DAY 20
His three cute little genin laid on the grass, breathing hard. Hikari recovered first, rolling onto her back and pulling her legs to her chest. She switched to her side and stretched her quads. Unlike her teammates, Kakashi had told the kunoichi to work on her aim for the last hour. Eventually, she had moved on to shooting a kunai at the target as she came out of a handspring. Naruto and Sasuke had continued with taijutsu, intercepted with bodyweight exercises.
Kakashi beamed at his team as they followed Hikari. He received two glares. He pouted, but he was surprised at how little they had whined. He would need to work on Hikari giving verbal responses to instructions, Naruto's discipline, and Sasuke's dismissive attitude, but it was a good start.
Soon enough, they all stood and stretched their shoulders.
"You did good today," he eye-smiled at them. "Go home and eat a big meal. Tomorrow, we'll do a mission."
They gave him tired grins and slunk off. He caught Hikari's eye and motioned her over. She approached.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Do you have training at your compound today?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei."
"May I go with you?" He asked, but it was more of an order. He wasn't letting her alone with Tanaka.
She nodded, eyeing him curiously. "Do you wish to join me for lunch?"
"Sure," he eye-smiled at her and followed along.
Like last time, the meal had been tasty. And he hadn't had to rush through it to keep his face from being seen. Hikari hadn't made a big deal of it, hadn't even commented. She had just timed her conversation to his pace of eating. It had been... nice.
As they went to the lesson, Kakashi satisfied his curiosity.
"So, Hikari, what did you do on your day off?"
She turned to him. "I was going to pay back some favors in the compound. But Arata asked me to take care of one of his. I took a handful of kids to the museum and it turned into a zoo excursion, too." At his side glance, the kunoichi tried to defend herself. "They bribed me with chocolate."
Kakashi smiled at his adorable genin, but his thoughts were spinning.
So, the Nara hadn't needed Hikari to get into the compound. He'd been able to ask and receive help from the dance partner. Clearly, the lavender-haired boy had some kind of pull. Not only with Hikari, to be able to schedule training for her, but within the compound.
They reached the gymnasium and Hikari went off to the barre. They were only fifteen minutes early - and how Kakashi chafed at being early even if it wasn't to something of his- so Tanaka arrived soon.
He immediately flipped all the lights on. His kunoichi glanced at him. It was early afternoon. Kakashi smirked behind his mask. Afraid of shadows?, he wanted to mock. He looked closer. The guy's eyes were dilated. Kakashi shifted in the bench, dragging it on the ground. Tanaka gave a full-body twitch at the screeching noise. Maa, what had Shikamaru done?
Everyone in Konoha knew that the lazy Naras didn't like to move, but when they did, they made it count. It looked like Kakashi was getting to see some of the after effects. He smiled. He was going to have some fun with it.
By the end of the hour, Kakashi was ready to dip his metaphorical hat to the boy. Shikamaru had had less than a handful of hours to plan and execute how to make his displeasure known. But he'd made them count. The civilian was a mess. And he hadn't implicated Hikari. Kakashi had been worried that, frightened, the trainer would lash out. But he was such a trembling, sweating mess that Hikari was the last thing on his mind.
He could see that his kunoichi was confused. It was clear that Tanaka wanted them gone, especially as Kakashi kept shifting, or striding this way and that so the guy twitched at the movement at the corner of his eye. The previously unmovable man was willing to show and correct the girl to get them out as soon as possible.
Hikari made full use of it. She asked questions and soaked up the instructions like a sponge. Her eyes were sharp as she took in his demonstrations. It wasn't like the sharingan's ability of memorizing every single detail. Instead, his kunoichi seemed to remember sequences and transitions and was able to keep them in her head as she moved. He guessed she filled in the gaps with her expertise on the techniques. Today, Kakashi could actually see why her compound wanted Tanaka's moves. They were creative in its use of space, and had some very precise throwing and catching pieces. Still, he grinned as, after an hour and a half, the civilian shooed them out and closed the gymnasium's door at their heels.
Hikari turned to him, suddenly hesitant. He gave her his full attention.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you have some more time? I'd like to run an idea by you, if you're amenable."
