Reaching
LilacLilyFlower © 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately.
Beta'ed by the wonderful Sanctuaria!
-O-O-O-O-
Chapter 14
(Neji's POV)
His reaction was visceral, automatic, and reflexive.
"How do you know about that?" he demanded, activating his Byakugan and settling into a Jyuuken (Gentle Fist) stance. Hikari's muscles tensed, but she didn't shift into an offensive or defensive position.
"I'm sure you've heard of the aftermath of my mission," she said, voice so even that he almost missed the flicker of grief in her eyes. "Your uncle, Hyuuga Hiashi, said something about a seal. So did the Kumo jounin. I decided to do some research, since Fuinjutsu is one of my specialties, but I only managed to find out what the seal was called."
He glared at her. There was no way that she found that out through researching documents. There was no official paper trail for the seal, only word of mouth through teammates of clan members.
"You're lying."
She blinked at him. "I'm not."
She wasn't. Neji could tell. "Those are clan secrets. You shouldn't know that it exists, let alone know what it's called."
"But I found it."
They both paused as the implications of that sentence sank in. Their eyes met.
Information breach.
Neji could feel his face whiten. The leakage of clan secrets was a Level Five emergency, equal only to, for instance, an invasion, or the death of the Hokage.
"How did you come across the information? Did someone tell you? What document was it on?" He stalked forward with each word, causing her to match his steps with backwards ones of her own.
"I deduced it from various bits of information that I found. Some were vague descriptions of the seal, and somewhere, collectively, there were hints towards an old poem from the Warring States Era. I read that and found the phrase "caged bird" in connection with the hints. It was easy to infer."
He halted, taken aback. Neji eyed her with a new perspective. She was intuitive, almost scarily so.
Then again, Shoumaru had been prepping them for ANBU.
"So it's not actually explicitly stated," he said.
"It's not, but it was simple to make the connections. From what I could gather, the seal activates upon death to seal the eyes and their abilities, right? I remember Sensei and the jounin saying something that hinted at that. And the name of the seal itself implies a lack of freedom. So somehow, those who have the seal are restricted, right? But the seal also doesn't seal the reproductive cells. And only certain people seem to have it." She paused. "Am I right?"
Neji didn't know what to say. Too much. She knows too much. A denial would be standard, expected even. A confirmation would be officially divulging clan secrets to an outsider. He remained silent.
She took it as a verification. "What I don't understand is why only some members of the clan have it. It makes no sense." Her eyes peered up at him, imploring. "I know we don't get along, and that this is asking a huge favor of you, but can you explain it to me? We can even exchange clan secrets if you want."
A play on sympathies and a bribe. It would have been effective, if he hadn't heard of how manipulative she could be.
"Leave," he ordered. "Don't approach me about this ever again."
Her lips thinned. "I can't."
He stepped closer, eye-to-eye. "You will."
"No. I need to know this. I deserve to know this."
He scoffed. "Why? Because your failure of a sensei died because of it? He was fated to fall, and he did."
That got a reaction. He watched as she curled her hands into fists and unintentionally leaked some chakra. Her face reddened, and her eyes blazed. But when she spoke, her voice was quiet.
"Because it directly affected, and is still affecting, my team." She dropped to her knees, a move that completely startled him. He stared at her, a girl laying down her pride for some answers.
"Please," she whispered. Neji could tell that she was still angry. But here she was, on her knees and pleading.
To be honest, it made him uncomfortable. And really, her fate wouldn't change whether she knew the information, so his next actions were completely justified.
"I can't," he rebuffed. "I can't give you any information. But," he added, knowing that he would regret his next words, "I know someone who can."
-O-O-O-O-
(Hikari's POV)
Hikari frowned as she paced around a training field.
She needed to know the secrets the Hyuuga were hiding. She deserved to know. It was because of the Byakugan that her sensei had died; it was because of the Byakugan that she almost died and had to be saved by Eisuke. It was because of the Byakugan that they weren't talking anymore.
