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The Story of Us

'For those who never gave up'

Naruto x OC

Friendship, Adventure, Romance

Chapter 15: To Protect

There's always that one person, you would do anything for.

"I won't give up"- Jason Mraz

Three days into training, Sasuke finally cracked.

It was a weirdly victorious moment when he showed up early. Reiji had the final watch, so I had gone out alone that morning. While it wasn't the safest idea, Reiji insisted he could see if anything went awry, so I went off on my own to train a bit.

Considering there was no hiding from my teammate's watchful gaze, even this far away, I figured practicing my wood release would be off the table for now. Instead, I started on a separate training sensei had me doing.

"Considering you have no affinity, and the ability to overlay chakra natures, perhaps it's time we train you to cancel out jutsu. Simple things. For example, when you sense a fire jutsu brewing, in time you may become more sensitive to the amount of chakra, and you can cancel it out."

Concentrating a small amount of chakra into my hand, I carefully began to alter the nature of it. It swirled in my hand once or twice with the new nature. First I tried water, which wet my palm as it became heavy and fell from the swirling orb of chakra. Then I tried fire, which came out in a white flickering sensation before evaporating into the air. Lastly, I tried lighting chakra, but only got two cycles in the swirl before it zapped at me and I dropped the attempt all together.

I shook my hand out, the jolts stinging lightly as I tried to refocus myself and do it again. Although it was much the same result, I felt like there was a little bit more control in the chakra, however small.

"What would be very interesting, is if you managed to layer these chakras. For example, if you learned to layer a fire and wind style chakra, then a simple water jutsu wouldn't be enough to put it out."

That was a pipe dream at this point, but not completely off the table. It would take a long time to practice just layering the chakra, never mind all the jutsu for each technique. Thankfully my training in the wood release made me understand how the entire thing worked. I would be able to do everything a tiny bit faster now.

After a short training session, I did my meditation. As usual, meditation was relaxing and quiet… until someone ruined it.

To my surprise it wasn't Reiji, who I had come to expect this early in the morning, but Sasuke. He walked casually into the clearing, but even form the distance I could see the sleep in his eyes still.

"Good morning." I chirped, getting a nod from him. He stopped not too far from me, and unlike the past few days he hadn't gone straight to the tree to practice. Instead he stood there, looking at me casually. I didn't push, and instead sat quietly for a few extra moments.

"You get up early everyday?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei only trained me before the academy, and I needed time to go home and clean up or wake Naruto. So five in the morning worked well. And it's just kinda stuck." I explained, standing up to brush the dirt off my kimono.

"You live together?" Sasuke asked. Well, he was certainly talkative. Another transformation jutsu? I couldn't be sure, but there was something about his stance that seemed too guarded, too much like Sasuke, to be a fake. It was true he had been a little bit more vocal lately, but nothing long the lines of talkative yet. It had been a slow advance, at first just a quick comment here or there. Yesterday he actually spoke with Reiji for a few minutes. It was progress, and I was less and less surprised when he spoke now.

"Yeah, I have an apartment next door, but I find it nicer to have someone next to you, y'know? Plus, he's practically a furnace!" I giggled. Sasuke stared at me, eyes slightly narrowed as if in contemplation. I realized the way I said it might've sounded strange, so I started to explain myself.

"I….. had a lot of…. Nightmares after…." I looked away from him. "And Naruto, he didn't mind. I would wake up in a panic, and he would help me calm down. So…. Afterwards, it just became natural, y'know?"

"You-" I turned to look at him, but he stopped talking. It was then that we locked eyes and I could see there was a very obvious wall between us still.

But….

There was also someone trying to look around it at me.

Sasuke, of all people, knew what it was like to lose family. Even more so, what it was like to be subjected to survivor's guilt. Ever since the day those girls had taunted me into snapping at them, and Sasuke had seen, I knew there was a silent camaraderie there just waiting for one of us to knock on it.

"If I'm being honest, I….. I've had it pretty easy."

Sasuke looked surprised at that, I felt a weight on my chest but still tried to push through a smile.

"Naruto, he never got to know what it was like to have parents. Kakashi-sensei has lost a lot too. You…. You know pain greater than mine…. I… I was fortunate enough to know what parents are like, even for a short time. I….. I'm so lucky to have all the friends I have now. And Naruto-" I took a huge breath, and looked away from him again.

"I would be lost without Naruto."

It went quiet for a moment, before Sasuke snorted.

"Two dorks in a pod."

I looked at him, mildly surprised, then grinned.

"Yeah, something like that." He rolled his eyes, but I kept on my grin.

"Okay!" I stepped back, stretching. "You ready for some real training?"

"What did you have in mind?" Sasuke asked, still cocking one hip with his hands in his pockets. I smirked, before squaring up to him.

"How about a little sparring? But the goal isn't to take me out, it's to match my speed." I explained. Sasuke watched me for a moment, then took his hands out of his pockets and lowered his stance.

"Heh, you don't have the stamina to keep it up." Sasuke taunted, I gave a toothy smirk.

"No, but it's enough to keep up with you," I readied myself. "Remember the training. Push chakra into your feet to match my speed."

I gave him a second to focus before I took the initiative to attack. While my blows were pathetically weak compared to Naruto's, I was fast enough to land several hits to the Uchiha. He kept up to me pretty well, matching my pace with my weights on quite easily. However, he would slide every now and then when the ground gave way, throwing himself off balance. I would normally leave it, but one instance was way too on the nose for me not to react.

I pushed chakra into my leg, just enough to kick him in the chest and make him fall over. The Uchiha landed on his back, a curse slipping out of his mouth. I wasn't concerned, Naruto swore like a sailor when he trained, and I was already familiar with the entire vocabulary from Kiba.