"Sure, Hikari," he said, amused. Of the four-member team, she was the only one who cared about etiquette.
She grinned at him, bright and happy, as she led him to another gymnasium. This one wasn't as bare as the other. There were mats, stall bars, bouncy balls, floor beams, tumble mats, and racks with equipment. She walked over to some of the colorful foam equipment and settled on a half-donut. He seated himself, cross-legged, in a simple wedge and waited.
"Last week, I asked Asuma-sensei how he preferred to fight," she started. "He told me about infusing his trench knives with chakra. I inquired about the material. He said his were a special metal, but that chakra could technically be infused into anything."
Kakashi nodded. The jounin's Chakra Blades made him one of the most fearsome close-combat fighters he had ever encountered.
"I don't have anything that acts like a shield, and I don't heal quickly, like Naruto. What if someone has something I can't dodge, like Asuma-sensei's chakra part of the attack? So, I thought of something, but it may be a bit... silly."
"Tell me anyways," Kakashi encouraged her.
"At the Academy, Ino and I discovered that my chakra control is pretty good. Not natural, and I don't have an instinctive feel for it." She rearranged her legs. "Iruka-sensei showed us the Leaf Concentration exercise. The thing is, once I got the feel of how much chakra I had to apply, I could hold it." She looked at him and smiled. "Academy students from civilian families aren't allowed in the library, probably so we don't blow ourselves up. So, I practiced the things they taught in every combination I could think of. I can hold a handful of leaves on me while I do taijutsu, or create clones, or replace myself."
Kakashi's eyebrows rose. "That's impressive, Hikari."
The girl's eyes sparkled but she bit her lip before continuing. "Could I make the release steady enough to infuse a ribbon with chakra?"
His thoughts stuttered to a halt. Did his genin want to use a ribbon in a fight?
Hikari drew back when the silence stretched on. Kakashi forced himself to actually consider it. Wind, fire, and lightening would destroy it. But he didn't think her affinity laid in any of the three. Still, he wasn't going to teach them nature ninjutsu yet. If she didn't permeate the ribbon with any chakra nature, if she used pure chakra, then... it could theoretically be done. And he could see where she was coming from. She already knew how to, as he had put it, twirl the ribbon. She just had to figure out how to get it to actually be able to withstand an attack.
"I... have never heard of anyone infusing satin with chakra," he admitted. His student looked away. "But, Hikari, I have seen you with that ribbon. You certainly wield it fast enough and masterfully enough for it to act as a shield when it envelops you." She looked back at him. "Plus, it's six meters long, which means it's more than four times your height. Good cover," he added lightly. He was rewarded with a smile.
"I'll give you some pointers, and I can supervise your first tries. But without knowing if it can be done, it won't be something I'll let you spend training time on. It's your experiment, to be worked on in your own time," he offered.
The girl's eyes gleamed, clearly pleased. Maa, when Kakashi had said he liked her creativity and willingness to put the time in, he hadn't expected this.
"I hope you have a lot of ribbons, Hikari. Go get dozens of them, if you do. They don't have to be the ones from your apparatus. Satin of any length will do for now. We'll work on the handle last." Perhaps it would be better to get her to switch it to metal. It'd stop a blade if it came to that.
His kunoichi beamed at him and jumped off the donut. She took one step towards the door before turning back to him. He raised his eyebrow. The girl quickly reached over and squeezed his gloved hand. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!" She didn't give him time to reply before she was sprinting out the door.
Kakashi despaired. He'd just told his genin to go fetch ribbons. She wanted to fight off shinobi with satin.
He let himself fall off the wedge and into the colorful mats.
DAY 21
"Wait! Naruto-san, wait!"
Hikari sprinted past him. She stood guard before the buckets of paint and faced her teammate with her hands up.
"Have you ever painted a fence?"
"No, but it can't be hard!"
"It isn't. But it's our only mission for today because it takes a lot of time. It will take us longer if we don't do it in the right order."
"There's steps to painting a fence!?"
"Yes, if we want to do only one coat." She recognized the brand. These were good pigments. Hikari lowered her hands and gestured. "Can you see that there's other stuff for us to use, besides paint?"
