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The Story of Us

'For those who never gave up'

Naruto x OC

Friendship, Adventure, Romance

Chapter 2: The Distance

You can never go back to who you were yesterday.

"I'll be Good"-James Young

After that first day meeting Naruto, I went home to find my parents awake and furious at me. It didn't matter though, and as they scolded me I couldn't brush the smile off my face and took my punishment.

They noticed, and when I ran off again they scolded me a bit less, because each time I did run away I always came back. They asked where I was going each time, and all I would say is to 'a special place' to meet a friend.

That little grove did become our special place. We would play all day there when we could, and at some point Naruto told me he was put into an apartment in the village. He seemed happy about it, but I couldn't imagine going back to that place and being alone for so long.

Naruto complained about being hungry some days, saying they didn't give him much money for food. So after being taken out fishing one day with Masako, I asked him to teach me to catch fish solo. This skill I passed onto Naruto, and while I couldn't stand the taste of fish, he loved it.

Masako taught me how to camp as well, how to build a fire, how to know what foods in the local lands were safe to eat. He at some point just stopped being Masako, and started to become Dad. I don't think I'll ever forget the day I called him Dad for the first time. While I was at the door, with a bento to share with Naruto for lunch, he told me to be careful.

"And remember, if they're colourful never eat them." He reminded me. I felt a bit embarrassed after not listening last week and eating a mushroom that made my tongue turn purple.

"Yeah, okay, see you later Dad." I said while opening the door. Normally he had a smart remark back, but today he was quiet. I looked back to see him staring at me with wide eyes, and finally, a warm smile came over his lips.

"Have a good day." He said softly. I smiled, and leapt out the door to go play. Kaede had a similar face when I called her Mom for the first time. Though she did complain that I called Masako Dad first.

They were good people, and I was genuinely happy that I had been lucky enough to be adopted by them. However, I never once told them who my special friend was, because the memory of the orphanage was vivid.

This was my only way to protect Naruto.

Said friend was already at our spot, training. I sat down in my usual spot on a rock covered in moss and watched him for a while. Ever now and again I would mention something about his stance. The book he gave me told me enough about how Naruto should be moving. It was easy to see the difference in his throws each time, and I did my best to help him out.

The only anomaly in my life really, was the man who came by my house sometimes.

I didn't know anything about him, and I don't really remember what he looked like. He often was there very briefly to talk to my parents, and sometimes would be cordial and ask how I was, but then he would leave and I wouldn't see him again for months on end. Sometimes he came when I was out, and I heard Mom talking about 'the boy' in her usual sad tone sometimes, but other than that, I never once was introduced to him.

That was years ago though.

We were now six, in our seventh year. Things had changed some, that is, I didn't see Naruto quite as much sadly. We still spent as much time as we could together, but both of us had started school. Naruto went to the Ninja Academy, and I went to what I would always call Chump School. Normal person class was boring as all get out. I cottoned on to the lessons too quickly, and spent most of my time sleeping away.

Several kids had recognized me at one point or another as the Cursed Child. I ignored them the best I could, but when one kid called Naruto a monster I snapped and dumped rocks down his pants. This got me sent to the principal's office, and my Mom had to pick me up. She was definitely not happy with me, and when I wouldn't tell her why I did it, she got a bit annoyed.

"Hikari, how am I supposed to help you if you won't talk to me?" Mom sighed. I frowned and kicked the dirt on the road.

"He was being a jerk! He called me mean names, and I don't like him. I don't like any of them Mom." I looked up to her, eyes pleading that she understood. Mom looked down at me, then took a deep breath. She redirected me to sit on one of the benches near the school. I sat next to her, and she took a moment before speaking.

"Hikari, the principal…. And the staff from the orphanage. I talked to them both, trying to figure out where you've been going all this time. You know you really scared us that first time, right?" I looked down, an embarrassment blush crossing my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I didn't- You weren't….. you weren't Mom and Dad yet…. I-" She stopped me from talking by putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to her and saw a gentle smile.

"It's alright Hikari, I'm not mad. You've been such a good girl for us. When we first adopted you, we were told you might be rough to handle, but you've been the perfect child. Well, not perfect, but perfect for us." She rubbed a soothing hand across my back. I smiled, happy to hear they loved me as much as I did them.

"But, I've heard some troubling news, Hikari… Is it true that you're special friend is Naruto Uzumaki?"

