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn't respond. The chunin delighted in his silence. "So she wasn't? It was an unrequited love, then!" The chunin's eyes narrowed with malice. "Looks like you'll be joining her soon."
The Killing Intent came.
It was suffocating, heavy, and petrifying. It wasn't even aimed at her, but Hikari felt her breathing stop, and she began trembling, knees locking and sweat beading on her temple. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She could only stay as still as she could, prey in the gaze of a predator, knowing that the slightest movement would bring instant death upon her.
Still, nothing happened. Shoumaru merely placed his hands on Takahiro and Eisuke, gazing forward. They relaxed immediately, attention sharpening. Hikari struggled to calm herself, breathing a sigh of relief as the Intent disappeared.
"Please," Eisuke said in a wavering voice. "There doesn't need to be an issue."
The jounin grinned again. "You see, the thing about that is that you're absolutely right, there doesn't. But your sensei has something that we'd very much like to have, so unless he comes peacefully with us, there's gonna be an issue."
"I have the seal," Shoumaru said. "Your village should know what that means, after last time. My eyes will be useless once I die."
The jounin leered. "We don't need you alive, just your reproductive cells."
And the world exploded.
Takahiro threw an exploding seal, drawn by Hikari, between their team and the Kumo team. It detonated, throwing dust into the air.
"Go, go, GO!" Shoumaru shouted, choosing to flee. They needed no further prompt to run, hours of training and running with burdens coming into play.
Hikari grit her teeth and dug her feet into the branches, pushing off with more force than usual. She couldn't use chakra. Not if she wanted to keep her cover. No chakra meant no chakra enhancements, which meant that she was lagging behind.
She was fast. She was good. But when the rest of her team was using chakra to boost their speed, she wasn't good enough.
She couldn't fall behind. The enemy nin were pursuing with the intent to kill her sensei, a jounin. If she was caught, she would die. The burning of her back surged, even as her blood ran cold. She stumbled as the heat increased, flinching from the sudden change. Why was her back burning so much? Why did it hurt?
The only warning that she had was a shiver down her spine before a sword cut through where her head had just been. She whirled around and saw the chunin grinning at her.
"Wow, nice reflexes. You're their kunoichi, right? I knew something was off about the kid's reaction; it was too real, y'know?"
He was goading her, trying to make conversation. She flared her chakra high in a panic, running through various seals she could use in her mind.
Exploding? No, it didn't work before. Maybe electrical paralysis... no, no, no, he's a raiton user. Gravity seals are useless if they don't hit and there are no prepared seals I can use I'm going to die I'm going to die in a forest away from Konoha-
Faintly, through her haze of panic, Hikari registered the chunin pointing his sword tip to her throat, pressing just enough to break skin. "Calling for help won't do anything," he jeered. "They're all occupied at the moment."
And it was true. She could feel chakra flashing in patterns that undeniably meant jutsu and combat.
Move.
"What's wrong? Can't speak?"
Move!
The tip of the sword pressed deeper, drawing blood. "Won't matter when your throat is cut."
The burning increased, almost unbearably hot. She was sure her back was blistering.
She moved.
Drawing a kunai, she slipped under his arm and thrust at his chest. His other arm came up, but that was what she wanted. Hikari slammed a gravity tag onto him, pumping as much chakra as she could simultaneously, and leapt away to avoid his blade, which sliced at the side of her neck, once again drawing blood.
Surface injury. Not fatal.
The tag activated. She waited, paused, and when he didn't move, when he shook from the sudden increase of gravity dragging him down, she relaxed.
And nearly lost an arm as he slashed out, sword crackling with electricity.
"That was a close one," he chuckled. "You're a seal user? I thought Konoha's sealers were all old."
"You thought wrong."
"Ah, she finally spea—"
Hikari threw her kunai; he dodged it. She wasn't fazed. Surreptitiously, she unsealed the brush that Kakashi had given her, the one with the blade.
"That wasn't very nice, girlie," the chunin said, scowling. "You could have hurt me."