Sasuke joined them, hands in the pockets of his shorts. "What are they for?"
"Right, so, painting the fence is the last thing we'll do today. We need to scrape the old paint off, make the surface smooth, clean it, and prime it first."
They both looked at her, faces blank. She turned to their sensei. "Can we ask Naruto-san if he's willing to use his clones this time? It'll take forever otherwise."
He shrugged.
Naruto created about thirty. They turned to her.
"What do we do?" They all cried out at the same time with the same of grin.
She smiled back. "Take the scraper and sanding paper. Can you take off the flaking bits and make it as smooth as you can?"
"Yes!" They all moved towards the fence.
She turned to Sasuke. "Can you take the cleanser and a rag and go over his work? I'll do the priming after you."
"Hn," He started to head off. She stopped him and handed him some gloves.
When they regrouped, Sasuke and Naruto looked at her for directions.
"Naruto-san, get the largest brushes and paint. Start from the top of each panel. Try to make it even."
The clones saluted her and went off.
"Sasuke-san, he'll likely not get the space between the panels and the posts. Could you fill them?"
"Yes."
For her part, she took some of the smallest brushes and the rest of the colors. She'd do some swirls and flowers as the paint dried to hide some of the unevenness and imperfections.
DAY 22
Today, just like their first day, Kakashi had put them in pairs while he worked with the third.
She and Sasuke had continued doing some sparring together in the weeks they'd spent with Team 10. Enhancing and matching each other's movements and pace came more naturally for them now. They had figured out a way to switch so she was on the offensive for the time it took her to slash with the fingernail. Hikari smiled as she realized that she was now faster and able to take the openings she created.
In her opinion, Naruto and her time together had been the most fun. He was creative in thinking how they could use the throws she showed him. By the time practice was over, they had a pretty good grasp on throwing her so she landed on some tree's branches. They weren't sure if they could get Naruto's last idea to work. He thought his clones could form a human chain, with her at an end. They'd act as a pivot point to launch her in an arc. Still, they were wary of attempting it without a spotter that wouldn't dissolve on impact. Next session, they'd ask Kakashi-sensei.
Now, Sasuke and Naruto were trying to incorporate Sasuke's abilities with weapons and Naruto's clones. With how focused she had to be on sharpening her taijutsu with her sensei, she wasn't sure how they were doing. From the weeks they had worked together, Hikari had come to the conclusion that, whether they were fighting or somewhat getting along, they were always insulting one another.
The first times Kakashi-sensei had showed her this move, he'd had to practically shove himself down to end up in the ground. She was supposed to use her opponent's weight as leverage to put them on their backs, but it had been slow going. She was used to following someone's movements. This required the opposite, pulling the attacker in the opposite direction. It was fine when they practiced it alone, but actually using it in a spar was proving to be difficult.
As the masked shinobi let her take a moment to breathe, she decided her sensei was too nice.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
He hummed to let her know he'd heard her.
"Did you like the chocolate? The one Arata brought me once?"
"It was good. Not sweet at all."
She smiled. She'd bring him some tomorrow.
A dog came running up to them.
"Akamaru?"
He woofed, ran once around her, and set off again.
They both looked in the direction he had come from. Team 8 came closer. Hinata bowed. She glanced at Hikari's teammates and blushed before returning her attention to them. "Hi- Hikari-san. We - we - we took some messages to the shinobi at the gates today."
Hikari bowed back. "Hinata-san."
"We mentioned our mission, Hikari-san. Why? Because we saw your parents return."
They're finally here! She could feel a sharp smile forming and tried to make it softer, mellower. I almost, but really don't, feel bad for Tanaka.
"Yeah, Hikari-chan! Your mom is beautiful! And she sort of smells like you."
"Thank you, Shino-san, Kiba-san." She turned to the Inuzuka. "May I inquire if family members usually smell similar?"
He grinned at her, full of teeth. "You know you may ask! You once told me - no offense meant, no offense taken. Some families smell the same, others don't."
She smiled back, honest. "Thank you, Kiba-san."