I felt cold, immediately remembering how the staff at the orphanage separated us upon this discovery. The thought of my parents doing the same…..

"Please don't take him away! He's done nothing bad! I promise!" I begged her, grabbed her arm tightly and shaking it a little. Mom looked so surprised by my reaction and instantly started to soothe me.

"I'm not going to take him away from you sweetheart, I promise." She said in that same gentle voice. I was grateful, so very grateful.

"Y-You promise?" I asked, trying not to let the hopefulness seep into my voice, but it did. Mom heard it, I knew she did. There was a sad look on her face.

"I promise, but Hikari, why would you think we would take him away?"

So I told her, I told her everything. I had never once told her about the orphanage, or the way Naruto and I were treated, but I couldn't lie to her. I put all of my faith in my Mom; that's what Mom's are for, right? After I finished, she just hugged me tightly, and calmly settled me down.

Mom told me she would talk with Dad about all of this, but told me not to hide where I was going anymore. I could go and see Naruto as much as I wanted now, and a weight I wasn't aware existed was lifted.

I told Naruto this the next time we were able to meet. He was so happy, and it was the first time I had gotten the chance to walk home with him. He walked me to my house, insisting it wasn't safe for me in the dark, and gawked at the house.

"Oh wow! So this is where you live?! It's so big!" Naruto exclaimed. I giggled.

"Well, it's not all a house. Half of it is storage for Dad's shop. He sells survival equipment to ninjas and civilians." I explained, but Naruto wasn't really listening as he stared at the building in front of us.

The front door opened, the light filtered through and frame both of us as my Mom stepped out. She looked to both of us, then right at Naruto. She stared for a moment, making both of us nervous, then she smiled.

"Hello, you must be Naruto?" She said in her regular gentle tone. Naruto blushed, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes ma'am." Naruto said quietly. I looked over, surprised by how shy he was being. Mom wasn't bothered.

"Thank you for bringing Hikari home, and for always taking care of her."

Naruto looked up at my Mom with more feeling then, a big grin on his face too as he fist pumped the air.

"I will always take care of Kari! She's my best friend! Believe it!" The energy in his voice surprised my Mom, but she smiled again, though this time it had more warmth to it than before. I watched the exchange, surprised Naruto thought so highly of me. It brought me joy, seeing as he was my only friend.

"Take care Naruto, are you alright walking home by yourself?" Mom asked, but Naruto was puffing himself up in anticipation.

"I'm alright! I'm a big boy now, so I'm not afraid of the dark." Naruto turned to me, grinning. "Kari, let's go fishing tomorrow, eh?"

"Hm? So that's where one of your father's fishing rods ran off to?" Mother said behind me. I straightened up, knowing I was getting my butt kicked for that one. Naruto left shortly after, but Mom watched me the entire time I waited for Naruto to be out of view. "Hikari, did you….. Did you ask for survival skills just so you could teach him?"

I turned to look at my Mom, a blush coming across my face.

"They don't give him much money, and he has to cook for himself. So I figured it was better than instant ramen all day….." Mom stared at me, and for a moment I thought I was in trouble for stealing the fishing rod.

Instead, my mom patted me on the head and smiled.

"I have the sweetest daughter."

That surprised me, but I had long since learned not to look further than the face value of a compliment. Mom seemed genuine, and I trusted her.

"One thing though, Hikari….. Don't tell your father about any of this."

And thus, the cardinal rule became truth. Everything was okay, so long as Dad didn't find out. Naruto and I were careful whenever we went near the shop, or when he walked me home late at night, but over all, it was alright for several weeks.

Naruto's ninja training continued, I would talk with him and challenge him on the basics of being a ninja, quizzing him more or less. He was much better at training his body than his mind, while I was the reverse. Naruto insisted I do something other than sit and watch him, so I often jogged with him. I was much better at sprinting than long distance running.

Running sucked, unless it was put to practical use.

For example; I got into another fight at school, which resulted in me sprinting across the school yard and punching a boy in the face.

Yeah that didn't go over well, Mom was not impressed.

"He called me cursed, and called Naruto a monster," I told her as we walked home. Mom sighed, looking caught. "Why do people look at Naruto like that? Why do they treat him so badly Mom?"

Why was such a sweet kid treated like dirt?

Mom stopped, and bent down next to me. She looked me in the eye and rested her hands on my shoulders.

