Arc One: Hitomi's childhood

Chapter Four

Summary: Hitomi wasn't a people pleaser. But at the same time she wanted them to be happy. Hard thing to balance. Never bothered her though.

Darkdust27 and Cutiechante- requested more of Hitomi's fan club! Lol. Sure.

Five weeks later Hitomi was still in the academy. Hamatsu had not found what he was looking for... or he just forgot about her. She didn't care anymore.

The weather was changing from summer to fall as they now entered November. And Hitomi would spend hours just sitting outside. The breeze had taken up a chill, nothing to cold that really affected her if she stayed in the warmth of the sun. That's where her new friends would find her, either sitting in the park under the changing leaves, or reading at her mothers restaurant.

And that's how the study group started. At first it was only Hitomi helping Obito with his homework, and then Kakashi would sit at the same table with them when he was staying at Hitomi's home. Then Gai saw Kakashi working on his homework and decided to devote an even longer time period to his own studies to keep up with his eternal rival. Rin was next, Obito invited her. He swore it was only so they could all work together, but Hitomi figured it was actually so he could spend more time with her. Then the trio saw the five of them joking around one day and started coming as well. That was when they had to move from the booth they were in off to the side, to one of the private tea rooms.

Hitomi could feel the brushing chakra of the shinobi in the main room trying to figure out what her study group was doing. She would pull her chakra in as much as she could, getting further and further every time. And once satisfied with her own hidden chakra, she would cloak her friends, one by one, day by day working on hiding everything not just to aggravate the nosy shinobi (though, she had to admit, that was a bonus) but she wanted to see if she would be help to hide her comrades should the need occur in the field. She never stopped training, at home she would push to new limits and at school she would hide it, keeping her scores just above average and holding it there.

"Alright class," Kinuki-sensei says, "you may began."

Hitomi stares at the sapphire stone in her hand, Kinuki-sensei had passed out different color stones had passed out different colors stones to the whole class. They were supposed to channel chakra into the stones to work on their chakra control.

Beside her, Kakashi was pushing chakra into his emerald stone, growing it slowly, but growing it none the less. In the middle row to the right, the trio were trying to do the same. Genma's ruby being the biggest, then Ebisu's topaz, and Asuma was tossing his peridot into the air, complaining about how annoying chakra control exercise is.

"This is so stupid!" Obito exclaims from the row ahead of the trio. To his right, Rin giggles her own amethyst gathering a nice amount of chakra. And to his left Shisui had a garnet in his hand and stared at it. He raises his hand,

"Sensei!"

"Yes Shisui-kun?" Kinuki-sensei starts to climb the stairs.

"What happens if you channel to much chakra?" Shisui asks, "or the wrong kind of chakra into it?"

Just as Kinuki-sensei opens his mouth to explain, a stone from the front row explodes.

"Crap!" The kid, the Inuzuka exclaims.

The class starts to laugh at his misfortune.

Kinuki-sensei chuckles, "that's what happens if you input the wrong chakra." He uses his palm to scoop the azure powder into a pile, "but as for to much." He shrugs, "there is no to much. It will just keep getting bigger."

Shisui nods, and Hitomi watches as he starts to roll the stone in his hand.

Hitomi silently looks down at her own stone, sending out a rapid burst of chakra and watches the stone grow two more inches. Looking at the other kids stones, Hitomi found a decent size to grow her own stone to, so she could remain inconspicuous and started adding chakra.

"Hey, hey! I got it, look Mi-chan!" Obito exclaims, giggling ecstatically.

"Good job Obito-kun!" Hitomi smiles.

Obito turns in his seat to face the trio, yelling, "I bet I can make mine bigger than yours!"

And before she knew it her group was competing as well. Right in front of her, Gai leapt from his seat,

"Yosh!" He pumped a fist into the air, "such youthful competition! I too, will enter in a chance to win Hitomi's eternally young heart."

"What the heck?" Obito deadpans.

Before any of the small group could reply, Hitomi's fan club members all leapt from their seats to start arguing with Gai, vowing to make their own stones bigger to win Hitomi over.