When they'd started out at the Academy, Akamaru had been a pup and curious about the unfamiliar scents that clung to her. Hikari adored dogs but hadn't approached the Inuzuka. She'd been eight, and still trying to understand the differences between her compound, civilian life, and shinobi culture. She wanted to know more about the boy with the markings but didn't want to insult him. When Kiba had followed after Akamaru, they had realized that they were both curious about the other. He'd told her he'd been inside her compound once, as a child. She'd still tried to be careful, because even with Shikamaru she still hadn't figured out all the nuances, but Kiba had told her to just ask. He'd tell her if he preferred not to answer. That had suited them both fine. They hadn't been friends, exactly, but Akamaru had liked her pets.
She turned to her sensei. He eye-smiled at her. "Maa, Hikari. You may go, I was just about to end today's training."
She was definitely bringing him chocolate.
Hikari approached the colorful gates of her compound. She cocked her head. There was silence. She sped up. Past the entrance, Arata met her. His face was mulish.
"They're in a meeting. Tanaka hasn't been called in yet. The kids are all in a gymnasium."
"Why aren't you in the meeting?"
"We're not allowed in, either of us."
She paused and stared at him. "What? Why? It was us that he refused to treat as adults when we tried to dissolve his contract. The offense was made to us!"
He nodded tersely in agreement. "They called me in first, to explain what had happened. They're still deliberating."
"Why would they send you out?"
"They're all angry enough. I described what he considered teaching. Your mom is furious. They want to make it above reproach. Make the consequences as impartial as they can."
She relaxed a little. "They're going to destroy his reputation."
"Yeah, no kyokuba-dan will want to trade with him. Not us in Fire, but also none in the Five Nations."
"Why are you furious, then? I'd like to be there, too. But I can see their point."
"They are reconsidering your coming of age. Saying that tying it to mine was a mistake."
She stopped and turned to face him. She put her hands on his forearms. "What happened was in no ways your fault. I know, wholly and without reservation, that you stand with me. Weren't you the first I told about my person? I value your support."
He relaxed a little.
"What are they leaning towards?" She asked.
"Having us perform for the clan. Maybe invite our new allies."
She hummed. That wasn't a bad idea. It would give them a chance to introduce the Ishikawa, and Arata specifically, to them. Most of the careful balancing between acknowledging the Naras and not setting anything in stone until their leader was home had been Arata's doing. In the future, a lot of their dealings would be through him. She gave her partner a smirk full of teeth. "I still think you'd make a great heir."
"And I maintain what I said when you announced you'd be a ninja. If you step down, I'll refuse the spot."
"Together, then," she declared.
"Let the world tremble," he agreed with a smile as full of teeth as hers.
She hugged him. Individually, they were considered skilled. Two specializations each was a great achievement. The fact that she'd remained above average as an Academy student on top of it was a source of pride for the kyokuba-dan. Together, they held 4 different individual specializations. Between them, they also claimed a Hand to Hand Acrobatics mastery. They could also defend themselves across most aerial disciplines and against a singer in a battle of words. As a pair, they embodied the Fire kyokuba-dan. They were dangerous and sly and beautiful. And they were ready to break their isolation.
DAY 23
When Hatake Kakashi dismissed his team at the Mission Desk, Hikari stayed. The shinobi looked at her from above his book.
"Hikari? Is something wrong?"
"No, Kakashi-sensei," his genin smiled at him. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet my parents?" He blinked. On one hand, he never thought he'd be invited to the kyokuba-dan compound to meet its leaders. The girl had been clear when she'd told him under what circumstances he'd be welcome. On the other hand, he had never had to meet anyone's parents. He shifted awkwardly and realized that the pause had stretched too long. "You don't have to, of course." She gave him a smaller smile and a short bow. She turned.
"Hikari," he called. "Do I have to bring a gift or something?"
She beamed. "Of course not. Your presence is enough. Do you want to go now? That way, if you don't want to stay for long, you can refuse lunch."
He smiled. She was too thoughtful. "Alright."
They started walking.
"So, mom chose the art of language. She's The Singer. The way she can weave words is amazing. People say I look like her, but I don't see it. I've got her eyes, but I think I have more of dad's features. He chose the art of movement. He is the Head of Acrobatics. He likes to teach the basics. He's the one who mostly taught Arata and I, until we specialized."
