The weeks flew into months, which went by like a blur for Neji. Between being a first time dad to an infant and attending the Spiritual Arts Academy, he felt as if there wasn't enough hours in the day. Chiaki was usually busy with her duties, but luckily had subordinates she trusted to watch Hikari while she worked on experimental kidos.
He'd learned early on just how dangerous kido can be if improperly cast or utilized. Hikari would remain at the kido corps while Neji was at school, after school he'd pick her up from the kido corps and take her home. Glancing outside he found it strange that it wasn't snowing like he was used to for February. Ten months had passed since Hikari's birth, and her personality was shining through more and more each day. She was certainly an inquisitive little explorer, crawling around and getting into anything that wasn't either locked away or somehow secured in place. She maintained the same hair colour as her father, but as far as Neji was concerned, her hair colour, the shape of her mouth, and her nose were from him. The rest of her, from her eye colour and shape to her bone structure was from Chiaki.
The white eyed man's breath caught in his lungs as he watched his youngest crawl over to the chabudai and gripped the edge with her small hand. He stood wide eyed and smiling as the baby then used the solid object to push her weight against as she pulled herself up to her feet. Neji dropped down so he was kneeling on the floor.
"Look at you Hikari. Look at you, you amazing, brilliant, strong girl," he praised. The child looked to her father. With a smile and a delighted squeal she tried to take a step towards him but fell, he felt as if his heart stopped beating. In a blink of an eye, Neji was in front of her, his hand shielding her head from hitting the table, while his other hand gently gripped her under her arm, steadying her. He smiled as he suggested, "maybe you're not quite there yet. But you will be."
As if on queue Suzume entered the room, her hair a bit darker than it had been ten months ago, her eyes were also darkening, turning from brown to almost black. She regarded the scene in front of her and asked, "something happen?"
"Hikari pulled herself up using the table. She tried to walk, but her legs aren't steady enough for that yet," Neji replied.
"Oh," Suzume acknowledged. She blinked when Hikari's face turned red and she stomped her foot while letting out an enraged screech. Neji became wide eyed and blinked at the sight. Suzume offered the frustrated child a smile as she got down on her hands and knees. The gesture seemed to calm her little sister, causing the darker haired girl to smile at her as she voiced, "I see. You're frustrated that you're the only one not walking, huh? You'll get there quicker than you think. It just seems like a long time."
Neji smiled and nodded in agreement, although the interaction between his biological and adopted daughter warmed his heart more than he ever thought a simple exchange could. The fact that Suzume was so in tuned to her baby sister that she could understand what caused Hikari to lose her temper. The fact that the root cause of it seemed to be Hikari's desire to imitate Suzume. He didn't know which part of the interaction he adored more, what he did know was that this memory would imprint upon his heart and mind for eternity.
He observed as the two girls crawled around on the floor, Suzume staying close to Hikari as she explored. The younger girl squealing in delight as she moved as fast as her tiny arms and legs could manage. Suzume could've moved much quicker than her little sister, but restrained herself, opting instead to follow the little one.
A broad smile on his face, knowing that Hikari would be safe under Suzume's watch, he turned some of his attention to his studies while keeping his ears and senses on alert for the slightest indication of something out of the ordinary.
No matter if it was Suzume or Tetsuya that came home first, both children were old enough to recognize several possible dangers to Hikari. That was one thing that eased his mind, another was they had taught them that anything Hikari gets curious about she can look at, or hold, but if she tries to put it in her mouth it goes bye-bye.
Chiaki kept the house spotless—well, as spotless as you can possibly get it with a baby verging on toddler years, a child, and a pre-teen. He helped out with the cleanliness and cooking whenever it was needed, as did Tetsuya. He heard Tetsuya come into the house, and relaxed a bit more. With him around the girls were likely to remain safe regardless of anything, he'd proven that when he took it upon himself to rescue Suzume from the defector Shinigami, without even knowing who he was up against.
He had to admit though, he was thinking of Hinata, Lee, Naruto and Tenten more and more. What were they up to? Did Naruto return Hinata's feelings? Had Lee moved on from Sakura? What of Tenten? He'd left with things uncertain between them. They'd been uncertain when Chiaki had surprised him with a visit in Konohagakure for his birthday, the day that Hikari had been conceived—or more accurately the evening.
He had spent that day with Lee, Naruto and Kiba. He'd encountered Tenten, but kept things at a friendship interaction and nothing more. He'd come to realize that although he did love Tenten, he loved her more as a friend than a romantic partner. While he was more relaxed with her than most in their village, he was even more at ease with Chiaki. He had no question he was where he needed to be, but he couldn't help but wonder if his death had derailed her life. On the battlefield, in the moment, he hadn't considered her. He'd seen two people he loved in danger and had acted the only way he could think to protect them both.
He closed the book he'd been studying from, he'd retained the information within it. The class was teaching them about konso and how it operated. Hollows were once earth-bound human souls who either lingered too long, or had an intense regret weighing heavily upon their soul. Once the earth bound spirit hollowfied, it only be purified by a Shinigami Zanpakuto, doing so would either allow them to come to Soul Society, send them to the hollow world of Hueco Mundo, or send them to the Hell Dimension, depending upon the cause for the hollowfication.
As far as hollows were concerned there were different kinds of hollows. There were of course the ordinary hollows themselves, but in Hueco Mundo hollows would consume each other and become Menos Grande. The weakest of this class of hollow was the Gillian, which looked like a massive hooded shadow with an almost clownlike mask, the next strongest Menos was the Adjuchas, which look more like humans but usually had some sort of animal theme to them, and the strongest menos were Vasto Lordes, said to be even stronger than Shinigami Captains. The fact is, he'd learned from Chiaki that during the war against her father, Captain Zaraki and 6th Squad Captain Kuchiki had teamed up against an Espada who may well have been a Vasto Lordes. The thing about the Vasto Lordes is while they retain the hollow hole, somewhere on their body, they otherwise resemble humans.
He'd have Chiaki quiz him later to ensure the information he'd read had stuck, but he couldn't stop his mind from wondering back to his friends in Konohagakure. He closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, focusing on his breathing and the sensation of his lungs expanding. He repeated this multiple times until his mind eased, but opening his eyes he was startled at the sight before him.