Hitomi tunes them out, listening to the chatting to her right, from the trio and Obito and Rin's giggling in front of them. Pushing her chakra further in, she focuses on that, just her stone, which started as the size of her thumb nail and slowly made it to the size of her hand, then got bigger.

"Woah! Look at Hitomi-chan's!" Ebisu points from her right. Hitomi's gaze snaps up and she sees Kinuki-sensei starting to make his way back slightly panicking at being caught, she forced the wrong chakra in and caused the stone to explode in her lap. Soft blue powder coating her legs.

"Good job Ebisu." Asuma snorts, "you made her lose focus."

"Nah," Hitomi laughs, rubbing the back of her neck, "it would've happened sooner or later."

Kinuki-sensei turned back and went to another student, looking disappointed.

Hitomi bit back her smirk and started gathering the powder with her chakra.

Hitomi flipped her newly bought book closed, having finished it.

"Done already Hitomi-chan?" Nakuro questions, walking up behind her wiping his hands on a rag.

Hitomi nods, watching one of the newer staff members busily clear a table. Her mother had nearly doubled staff in the last month due to the in flux of business. The ninja loved this place.

"I guess I should go get another one." She half mumbles, eyes flitting from one serving woman to another.

"Did you do your homework already Hitomi-chan?" Her mother asks, a warm smile in place. Hitomi smiles back, nodding,

"Yeah, I finished it a bit ago before Kakashi and Obito left." She turned on the counter, flipping her legs over to the other side and reaching out to hug her mother. Normally she wouldn't turn her back to so many nin, or to a blatant entrance and windows, no mattered how sealed, but Shisui was at the closet table to her right and she knew he had her back in anything. So with that though, she wrapped her arms tightly around Aiko's waist. "Is Sakumo back yet?"

Aiko nods into pink hair, "I believe he is. Are you going to go see him?" Hitomi shakes her head. "How come?"

"He just got home, he's probably tired." He shrugs, "and he should spend time with 'Kashi. The baka doesn't like to show it, but he I can tell he really missed him."

Aiko nods thoughtfully, 'hmm'ing. "Well why don't I pack up some sweets and you take them over there? Deal?"

Hitomi groans silently into her mothers chest, "I don't want to. Can't I go tomorrow?"

Aiko chuckles at this, "fine, go tomorrow." She places a kiss on Hitomi's forehead. "Behave. I'm going to get back to work."

Hitomi nods, letting her mother go and backs away, turning back around to face the door just as it opened. Hitomi kept her face impassive as her Hyuuga class mate enters. His pale eyes scoping the place before his eyes stop on her. His eyes narrow.

To her right, Shisui's eyes also narrowed, and while he didn't look up from his studying, Hitomi had no doubts the boy could be up in a second. He had been showing a lot of progress in his spars in class. His speed was the best of the academy.

"Midori." Kenji Hyuuga glares, standing a few feet from her.

Hitomi smiles, raising a brow. "What's up pretty purple eyes?"

Kenji grimaces, "they aren't purple." He grumbles.

"Sure they aren't." Shisui mumbles under his breath.

"It's lavender." Kenji growls through clenched teeth.

Hitomi snorts, tightening her lips to stop the laughter from flowing. "Right, cause that's so much better."

"I'm not here for idle chit chat," he sighs angrily, waving a flippant hand. "So I'll get to the point."

Hitomi's smile curled at the edges, starting to become a smirk that makes the Hyuuga brat madder.

"Why did you make your stone crumble this morning?" He asks.

Hitomi snorts, "you came to ask-"

"Don't try and brush it off!" Kenji exclaims, his lip curling in distaste. "You had it! And when you saw sensei was coming to see, you destroyed it."

"Let me get this straight," Hitomi raises her hands, jumping from the counter, "you think I did that on purpose?"

"Don't try to turn this on me, make me look stupid" He scoffs, "I know you did that on purpose."

Hitomi mock frowns, noticing they had gained attention- a lot of attention. "You're mad I lost focus and input the wrong chakra?" She places a hand over her heart dramatically.