He nodded along. He wasn't unaware of the kind of information his student was letting through. He sighed in relief. He'd been trying, this week, to make up for past weeks. He'd wondered if he'd done enough to regain some trust. This exceeded his expectations.
When they got to her house, his genin called out. "I'm home! I brought my sensei, too!"
A couple appeared. Kakashi fought not to stare. He could see why the Inuzuka had been impressed.
Hikari's mother was tall and held herself with regal poise. The kid had gotten her too-large eyes in that peculiar hue of hazel and her pale skin tone. However, Hikari's eyes tended to look light brown with flecks of green and some amber. Hikari's mom - Kotone, he remembered - wore a cream and gold kimono. It made her eyes look like amber streaked with green.
Hikari's father, Akio, had a muscular build and was only slightly shorter than his wife. His wide smile stood stark against his tan skin. Kakashi could see what Hikari had told him. Aside from her coloring and bearing, she had her father's features. Straight nose, high cheekbones, small lips.
Kakashi bowed to the couple and offered them an eye-smile.
"I'm Sakasu Kotone, and this is my husband, Akio." Kotone's voice was clear and melodious. She bowed her head.
"It's a pleasure to meet Hikari-chan's sensei," Akio added.
"Great to meet you, too."
Kotone gestured for them to seat themselves in the living room. Kakashi noted that the couple's gaze sharpened when Hikari chose to sit next to him. So many unwritten rules. It'd be easy to affront. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
"Can we talk about Hikari's training?" Kakashi dared.
"Shinobi or kyokuba-dan's?" Kotone asked, voice pleasant.
"Tanaka Sota's."
"Ah. Yes, Arata-kun told us you'd attended a couple of sessions. It's been handled. We thank you for your concern."
Kakashi thought her voice had warmed a pinch. He took a deep breath. "I understand that Hikari benefits from your compound's training. However, I'd like to request another trainer." He tried to keep a cordial tone.
"It's been handled," Hikari's mom repeated. She smiled, then. With those amber-green eyes, Kakashi was reminded of a tiger - beautiful and deadly.
A small hand touched his shoulder. He turned to his student. "Kakashi-sensei, what mom means is that Tanaka-san is no longer in the kyokuba-dan. He's likely out of Konoha by now. He won't be back. "
Kakashi remembered that tiger mothers protected their cubs fiercely from wolves and bears. He relaxed and turned again to the woman. She was still smiling pleasantly. Yes, Kotone was a predator. But Kakashi had been a shinobi since he was six. Younger, even, depending on how you chose to look at it. He lived, ate, and slept beside killers. As long as they had the same goals... He gave her an honest eye-smile.
"Besides," Akio spoke up. His voice was easy-going. Kakashi remembered that he was in charge of his daughter's training. "Hikari-chan told me you would allow her to see if one of her specialties could be used as a shinobi skill."
Hikari beamed beside him. "Kakashi-sensei, I think it can work. I'm up to about half a meter for a minute before the ribbon shreds."
Kakashi patted her head. "That's really good, Hikari."
"So, she'll focus on that and we'll pause learning new sequences for a while," Aiko smiled at his daughter. "Instead, she'll strip down the movements of that discipline to its bare bones, leaving only what will be useful to her."
"Yeah," Hikari sighed.
"Simple can be beautiful too, Hikari-chan," he chided softly.
"I know, dad. I know."
Aiko chuckled. His wife reached out and touched his wrist.
"Hikari-chan," she called. His genin turned to her mother. Dark hazel met their mirror. "We haven't finished unpacking. You may take your sensei to see some of the compound."
"Thanks, mom!" Hikari smiled and stood up. Kakashi followed. Before exiting the room, he nodded to the couple. They nodded back, serious. An unspoken agreement passed through the room. They'd all do their best to make sure Hikari stayed alive and smiling.
DAY 24
Hikari and Sasuke stopped their spar against Naruto and his clones. Their sensei had arrived.