She snarked back, finally more at ease now that she had a plan. "Oh my, what a loss that would have been." His face contorted with anger, but she was already in action, sliding across the tree branches as if they were made of ice, avoiding his hands and feet and sword. Her taijutsu style was flexible, adaptable, capable of attacking from any position and bending in ways that would leave even shinobi wincing. Hikari could tell that he was thrown off by her speed, her style, and she rushed at him, brandishing the brush, pumped full of chakra.
Sealing was about balance. It was about equality, exchange. There were different formations that people used for sealing, the most prominent being triangles, commonly regarded as the strongest shape, and circles, which represented cycles. The Uzumaki were known for using spirals, whirlpools that drew in energy from their surroundings, so that was the shape that Hikari drew.
She skidded to a stop behind the chunin, at the trunk of the tree, and drew a spiral on the trunk with a flick of the wrist. There was no time for kanji, no time for careful constructions, so as she drew, she poured as much of her intent as she could into it, asking it, willing it, begging it to read her intentions and follow through.
A pillar of wood emerged from the tree and knocked the chunin to the ground.
She jumped, landing on his falling body with a foot to the chest, slamming him into the ground with a force that raised dust. She immediately backflipped off of him, extending the brush to draw another spiral. This time, the ground rose up and encased him in a coffin of stone up to his neck.
"You bitch," he snarled. "Once I get free, I'll tear you apart."
"Big words for someone who just lost to a genin," she shot back. She was elated, she was triumphant, she was alive.
Shoumaru had said that seals could do everything. And now, now that she found a way to channel her thoughts instantly, now she could do everything too. Her only limit was her imagination.
Hikari ran towards the others, leaving the chunin behind her to curse and struggle. She arrived at a clearing and ducked as a stray kunai shot overhead.
"Watch it," she warned, joining Eisuke against one of the genin.
"Hikari-chan!" he exclaimed, dropping to the ground and sweeping his leg out. "We thought you were..."
"Yeah, well, he underestimated me, and I beat him."
The genin they were facing widened his eyes. "You beat H?"
"H? His name is H?"
"That doesn't matter! You're a genin! You shouldn't have been able to beat H!"
"Well, I did," she snapped. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here, about to kick your butt."
It was a familiar routine by now. Spiral, intent, seal. The ground under the genin collapsed into a swamp, but before she could celebrate, a triumphant shout drew her attention.
She turned to see the jounin standing with her sensei's limp, unmoving body under an arm. Horror began to dawn on her as she realized Shoumaru's chakra was fading, wisping away from his body into the air.
No.
She watched, frozen, as the Kumo genin fled the scene along with the jounin. The chunin's chakra flashed by, joining the squad of Kumo nin.
Not again.
The burning on her back ceased, so sudden that it felt cold.
Not another. Not. Another.
Her world colored white, the dull roar of her blood in her ears, and the heat that had constantly been burning her finally escaped, expelled in a flash of chakra and rage and screams.
Chains. She had chakra chains of Yin chakra coming out of her back.
Hikari lunged after the Kumo nin, bleeding chakra with every step. She descended upon them with a snarl, anger blinding her actions, because Shoumaru was dead like Shisui and Fumiko and they would pay for it with their own lives.
Her chains wrapped around Shoumaru's body, yanking them from the jounin's grasp. She hovered over it protectively, glowered at them as she sealed the body— his body— away.
And she charged them, whirling, spiraling, chains lashing out, kunai peppering the area. She used stacks and stacks of exploding notes, drew spirals upon spirals, targeted them with her fists. She threw everything she had at them, everything that she had learned from her sensei, everything that she had trained at and agonized over.
But it wasn't enough.
The jounin caught her fist and raised a kunai. She yelped, helpless as she struggled to escape his grip, rage and fury coursing through her body, urging her to attack, to hurt, to maim until they couldn't breathe without screaming, but she couldn't, she couldn't escape and she was going to die here just like her sensei did, just like Fumiko did—
And a kunai pierced the chest of the jounin, who blinked in surprise and fell to the side to reveal the shocked face of Eisuke, who was holding the kunai in his hands.
She stared at him. He stared back.