Kenji's frown deepens.

"It happened to everyone at one point in the class," Hitomi shrugs. "Some more than others."

"Like Obito." Shisui smirks, flipping his page over and continuing his writing, not batting a lash.

Hitomi felt her blood run cold as Kenji smirks. Her dark eyes narrow dangerously.

"Ah, Deadlast..." He says, "he didn't do to well in class today." He crosses his arms. "I assume he's not doing to well now-"

The Hyuuga wasn't even able to close his mouth before Hitomi had a hand fisted in the front of his shirt. Shisui was immediately on her right, gripping the same wrist tightly, giving her a look.

"Don't Hitomi." He says, "we can worry about him later. Let's go find Obito now." The three year old reasons.

Hitomi realized they must've looked ridiculous. A seven year old, a four year old and a three year old about to go fist to fist, threatening one another. The shinobi watching looked a bit tense, like they wanted to interfere but knowing that if they did the fight would escalate later on, at a very bad timing. It was better to let them figure it out with adult supervision so no accidents could happen- like a Hyuuga suddenly disappearing and never being found. Hitomi's lip curled at the thought, and she spread her senses far to try and find Obito. Her fingers tightening every second she couldn't find his unique chakra.

Hitomi's eyes fall closed as she pushes much further then she's ever pushed. But a victory smirk lit up on her face as she found him, her eyes snapping open and when she laid eyes on the Hyuuga in her hand her smirk fell.

"Get lost," she spat, pushing his chest hard, letting go of his shirt and letting him fly back, "or you'll find out firsthand just how much I hold back in our spars."

The Hyuuga was out the door in .02 seconds and Hitomi had to smirk at his new found speed. Glancing to her right, where Shisui smirks,
she chuckles,

"Ready for an adventure?" She returns the smirk, turning over her shoulder to meet her mothers worried eyes, she smiles wide, and exclaims jovially "Ka-chan! We have to go save Obito, he may or may not be being chased by a very, very large snake in a very dangerous place. We'll be back for dinner."

Hours later the three had returned from the forest of death in a considerably good mood. They all sat at a table picking at each others plates, sometimes smacking chopsticks away when they strayed to close to a favored piece.

That's where her new sensei found her, along with Minato, and Kushina.

"Hey squirt." Hamatsu ruffles her pink hair.

"Hey sensei." She smiles upwards, simultaneously smacking away the hand that went for her dumpling.

Hamtsu raised a brow at his students good mood, having never received such an expression from the young girl.

"What have you been up to?" Hitomi turned her gaze to Minato, before looking back and making eye contact with both of the Uchiha at her table. Laughter erupts from all three, gaining raised eyebrows and exchanged looks from the older teens above them.

"What's so funny?" Hamatsu asks.

Aiko steps up beside Hamatsu, "It's not that funny Sarutobi-sama." She says, "they made a trip out to training ground 44."

Hamatsu frowned immediately, Minato's blue eyes snapped wide, and Kushina had trouble holding in her laughter.

"Please tell me Kakashi wasn't involved in this." Minato looks to Hitomi, who shakes her head, Obito opening his big mouth before she could.

"Nah, that scaredy cat would never go in a place like that." He laughs.

"Yeah, only an idiot would go in there." Hitomi faux glares.

"Yeah," Shisui nods, "and his wonderfully awesome friends, who had to save said idiot."

Hamatsu sighs, resting his hands on the back of Hitomi's chair and bowing his head deeply.

"You did this to yourself sensei." Hitomi giggles, stabbing a piece of chicken and tossing it into her mouth smugly. "And just think, you're pretty much in for a life time of this."

A few more weeks passed easily, and it was December.

Also winter, Hitomi loves winter. She liked the snow, she liked the ice skating, she liked sitting in front of the fire place sipping warm apple cider or hot chocolate, she really liked the sleepovers with her mother close to the fire. And now, at this very moment she was ecstatic.