"You are late!" Naruto shouted. Hikari cocked her head. He was almost two hours late, but they'd come to expect two and a half as a rule. Why was Kakashi-sensei earlier than that?
"Maa, Naruto, an old lady asked for my help."
"Hn." Sasuke wasn't impressed by the excuse. Hikari wasn't, either. She had preferred the ones about the road of life and him dancing. This was a bit weak.
"Naruto and Sasuke, start some upper body strength exercises. I'll work with Hikari for a little while and then we'll all work on throws and figuring out maneuvers."
The three of them exchanged excited glances. Naruto was almost bouncing in place.
"I'll do more push-ups than you, teme!"
"As if, dobe."
Hikari covered her face so she wouldn't burst out laughing. Some things, she was coming to realize, would never change. She turned to her sensei.
"Right," he dragged his eyes away from the boys. "Since you don't want to be a poison specialist, Hikari, I think it'd be a good idea for your neko-te to have a paralyzing agent. One that lasts a couple of hours. It'd give you enough time to get away, rejoin your team, or incapacitate them." Hikari nodded. That sounded good to her. "I got one for you. From a scratch, it will take between three to seven minutes to work. Longer the bigger they are, and the farther you nick them from the chest." He looked her in the eye. "You are always to carry multiple doses of the antidote with you. If you run out, don't use the fingernail unless you absolutely have to."
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. I understand."
She did too. Asuma had spent many hours making sure Ino and she knew that, even if a poison wasn't lethal, it could still kill. You never knew what your opponent had in their bloodstream, or if they would react badly to some component.
"Good. I'll coat it for you since it's the first time but watch carefully. At the end of the session, if you consent to it, I'll dose you with it. So you know what can happen if you scratch yourself or are scratched with it by an opponent."
He eyed her warily.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you," she tried to reassure him that she agreed. She smiled at him to show him she trusted him to nick her and watch her body for any ill reactions. Her sensei, she was coming to realize, was trying. His attempts may look different from what she was used to, but that was okay with her. More importantly, her sensei cared. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been prepared to go toe to toe with her mom for her. Her parents had seen it too. It wasn't quite like with the Naras, where change was already underway. This was the potential for new things. A single ripple in the ocean.
DAY 25
Hikari flopped onto her bed. She wanted to do nothing for the rest of the day. They'd done three D-ranks. They'd helped an old couple with their groceries, passed messages to and from the gates, and picked up garbage along the river. By late afternoon, Sasuke had been glaring at Naruto and his limitless energy. Hikari had to stop herself from doing the same.
DAY 26
Nara Yoshino waved her inside and went to get them some refreshments. Hikari was grateful. Today's training had been tiring, but her team was pulling together. She could see them becoming formidable together. She approached the shoji. She knew that, behind it, she'd find Shikamaru and his dad playing.
She paused as she heard her best friend's voice.
"We'll never understand them. You never know what to expect from them," he was telling his dad. "Everything can anger them. And they're always playing with your mind, trying to make you do what they want. Troublesome women. All of them. They're a headache, basically. What a drag."
Hazel eyes opened wide. Hikari took a step back. Does he really think that? No, he can't, he... But that was definitely Shikamaru's voice. She'd know it anywhere. She turned around.
"Oh, Hikari-chan, don't worry about interrupting their game," Shikamaru's mom was coming back, a pitcher of green tea in her hands.
She could hear two figures pausing behind the paper door. She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Thank you, Yoshino-sama. I wouldn't want to be a bother, though," she tried to excuse herself. Behind her, the shoji slid open.
"Nonsense, Hikari-chan. You're always welcome," the rumble of Shikaku's voice informed her.
She tried to make her features neutral as she faced them. "Shikaku-dono. Shikamaru," she nodded. Her friend was pale, she noted. If anything, that made her feel more miserable.
"Hikari, I -" he cut himself off.
"I think you two have some things to talk about," Shikaku pushed them towards the backyard.
Once outside, Shikamaru stepped in front of her.
"Can we sit? Please." Her friend gestured to the old tree's shade. She nodded. He sagged in relief.
Hikari waited, but Shikamaru was struggling to find words. She sighed because Shikaku was right. They needed to talk about this.