Well, it was actually because of Kumo's obsession with Kekkei Genkai, but either way, the Hyuuga clearly took steps to prevent the spread of their abilities, steps that didn't end up working anyways. So she needed to know.
The documents didn't reveal anything else. But something like this couldn't have been kept secret, at least in Konoha. What about past teammates of Hyuuga shinobi who had the seal? Or even past teammates of Hyuuga shinobi in general? Hikari didn't know anyone like that. She could always ask Hyuuga Hinata, she supposed, but as the heiress to the clan, she was unlikely to share anything.
So that left one option, the option that Neji told her about, besides the jounin and Hokage: Kitagawa Yukiko.
She didn't want to. She really didn't want to. Especially not when her emotions were still rampaging from Neji's comment about Shoumaru, and definitely not when she hadn't come to terms with the death yet.
Denial. The first stage of grief.
She was still expecting for Shoumaru to pop up out of nowhere, like he always did in that blasé manner of his. She was still waiting for a mysterious scroll detailing the how-to's of various water jutsu to appear on her doorstep without warning. She was still…
She was still pretending that he was alive.
But he's not, she told herself, collapsing to the ground. He's gone. I know that.
Then why does my mind act like he's still here?
Kitagawa Shoumaru. Kitagawa Yukiko.
She needed a distraction.
Naruto.
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari knocked on what she knew to be Naruto's apartment door. She waited, casting a meandering eye over the surroundings. His apartment wasn't bad, per say, especially for an orphaned Academy student, but it wasn't as up to standard as hers.
The door opened. "Hi, Hikari," Naruto said. He paused awkwardly, not hugging her for once. "Ehehehe, just come in!"
"Hi, Naruto," she replied, allowing Naruto to lead her. "I wanted to talk about moving in to the new place and rent and all that…" They reached his bedroom and walked in. "…But I guess that'll have to wait."
In his bedroom was her little circle of friends. Ino met her eyes with a strained smile. Hikari took in the ambiance, reading the shifts in Sasuke's posture and the anger in Eisuke's face.
"Hello," she greeted cautiously, lowering herself to sit on the ground. From the bed, Sakura shot her a smile.
"Hi!" Sakura chirped, a little too brightly. An awkward silence fell.
Hikari's eyes darted about, assessing in the stifling atmosphere. It was strange. It was stilted. "What's going on?"
They all exchanged glances, refusing to speak. She felt dread beginning to pool in her gut. "Guys," she almost pleaded.
Sasuke took pity on her. "We were talking about you." Takahiro elbowed him in the stomach, but he persisted, face drawn in a weary expression. "About you being an Uzumaki."
Hikari blinked, unable to comprehend what he meant. "I don't understand."
"Basically," Eisuke said harshly, "we're wondering if you're really Naruto's sister."
She felt as if the world had been spinning too quickly and had abruptly stopped. This was, this was unfathomable. She faced Naruto desperately, but he didn't meet her eyes and stared at the ground, kicking it with his toes. "How can you even ask that?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.
"To be fair," Ino blurted, "you've been keeping this from us for however long you knew. It's a really important piece of information, and we're your friends. Isn't it possible that you're just playing a prank on us? If you really were Naruto's sister, you would have told him."
"I couldn't!" Hikari cried. "I wasn't allowed to!"
"But it's family," Sasuke cut in. "Family is the most important."
"It's more than just family," Hikari replied, frantic to make them believe, to make them see without revealing everything. "It's so much more than family. If it wasn't, the Hokage wouldn't have kept me from telling you! It wouldn't make sense."
"But you didn't tell us, in the end," Takahiro said, betrayal in his eyes.
"Didn't you just hear me?" she nearly shrieked. She paused, heaving for breath. That wasn't a normal reaction for her. She needed to calm down. Take deep breaths. Maintain a rational mind.
Do. Not.
Break.
Down.
Meeting Naruto's eyes, she saw the want to hope in them, the utter, heartbreaking hope. But there was also guardedness, of keeping himself from believing because to him, what if she was lying?
She broke eye contact and looked at the rest of them with a stricken expression. "Don't," she said in a broken whisper. Don't what? she asked herself.