"Ka-chan! Ka-chan!" Hitomi exclaims, giggling wildly, "look! It's snowing! It's the first snow of the year!" She gushes happily, tugging on her mothers arm, they were home, it was very early, on a Saturday morning the sun hadn't even come up yet and the two girls of the Midori house were up and about getting ready for the day.

Aiko smiles, "I see Hitomi-chan." She chuckles as her daughter continues to tug, "it won't stick for another week, maybe even a few weeks." They both stared out the kitchen window, in awe of the snow flurries that fell from the black sky. Hitomi frowns as her mothers words register.

"Don't say that Ka-chan!" Hitomi exclaims, pouting now. "can I go out in it?" Her dark eyes light up.

Aiko contemplates for a moment, her daughter pout becoming more of a beg as the seconds pass. "I guess-"

"Yes!" Hitomi jumps in the air.

"Only for a little bit though," she holds out a warning finger, "then you come back in and take a break, I'll get some apple cider warming up now. And then we can have breakfast. And then you can go back out if you'd like."

"Yes!" Hitomi launched towards Aiko to wrap her arms around her waist, "Thanks Ka-chan!" She ran to slip on her favorite thick socks, and heavy rain boots, stuffing the ends of her pj pants into the socks and shoes. She pulled on a sweater then another jacket over, one thicker that would protect her from the wind, she wound a scarf around her neck and allowed her mother to place a beanie over the top of her head and ears, and then ear muffs followed causing Hitomi to huff.

"Ka-chan!" She whines, "I won't be out that long!" She stamps a foot, looking very much like the four year she is.

Aiko laughs warmly, "okay, okay. Go ahead."

Hitomi smiles again, and barrels out of her home, slamming the door behind her.

Later it was still snowing as Hitomi and Aiko made their way to Hoshi.

Hitomi was jumping into the air, catching snowflakes that caught her eye. Enclosing it in her gloved hands and trying to rush it back to Aiko to see before it melted.

"Look Ka-chan!"

"I see Hitomi-chan." Aiko smiles, patting her daughter hat covered hair. She passes her daughter, Hoshi in sight now. A familiar looking shinobi opened the door for her, and she nods with a small 'thank you' before entering, and carefully navigating the lunch crowd and heading towards the kitchen.

"Ah, Midori-san." Nakuro smiles, "you were supposed to be taking the day off. You work to hard, you know that?"

Aiko smiles, "I just have to do some paper work, then I will go enjoy my day off." She passes through the kitchen and heads towards the only hallway in the back, that led to the tea rooms, the supply rooms, the lockers for staff and her office. Her office was all the way in the back, away from all the hustle and bustle noise. She hesitates, contemplating going back and dragging Hitomi in out of the weather. She decides against it, pushing open her office door and shutting it behind her.

Hitomi smiles shaking snow free from her hair as she steps into the warmth of the restaurant. Pulling off her hat she skips up to her counter and bounces up languidly.

"It's snowing." She gives Nakuro a cheeky grin.

He laughs, "yes it is, Hitomi-chan."

"I could play in it all day." She sighs dreamily, glancing back out at windows where ice stuck to them before melting and falling. "Ka-chan says I'll get sick though." Her sigh saddens.

Nakuro chuckles, patting her damp hair, "considering it's you Hitomi-chan, there is no avoiding it. You're gonna find some way to get into that snow and catch a cold."

"I know!" Hitomi pouts, "that's what I said." She nods, crossing her arms tightly.

Nakuro shakes his head and goes off to speak with one of the female staff members leaving Hitomi to pout and grumble about unfair.

"Hitomi!" The door slams open, "It's snowing!" Obito yells, Shisui on his heels.

"I know!" She smiles again.

"Then why aren't we outside?!" Obito frowns deeply, crossing his arms.

Hitomi's face falls, "Ka-chan said I can't stay out long and I was already playing in it all morning." She blows a raspberry.

"That's depressing." Obito says.

Shisui smiles, "we can still go out later though right?"

"Yeah," Hitomi agrees, "I'm going to stay with Ka-chan for a bit, it's her day off. Then I'll come and find you guys, alright?"