"I don't know about that part, but Hikari, you need to control your temper." I puffed my cheeks and looked away. My temper wasn't that bad, I thought. Mom sighed, then smiled. "Alright, think of it this way. You and Naruto get along really well, right?"

"Um…. Yes?" Was this a trick question?

"You're both so different, did you ever wonder why?" She waited a moment then touched a hand over my heart.

"It's because you both understand each other's pain."

I was surprised, and so I looked from her hand to her face again. She smiled.

"You were both left alone, isolated, ostracized for reasons out of your control. You both know what it feels like to be the lonely. Hikari, you will someday learn that everyone else has pain. Everyone else has something that hurts them, motivates them. For good and bad things. And the only way we are going to grow is by learning from it. There might be others like you, and Naruto, but there are those like the kids at school. You won't ever understand them truly unless you've felt that pain, but on some level, just by acknowledging them, you've made progress."

I touched my hand over hers, frowning.

"I don't have to like them though, right?"

She laughed at that.

With Naruto and I being able to hang out later in the day, and in public now, we often went to the park to play. I was happy to see Naruto had made some friends, seeing as two boys would often play with us. Their names were Shikamaru and Choji. At first there was definitely a 'no girls allowed' vibe that wouldn't budge, but Naruto was adamant I could play with them. After out racing all three boys on several occasions it was a given that I could join in.

It was nice, seeing other kids that didn't look at Naruto or me like we were garbage. Just that I had cooties or something. I could live with that.

It was summer now, neither of us had school, but we did have ample amount of time to train. Naruto would be at the grove a while before I was, and would be working on throwing rocks at the targets for hours. I would often spend that time putting the rocks into piles based on their weight so that Naruto had more consistent time aiming. It had me wondering how much a kunai and shuriken set would cost me.

Late July, things fell apart.

Dad found out about Naruto. He cornered me one day asking who my friend was.

"A friend from the orphanage," was always my answer. It wasn't a lie and was easily maintained. Mom had just gotten home, and she didn't know what to say as Dad glared at me. Though even now I knew it wasn't really me he was glaring at.

"Yes, but what is their name?" He asked. Mom tried to intervene.

"Honey, why don't we sit down to a meal first?" She asked, but my Father was having none of it.

"I know you've both been hiding it from me," he looked at me, and all I saw was disappointment. "You've been running around with that kid. He's dangerous Hikari, you shouldn't go near him."

"But Dad! He's not-"

"I don't want to hear it! Hikari I am thinking of your safety-" He tried to be gentle, but I wasn't fooled.

"No! You want to take him away! That's not fair! What did we do to deserve this?!" I yelled and screamed. My Father slammed his foot down. The noise of the wood groaning under the force made me stop.

"Don't you ever speak to me in that tone young lady." My Father warned. I bit back a scream, making my hands into fists. Tears were pooling in my eyes. My Father could see I was trying to keep calm, and so he settled too. He reached forward and put a hand on my shoulder. I expected comfort, I expected him to say we would talk about it.

I didn't get any of that.

"I forbid you from seeing that boy again."

I felt cold. Like someone had taken the lit fire from my belly and snuffed it out. There was nothing willing me to move forward then. I bowed my head and did everything to keep clam and quiet, like Mother always asked. When I didn't speak, Father stepped back.

"Now, let's go and enjoy our dinner." He said while walking away.

Several tears dripped onto the floor, and I took a shaky breath.

"No….."

Father stopped and turned to look at me.

"Excuse me?"

"No."

"Young lady-"

"I said no!" I snapped, glaring up at him. Masako stared at me, surprised by my outburst. He sighed, then continued to the table.

"You're also grounded for the next month." He dismissed me, like I was the one being unreasonable. In that split second I hated him more than anything.

"You're not my real Dad! You can't do that! I hate you!" I stormed up to my room, a flurry of tears and anger and hurt. Of course I slammed my door and dropped dramatically onto my bed. Of course I cried loudly and told my Mom to go away when she checked on me.

Of course I did.

And of course, I realized how dramatic I was being, and after several hours of crying decided it was best to get up and apologize. There was no doubt in my mind I could see Naruto still. They couldn't make me stop, but I just had to apologize and be ungrounded.

Everything would be okay, so as I walked up to the kitchen, I was splashed with the cold reality that it wouldn't be.