Don't do this.
She fled.
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari sat with her head in her arms and her back against a tree. She closed her eyes, heartbeat drowning out the outside sounds.
I'm shaking, she realized. Why am I shaking?
"Stop," she said aloud. "Stop shaking."
"You know, talking to yourself is usually a sign of imminent insanity," a familiar voice said.
She stiffened. "Leave me alone, Eisuke."
"I'm not Eisuke."
She lifted her head, eyes blinking against the glare of light. As her eyes adjusted, she could begin to vaguely put a face to the voice.
Blue eyes like Eisuke. Black hair like Eisuke, albeit parted in a different way. A face like Eisuke. A build like Eisuke. Even chakra like Eisuke.
But not Eisuke. Not Eisuke in the way he stood, not Eisuke in the way he regarded her with barely concealed contempt and malice, and not Eisuke in the way his chakra coursed with a shadow that radiated a sadistic pleasure.
"Oshiro Daisuke," she said, rising to her feet. "Why are you here?"
He quirked a brow. "I was already here. You just stumbled in, lost in your own world."
Daisuke stepped closer, much like a predator stalking its prey. "Tell me," he said, voice dropping to a coaxing croon, false and artificial and fake, unlike his brother's, "does it hurt to have my twin reject you?"
She flinched at the emphasis he placed on the word 'twin'. Not fair. It wasn't fair.
"We're having a fight," she admitted, "but we'll make up. We're a team."
His eyes cut into hers, blue against blue. "Did he tell you that he quit at the hospital?"
She paused. Daisuke, because that was who he was, Eisuke's brother, Eisuke's twin, continued with a glint in his eye. "They were really sad to see him go, because he really was a promising medic. But, oh well, what could they do? Combat medics are expected to kill at some point, but he used his iryo-ninjutsu to kill, not something like a kunai."
Tilting his head and allowing all traces of amusement to escape from his face, he bit out, "It's your fault."
"No," she refused. "It's not."
"It is." His eyes narrowed. "It's your fault that my twin is so hurt right now. If it weren't for you, he'd still be working at the hospital. He'd be fine."
"It's not," Hikari insisted, trembling. "It's not, it's not."
He was right in front of her, his eyes so much like Eisuke's glaring at her, his face so much like Eisuke's showing hatred at her, for her. And a sudden thought had her heart stuttering to a stop.
Does Eisuke hate me?
"Everything is your fault. You have a curse, did you know? Everything you touch crumbles to dust." Each word cut into her, causing her to flinch and draw inwards towards herself. "First, with Shisui. He died. Then, with the Uchihas. They died. Your connection to your brother. Gone. Your teacher, killed. And now your own friends are estranged from you. Doesn't that say that there's something wrong with you?"
She didn't know how, but Hikari found herself on her knees, clutching the ground as her world fell around her. "It would be better if you weren't here. Maybe you can make a job out of making things disintegrate—"
A hand rested itself on her head, its weight automatically relaxing her. It was a familiar hand. A hand that soothed and healed and had never once been raised against her with the intent to harm.
"You should shut up," Eisuke recommended.
"Hello, brother-mine," Daisuke said, eyes flickering to Eisuke's hand. His face grew stony. "How have you been faring?"
Eisuke was silent, but he shifted his body so that he was slightly in front of Hikari. "It's not like you care," he finally said. "Stop putting on appearances. Why were you bothering Hikari to the point that she fell?"
"She hurt you—"
"Like I said, you don't care. Cut the crap and tell me the truth."
Daisuke appeared to be pondering something, glancing between Hikari and Eisuke. She shuddered and hid herself behind Eisuke. She didn't know why, but Daisuke scared her.
"You know, you've really changed because of that mission," Daisuke mused.
Eisuke's eyes hardened. "You changed more."
Daisuke scowled. "I'll show you that my truth is the right truth one day, Eisuke, and you'll see my way." He spat at them and left in a whirl of color.
Huh. Genjutsu.
Hikari blinked as Eisuke grasped both of her shoulders, shaking her frantically. The tension was gone from his frame. "Are you okay, Hikari-chan? Did he try to do anything to you?"