Shisui nods, grabbing Obito's arm and dragging him towards the door, the older Uchiha being dragged looks over his shoulder waving wildly.

"By Aiko-san!" He yells loudly.

A week later the two Uchiha and Hitomi were in Hoshi again, Hitomi leaning her back against the counter behind her and Obito to her left, Shisui sat at the table to her right, drawing some kind of seal when Kenji storms into Hoshi.

"Be serious, be serious." She elbows Obito in the side, and schools her expression, Obito doing the same, as the Hyuuga stomps towards them. Snow flurries coating his long dark hair, and a big coat wrapped around his torso, peeking out from the edges of his collar and running up his neck Hitomi spotted lavender paint, looking him up and down to see it running down his wrists and ankles as well.

"Nice touch of purple." Obito greets, holding in his mirth surprisingly well Hitomi notices. "Not sure it's your color though." He shrugs.

"Are you sure it's purple?" Shisui questions, raising a slender brow, "I'd say it's violet."

Kenji looks more and more flustered as they stare, all three examining the Hyuuga with teasing eyes.

"Nah," Hitomi shakes her head, placing a finger on her chin and leaning forward, squinting, "it looks more like lavender to me." She smirks widely.

All three burst into rambunctious laughter and the flustered Hyuuga gets so mad he can't even do more than open and close his mouth like a flabbergasted fish.

Kenji starts to turn red and the trio start to fall over in laughter, Hitomi had a hard time breathing as she threw a hand onto Obito's shoulder and leaned her forehead against it, still laughing.

Shisui to her right, gripped his stomach with one hand and lent forward, his other hand pushing on his knee to keep himself up. Obito slapped a palm into his thigh repeatedly, rubbing his goggleless eyes with the other and wheezing.

Finally the Hyuuga gave up and storms back the way he came from, causing the tree to laugh even harder.

"What are you laughing at?"

"And why do we always see you three cracking up?" Kushina grins.

"That Hyuuga kid," Fumiko frowns. Hitomi had no doubts they saw the paint on the child's body.

"Was that you?" Hamatsu finishes for Fumiko, eyes zeroing in on his student. Even with the intimidating team staring them down, they had a hard time gathering themselves and settling.

"You snuck into the Hyuuga compound to pull a prank." Kushina says almost giddy.

"No," Hitomi sobers, "can you prove it?" She glares.

"The Hyuuga alarms were raised last night- apparently there was an intruder. You three know anything about that?" Hamatsu places a fist on his hip, staring his student down.

"Nah, we're good kids." Obito shrugs.

"Oh yeah, then where were you three last night?" Hamatsu asks. "Say, around nine?"

"Together," Obito starts.

"Eating dango." Shisui adds.

"On the Hokage's monument." Hitomi nods in agreement, then holds up one finger, "Lord First to be exact."

"Troublemakers." Hamatsu says under his breath, giving Fumiko a look. She smiles and nods, going to secure the tea room for the upcoming meeting.

Once the two women were gone he knelt to his students level, "a meeting is about to take place back there," he points, "an important meeting. Behave." His golden eyes narrow seriously and Hitomi nods just as serious. "Scram."

"Hai, sensei."

Hamatsu pats her head right after that and walls past them.

"Hey kiddo."

Hitomi turns around in a controlled motion, having not felt the person get within her personal space only to be met with a flick to the forehead. She grumbles, already knowing who it is. I should've ran.

Hitomi lifts her head, "Tsuna-hime." She greets. Beside her Obito's eyes shoot wide in surprise, Shisui hides his better.

Tsunade smirks, "what no hugs and kisses for aunty Tsuna?" She bends her knees and pinches Hitomi's cheek.

Hitomi 'hmphs' and crosses her arms, looking away in indignation causing Tsunade and Sakumo to both chuckle, Hitomi only then realizing Sakumo had been standing behind Tsunade.

"Why must you do this?" She glares at them both.

The two exchange a look before laughing loudly.