"I think it's time I take that offer from Yui, we can open up a shop with her in Sunagakure. Our sales will benefit from it greatly." Masako said. It halted me in my tracks.

"And just leave Hikari and me here? Honey, we've talked about this, I don't want to live apart. We won't have the money for two homes either." Mom said.

"I know, that's why I've already put in the application for dual citizenship. I think it would be best if we all moved as a family, especially for Hikari's sake."

Mom saw me then, standing at the side of the door. My face must've shown the utter betrayal, as Masako turned to look at me. He was surprised.

"Hikari….."

"I hate you… I HATE YOU!"

I ran. I ran out the front door and took off down the street. Both of my adoptive parents called after me, but I didn't stop. My feet had me running and running until I could hardly take another breath.

Then I stopped and curled in on myself in the middle of the street, and I cried.

Naruto…

I'm so sorry.

"You can't make me…." I whimpered. I said it over and over again, until it didn't feel like words on my tongue anymore.

"Oh?"

I shot up, not expecting the unfamiliar voice.

Right in front of me stood a man, or I think he was. It was hard to see in the dark, especially with the mask that he had on. It was when my eyes drifted to his unsheathed blade that was dripping that I realized the gravity of the situation.

Danger…

I started backing away, before turning to fully run when he took a step forwards. I ran down the street, but he appeared in front of me.

Danger….

"P-Please… I'm- please I-"

"Don't grovel, it's unbecoming." His bone chilling voice echoed in my head. I took another step back as he took one forward.

"Hikari!"

I looked left, seeing my Dad coming from an alleyway. He took in the situation, and slowed. He kept a careful eye on me, and on the man.

"I don't know what your playing at buddy, but that's my daughter you're scaring. So I suggest you buzz off." Dad said in a low tone. The masked man looked at me, then my Dad as he slowly crept closer. He didn't do anything as Dad stood in front of me.

"Ok Hikari, you head on home, I'll be there shortly, I promise." Dad said, but the tone told me everything. Dad was just as scared as I was.

"But Dad-"

There was a blade inches from my face.

But how's that possible, Dad's standing there-

"No….." I looked up at him. My Father, my big strong Father.

I looked at the blade going through his gut.

The man yanked it out, Dad fell over.

"No!" I screamed, trying futilely to catch him, but only managed to slow his fall.

"Hi-… Hik…ari….. run…."

"Dad no!" I yelled, mobilized as I watched blood poor from his wound. He tried to smile. "Daddy! I'm sorry! Please! PLEASE!"

I put my hand over the top of the wound, but it was useless as the blood pooled to the back.

"T'skay…. Hi… kari….."

He stopped moving, I screamed more. I was only cut off by the sound of a chain. Looking up, I saw the man still standing there, watching me. The chain was extended down the alleyway Dad had emerged from. He pulled it back, dragging something along the way.

It was Mom.

I banged on Naruto's door several times before he opened it. Bleary eyed and sleepy, but one look at me and he knew something was wrong.

"Kari! You're soaked! Did you run hear in the rain?" He pulled me to his bed and sat me down. Naruto wrapped a blanket around me, realizing that the liquid on my chest wasn't water.

"Huh? Is-Is that blood? Kari are you hurt?! Kari? Kari!"

I didn't react as he shook me and checked for wounds, and only after several minutes of worried silence did I answer in a voice filled with disbelief.

"They're gone."

Hey guys!

Before you ask, no, this was not an accidental killing. No, this wasn't a freak accident. Hikari is unfortunately a Naruto character, and the prerequisite for being a Naruto character is having a shitty back story.

And no, I don't kill off characters just because. I never kill a character just for fun actually. I'm not George RR Martin. Every character dies for a reason. And if I'm being completely honest, most of Hikari's backstory doesn't properly pan out until much later. But it was sadly necessary. And this is not a contest to see who has the worst childhood, Hikari's journey has a lot to do with putting to use the lessons her parents taught her, namely Kaede.

So, poor Hikari is an orphan again... wonder how mentally scarring that's going to be...

You'll find out in the next chapter, and I'm not trying to rush y'all to review, but to put this straight, since I have a hard time sticking to any one fandom, I'm going to let you know that if you review a story I am much more likely to update that story, because there's interest. If I feel there is no interest, it probably won't get updated unless I'm really really motivated.

So yeah, thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Iland Girl