"I didn't think you felt that way," She was sure that, if she laughed, it'd be a brittle sound. She didn't even try. She couldn't, wouldn't, laugh this off. Isn't Shikamaru supposed to be logical? Since when is sexism logical? "Isn't it a fallacy? Drawing conclusions about a whole from a perceived truth of a few? For you to extend a judgement to about half of the world's population... It doesn't make sense to me."
"I didn't mean you, Hikari. You're not like other girls, I promise," his friend told her, a bit desperate.
She closed her eyes. "That's offensive."
"What? NO! I didn't -"
"Maybe you didn't mean to be offensive, but offense was given. May I tell you why? Will you listen?"
She opened her eyes. His friend nodded furiously. "Yes, of course."
"To an extent, everyone embodies the best and worst of humanity. I don't think qualities have a gender. But, apparently... you do." She swallowed and tried to order her thoughts. "Empathy, compassion, grace, softness. They are generally attributed to women. Do I have none of them? And there's so many women I admire, Shikamaru. Wouldn't you feel offended, if I told you that you are nothing like your dad or Asuma-sensei? That you don't share any of their traits?"
He nodded, slower this time. "Hikari, I really didn't mean it like that."
"Shikamaru - " she stopped herself when her friend flinched a little. She went back over her words. She hadn't called him by his full name in years, and today she'd done nothing but. She hadn't meant... She was hurt by his words, but she hadn't meant to hurt him with hers. She knelt in front of him and took one of his hands in both of hers. "Shika," she called. He gripped her hands tight. After a moment of silence, he tugged her lightly. She let herself be moved until she was sitting next to him. Hikari went further, turning towards him so their sides touched. She rested her legs over his.
"Shika, I'm sorry that my first reaction was to leave. It's just... I know I wasn't meant to overhear. I also wasn't expecting to hear that, and I panicked." He was only a little taller than her, so when she tilted her head, it rested on the crook of his neck.
His head leaned on top of hers. "We're not fighting." It was as much of a statement as a question.
"We're not," she reassured. Not yet. Because this was the first time he'd given her any signs of feeling that way. "I don't know why you said that. There are some people - even shinobi - who think women are less. You've never acted like that. Not towards me, not towards anyone that I've ever seen. Words have power, but actions speak louder."
His breath ruffled the top of her head. "Ino was being particularly overbearing today," he offered. It wasn't a justification, but it was an explanation. It still didn't let him off the hook. This was important to her.
She hummed. "For all the art we've created, we haven't managed to define the most important things. Love, freedom, morality, beauty, hatred, justice. Because it's different for everyone. If we discount one gender, how can we even try? We'd lose more than half of humanity."
He huffed out a laugh.
"Shika, thinking that, saying that... It's awful, and I won't stand it. You need to think carefully about it. It's also a weakness. If you truly feel that way, even a bit, be careful. Others will exploit it."
"Like when you act scared and no one pays attention to you."
"Just a scared little girl. Nothing to be worried about," she mocked.
"I know better," he agreed. "I promise you, I'll think about what you've said." She remained silent. It wasn't great, but she didn't want him to agree to placate her. "Why did you come over? Not that - not that you aren't welcome."
"You still have my book. And I thought we could read and cloud watch."
"Is the offer still up?"
She thought about it. "Yeah, but I'm not getting up."
"Troublesome. Fine, I'll go fetch your book."
DAY 27
"We're... going to find a lost cat?" Naruto didn't sound impressed.
Hatake Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Maa, Naruto. It's an important mission for the Daimyo's wife."
Despite the month of D-ranks, the blond had never lost his enthusiasm when heading to the Mission Desk. He always bombarded the rest of them with his thoughts on what the next mission would be. He wanted something dangerous, exciting, and involving a princess. Kakashi had nearly laughed himself silly when he realized that the girl walking beside the blond was technically a hime of the Fire Country.
Still, his team was coming together. Maybe an easy C-rank was in order, like helping out some farmers with a predator problem. He thought he'd seen one for delivery to the outposts. Kakashi hummed. His genin might be ready to go out of Konoha. Spending a few days together without anyone familiar nearby could help them polish off their dynamic.