And whirled around when the chunin suddenly appeared to kill them, sword glowing with the telltale static of lightning. Hikari could only sit, numb, as Eisuke, with his hands glowing a malevolent dark green that she had never seen before, thrust his hands through the chunin's chest to emerge out of his back, dripping with blood.
The chunin coughed once, twice, blood dribbling down his chin, and slumped.
Eisuke withdrew his hands and turned to the petrified Kumo genin. He advanced on them, and they turned to run, but Takahiro was there and cutting off their path.
He glanced at Eisuke's face, took in the situation, and glared at the genin.
"Go back to your Raikage. Tell him that you failed, and that if he tries to pull a political upheaval on us, we will retaliate, and we will win."
They nodded, terrified, and made their getaway.
Silence reigned, and Takahiro's face collapsed into one of panic.
Hikari was scared.
She took stock of the scene. They were down a squad leader. There were two dead bodies of Kumo nin. They were miles from Konoha in foreign land. The oldest, Eisuke, the general, was in shock, pupils dilated and breaths coming in shallow gasps. Takahiro was panicked.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pushed her emotions into a corner of her mind, locking them into the recesses of her soul. When she opened her eyes again, everything was clear with a sharp clarity that she had only heard about in passing. She was focused; she knew which steps and paths to take to succeed, to get out and get back to Konoha.
It was a concentration so intense that others described it as gaining a power that enabled them to do what needed to be done, to be strong, to be calm, rational, in control.
There was no Kakashi, no adult to pull them together. She was going to take the lead, and she was going to get them back to Konoha.
Alive.
-O-O-O-O-
This is an omake written by a reviewer, Good Omens. They have a story dedicated to writing omakes about Naruto OCs, some of whom include Namikaze Namie and Gekko Keisuke (I'm so honored that Hikari is included amongst them). Check out their story, which this omake is in, Speaking of Alternate!
Takes place during chapter 3, when Hikari meets the Uchiha. Not strictly canon, but still cute with an accurate characterization.
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Hikari's head snaps to face Sasuke and suddenly she is outright interrogating him about Naruto, "Is he doing well? Is he happy? Does he eat his vegetables? Who does he sit with at lunch? Who are his friends?"
Most of them are looking at her warily by now, but she doesn't care, her eyes are only for Sasuke right now, and she impatiently awaits replies to her questions, a need to know about her brother overpowering any politeness she may have continued offering before learning that he knew him. This was her chance to know him early, before having a friend, and she was going to take it.
When he hesitantly replies to her questions and then asks her if she has a crush and if she can't just ask Naruto herself, all she does is ask more questions, "Which classroom do you have? Where does he usually sit? Is it unlocked early? Can one sneak in and out before class begins and anyone is there?"
Her meeting with these four Uchiha end strangely, for all of them, but she is satisfied with her information and has vowed to do all she can for Naruto. Itachi has been very helpful, as has Sasuke, after his brother's acceptance of her weirdness, and Shisui hadn't needed to be lured to her side while Fumiko asks questions and makes a few remarks, but helps her anyway, as she plans out how to make Naruto's life the best it can be, all things considered.
When Naruto arrives to class the day after and finds food waiting for him at his seat, unspoiled and wonderful food that Sasuke has reluctantly protected from Chouji, hope rises within the boy that maybe he has another precious person out there.
He would be right, of course, but he won't know that for some time, yet.
.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: And that's a wrap! Man, what a chapter.
This chapter is dedicated to my friend Kathryn, in honor of her birthday. Happy birthday! You better give me something good for my birthday, since I grinded out this chapter for you (and completely killed my soul in the process. Poor Eisuke, poor cinnamon roll).
There's an Omake Special following this, celebrating our coming of age, because guess that? That's right: WE PASSED 100 REVIEWS!
Thank you so much everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed! Remember that you can always request oneshots in Strawberry Days, which also had an update today! (Yes, more pairings, and yes, Uchiha-based pairings. Seriously, you guys can't get enough of Uchiha x Hikari, can you?) You can request anything you'd like! Pairings, nonpairings, AUs, scenarios, "what if this had happened instead", etc.
And no, I'm not sorry for this chapter. Let the pain begin!
See you next time!