"Please tell me you have to go to that meeting?" Hitomi asks, her brows drawing in.

"Actually we do have to go to that meeting." Sakumo swoops forward to gather her in his arms. "Wanna join?"

Hitomi's eyes shoot wider than Obito's and she starts pushing at Sakumo's chest, "definitely not!"

Sakumo laughs again, "why not? It's just a few jounin getting together."

"Hamatsu-sensei says otherwise." She pouts noticing that Tsunade was shooing away her two Uchiha best friends. She glares at the honey eyed woman who smiles sweetly back. She breathes a deep sigh of despair, tucking her head into Sakumo's neck and shoulder, effectively hiding her face.

Hitomi didn't glance up from her hiding spot as she felt Sakumo move into the back tea room. Noise hit her instantly, multiple seperate conversations. She reached out with her chakra feeling at least eleven others in the room. She immediately pulls her chakra away when one of the others wispy chakra brushes against hers.

"What's with the kid, Sakumo?" A deep stoic voice questions, his chakra was a rough feeling, dark blue.

"What? You jealous, Fugaku?" Tsunade teases, "you want a kid of your own already?"

"Hear that Mikoto?" Kushina adds, "better get to work."

Sakumo laughs under his breath. "They aren't scary Hitomi-chan. " He says softly, "you can come out now."

She shakes her head fiercely, content in her hiding.

This causes loud raucous laughter, from a feral feeling burgundy chakra. "What did you do to the poor girl Sakumo?!" The woman laughes loudly. A dog barked in laughter. So an Inuzuka and her counterpart.. Hitomi filed the two chakra for later.

Sakumo knelt at the low table, with Tsunade to his left and Hamatsu to his right, she felt Fumiko on his other side. Creating a mental image of the table she tried to map out the persons by their chakra. The long table had eight seats on each side and then the option of two more on the ends, one on each side.

The end seat to her left was empty, and Tsume and her dog sat at the far end of the right side. On Hitomi's half of the table, Fumiko brought up the end at the far left of the table, Tsunade beside her, then Sakumo and Hitomi, followed an empty seat, then Hamatsu, then another empty seat with Kushina tying up the end of their side.

On the other side.. it was more difficult, she barely could place the chakra to their faces. She would try first at least, she knew Fugaku's from passing it one day when she was playing with Shisui.

And then there were two that were similar to each other but not quite the same, she kind of figured those were the two Hyuuga twins. She might've felt them when she broke into the Hyuuga compound to prank Kenji.. at that time though, their chakra was leaking killing intent and that was a bit terrifying.

Then there was the Inuzuka and her partner, and there was already two clan heads there, Hitomi guessed that that woman was Tsume Inuzuka. She didn't know the dogs name.

Then there was the last three, one was a soft blue that felt oddly... sweet and then there was a a solid blue that might've leaned towards mintish, and last there was the wispy green one that brushed against hers earlier. Since she already knew there were three clan heads in the room she was willing to bet that the last three she felt was the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara clan heads.

In order, Choza Akimichi across from Fumiko, followed by Inoichi across from Sakumo, and Shikaki next to his Yamanaka teammate. There was an empty seat between the Nara clan head and the younger Hyuuga twin. The older Hyuuga/clan head next to him. Followed by Fugaku, then his wife- Kushina had called her Mikoto- the Uchiha matriarch pulled up the end of that side.

It was extremely difficult for her to connect the dots and guess who was who. She was still stuck on why Sakumo brought her in there in the first place. She let out a puff of hot air.

The door opens again, and a familiar chakra enters with a wave, "sorry I'm late." Minato says, sounding like he was smiling. He took a seat between Kushina and Hamatsu.

"I ran into two angry Uchiha children- and a whole fan club- down the street," he adds after a moment, "I see why they're mad now, Sakumo." He says with some weight.

"They can't always hog Hitomi-chan." Sakumo chuckles, "right Hitomi-chan?"

"Yes they can." She mumbled into his flak jacket. "It's their right as my best friends." She explains, knowing that the others would hear no matter how quiet she whispers.