"N-no," she answered.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Daisuke is— well, he didn't use to be like this— but he's dangerous now. Like a snake. Try and stay away from him. He'll hurt you or get in your head."
She stared at him as he rambled on, unable to reconcile the angry boy she'd seen in Naruto's room with the concerned, flustered mother hen in front of her. "Eisuke-kun," she whispered. "Aren't you mad at me?"
He stopped, mouth hanging open from his last word. There was a beat of silence as he closed his mouth and regarded her with an unreadable expression.
"I am," he finally said. "Because no matter how we both spin it, it was your recklessness that made me use my medical ninjutsu to kill. But..." His voice choked, and Hikari gave a start when she noticed the tears in his eyes. "I don't want to stay angry with you. We're teammates. And we all make mistakes."
He sniffed and wiped his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice came out stronger, more sure. "And I would do it again if it meant saving your life. So I forgive you." Then, his face crumbled. "And I'm sorry. For not believing you about Naruto."
"Does, does Takahiro still not believe?" Hikari ventured. "Who else? What about Naruto? Sasuke?"
He sighed, settling back on the grass. "It was split. Sasuke, Naruto, and I believe you, while Takahiro, Ino, and Sakura don't. They said that it was just impossible for you to have witheld that sort of information."
She buried her face into her hands, laughing helplessly. "Daisuke was right. I ruin everything I touch." Tears came unbidden to her eyes. "Maybe I should stay away from everyone. It would be safer."
Eisuke's brow furrowed. "So what, you're going to give up, just like that?"
"Our team is broken anyways," Hikari argued. "This would just make it official. I don't want to hurt anyone else—"
"Okay, fine." She looked up, surprised. "Okay, let's say you do have a so-called 'curse' that causes everything around you to crumble." She flinched at the similar words. But...
When they were coming from Eisuke, they were somehow gentle.
"So far, there's been supposedly nothing to prove that you don't have a curse. Everything is wrong in your life; nothing is going right. There's no good anymore, and the one thing that was supposed to remain untouched, Naruto, has been ruined. That's what it feels like, right?" he asked. She nodded, unsure of where he was going with his statements, which weren't making her feel much better.
He shifted until he was directly facing her. "But the thing is, if you give up now and keep believing that the curse is, in fact, a curse and not just extremely bad luck, you're not giving yourself a chance to see it change for the better. As long as you don't give up and keep hoping and working to make it better, there's a chance that you'll succeed. Besides, hasn't it already gotten better?" He smiled at her, eyes crinkling. "I forgave you. Some of us believe you. Naruto believes you. Things are going to get better, so don't you dare disappear from our lives by going off and doing some super secret missions, claiming that it's the only way to use your curse."
She blushed. "I wasn't going to do that."
"Sure. I'm only your teammate, I wouldn't know." He smirked.
Hikari mock-glared at him, but ended up smiling. "You know, being angry has been good for you." She offered a crooked smile.
"Huh?" he asked, flustered. Ah, there's the Eisuke I know.
She hummed, getting up and heading towards the village square.
"Hikari-chan? What do you mean? Hikari-chan?"
"Figure it out for yourself!"
"Hikari-chan!"
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari waited in front of the house with anxiety. Her fingers tapped out a rhythm against her thigh, and she repeatedly took deep breaths to calm herself.
"Just tell her why you're here," Eisuke said beside her.
"Huh?"
"You were tapping out in standard Morse. 'What do I say'. So just tell her why you're here."
"But I don't know—"
Before she could finish her sentence, the door swung open, and they looked up to see Kitagawa Yukiko staring at them.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Hello, everyone!
This was a short chapter, but I decided that posting it now instead of agonizing over it for another month would be better. Seriously, writer's block is the worst.
In other news, I submitted my first college app today. Blergh.
I'm working on a HUGE oneshot for Strawberry Days, so keep an eye out for that! Don't forget that y'all can request things too.
Anyways, I should go back to getting my life together in time for college. Sigh.
See you next time!