"You are friends with Shisui and Obito?" Fugaku questions, and she can feel the glare on the back of her head. Alright it was just his stare, but it was felt heavy. "You're the bad influence then?"

Hitomi glances over her shoulder at the accusation, examining the stern Uchiha before plotting quickly.

"If anything," she begins, "Obito is the bad influence. And that is because he is friends Kakashi Hatake, Sakumo-sensei's son." She tips her head, "I try to encourage them to do other things other than pranks but they're just too stubborn." She sighs dramatically, before pinning a stare on the man who held her, "Sakumo-sensei says stubbornness is good though. Right sensei?" She questions with wide, innocent doe eyes.

He glares, "alright alright." He says, "I get it. Let it go."

As she starts to smile, she buries her head back into her personal hiding spot.

Laughs erupted from various parties.

"Looks like you have your hands full Sakumo." The Inuzuka clan head smirks.

"Nope, this cute little one is his," Sakumo points a thumb to Hamatsu. "She is his student."

Hitomi tunes them out as they all broke off and started multiple seperate conversations, finding the trivial stuff boring. Well it wasn't trivial, but still, she didn't care about their clans politics. She knew she couldn't stay out of the conversation for ever and that became painfully obvious when they started talking about the academy.

"Hitomi has been making a lot of friends."

This was said as another person entered the room. A very boisterous apology was made and the man sat in the last empty seat on the other side of the table.

"That must be Hitomi-chan!"

Hitomi's eyes flew open recognizing the speech pattern.

"My son talks about your eternal youthfulness all the time!" Might Dai exclaims, "I must say, he was not accurate. You are much more beautiful then he described!"

In her mind she could see Gai posing, thumbs up. She had to force herself to swallow and close her eyes again. Ignoring him and causing Sakumo to laugh.

"That's right, Hitomi is friends Kakashi and Gai." Sakumo says, "That's good."

"We are not friends." Hitomi corrects, "I don't like either of them." She tacts on.

"Hitomi-chan," Minato says, mirth hidden in his soft voice, "by any chance, that fan club I ran into... was it yours?"

Hitomi lifts her head to give him a look, before pinning her glare on Gai's dad, then dropping her head back down to Sakumo's chest.

Tsunade reaches over and pinches her cheek as there were more laughs at her expense.

"Don't worry Hitomi-chan." Kushina says, "I'll show you how to handle those fan boys." Hitomi just knew Kushina had a fist raised high in the air, a victory smirk already in place.

Hitomi smiles, glad she was hidden. And the conversation about academy students took a more academic turn. Once she was positive there wouldn't be a chance of her getting wrapped into any of the side conversations, she slid down to the empty seat between her two sensei's. Leaning more towards Sakumo as she took causious glances around the busy room.

There was the occasional Hoshi serving staff person come in and give the nin more tea and snacks before bowing and leaving silently. Some of the ones more familiar with her gave her amused glances before ducking out.

She eyed the shogi board that was being set by Shikaku, glancing at him every now and then as well as he moved each piece back and forth before one side won and he reset the board piece by piece, taking his time. Then his dark gaze met hers and she tensed.

"You ever play before?" He questions, gesturing to the board with a wave of his hand.

Hitomi gives a small nod.

Shikaku makes a gesture for them to play, and she sighs inwardly. Scooting forward on her knees, closer to the table.

She was about to lose pitifully.

So excited for next chapter!

Who wins the shogi match guys? Bets? Ideas? Anything you want to see in Hitomi's childhood? (which will be ending at the end of Chapter six.)

Sneak Peak: "Obito won't leave me alone." Kakashi nods in Hitomi's direction. "He says you stole her when they had plans today. Her whole stupid fan club is out there- demanding you release her immediately or they will be forced to take action."

Hitomi let out an annoyed sound and hit her forehead against in Minato's shoulder.

"I'm not going out there." She announces to the younger Hatake.

Kakashi swivels, and points a finger at her, with venom he says, "yes. you. are."

Kakashi- 25

Obito- 18

Shisui- 11