"Just like on the tree, you need to make the chakra in all your movements as fluid as possible. Too much will rip the ground beneath you, and if you're trying to stop it will get a lot harder." I explained.

Sasuke grunted, rolling backwards to rest in a knelt position. I smiled.

"Don't worry so much, you're doing great. I still mess up sometimes." I explained, taking a quick stretch. Sasuke huffed.

"Too tired for another round?"

I smirked at him, then lowered into a fighting stance.

"Everyone's done really well, I'm impressed with how far the training has improved. A little jealous, but it's going really great." I explained to Kakashi-sensei. The entire time I looked at the floor, terrified to actually talk to the man.

We hadn't really spoken since my little outburst, and I had been so busy training I had forgotten to apologize to him too for my rudeness.

"Good, as expected from my students. Well done Hikari." Kakashi-sensei said quickly. "Now… are you going to look at me at all?"

I squeaked, looked up on reaction, then bowed.

"I-I haven't really had the chance to apologize Sensei, and-and I'm really really sorry! So-"

A hand fell on my head. I looked up to see Sensei smiling.

"Tazuna already forgave you. As for myself, I taught you to keep your emotions in check so that when they did fall out of line you could wrangle them back in quickly enough." He mussed my hair before pulling his hand away to cup his chin in thought.

"Ironically, it was Naruto who had the level head between the two of you." He taunted further, but I didn't fall for it and instead bit my cheek. He chuckled, probably still seeing a minute reaction from me despite my best efforts.

"Regardless, it's all water under the bridge. Speaking of, the bridge will be finished soon, and I'm up and ready again." Kakashi-sensei eased himself out of bed, not inspiring a whole lot of confidence with how gingerly he did it.

"We could stay an extra day, I'm sure my team doesn't mind." I offered. Kakashi-sensei just patted my head after standing.

"It's alright Hikari. Believe it or not, I am a jonin." He lightly reprimanded, but I wasn't convinced. I stood and followed him out of the shared room to where everyone else had gathered for lunch. Daisuke was casually resting against the wall.

"I suppose you're good then." Daisuke commented, getting a nod from Sensei. Daisuke grinned. "Well then, we'll head out tomorrow, first thing."

Reiji and Akira both looked surprised, along with Naruto.

"Wha- really? Kakashi-sensei, are you sure you're ready to move again?" Sakura asked, sounding skeptical. Part of me wanted to agree with her, but a smaller part wanted to be insulted by the implication that Sensei was weak. The man just chuckled.

"I'm definitely feeling better. So much so, in fact, that I would love to do a little exercise before team Daisuke leaves."

I looked up to the man, curious. He turned to his team to address them.

"Hikari has informed me you've all excelled well in your training, and I would like to see it first hand."

That sparked interest as all the genin stared at the grey haired man. I raised a brow, curious of where this was going to go.

We all gathered in the clearing together, and for once I felt a lot more at ease in the field thanks to the jonin present. Daisuke was present too since Tazuna was home for the day, though he was keeping a careful watch for the house from where he lazed about in a tree.

Team 7 was lined up, ready to climb the trees. Sakura looked pretty nervous, and I couldn't help but have a small flashback to the moment her training lessened because of Sasuke. I had to admit internally, the fact that she didn't take her training seriously was frustrating to watch, and often times I did overlook her.

I was curious though, by how quickly Sasuke had progressed. Considering the stare the two boys were giving each other, I thought it was safe to say there was a challenge in the air.

"Ready….. Go!" Kakashi-sensei called, and the trio all flew up the trees. Sakura wasn't the fastest, but she did go up the tree pretty far before calling it quits. Sasuke and Naruto kept going though until we couldn't see them anymore. Both looked to be neck and neck until the foliage camouflaged them. Seeing as they were still working, Kakashi-sensei turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, very good, though I had expected you to go further from what Hikari told me of your training." The girl didn't catch on to the scathing comment as well as she should've, but that was to be expected. Sensei had a way of making sure his comment both inspired you and knocked you down a peg all in one go.

The two boys still hadn't returned, I felt a little pride at just how far they had gone.

"Impressive. I didn't expected Naruto to keep up with Sasuke." Kakashi-sensei commented. I nodded.

"Naruto's advanced to walking on water. We've been doing short sparring exercises on the water too." I explained, earning a sound of approval from the man. He looked down at me for a moment, then a smile reached his eye.

"I wonder if he would've pushed so hard for me," I quirked a brow, Sensei chuckled. "You are the one he shows off for the most. It's easier having you train him since he listens to you."

I was surprised by the blunt comment, but it was interrupted as both boys came down from the trees. Kakashi-sensei looked to the boys then and smiled.

"Very good. Just as I expected from my students. Well done Hikari, you taught them well." He absently patted my head, and I did my best to keep the cheesy grin off of my face.

Both boys looked proud. Sasuke had a small smirk, while Naruto a giant grin. Sakura returned from the tree, smiling all the way.

Grumbling came from behind us. I looked over to see Akira crossing his arms and looking away.

"You okay?" Akira glanced over at me, but then snorted and stalked off. "Akira!"

I went to follow him, but Reiji stopped me.

"Don't worry, he's just in his usual mood swing." Reiji assured me. I looked up at him, his smile gentle and reassuring, then back to Akira's retreating form. There was nothing I could say as I watched him stomp away.

The final night we would be in the land of Waves and I couldn't sleep.

I had taken midnight watch, Naruto had to watch before me. The entire time I laid on my mattress, anxious to finally do something, scared that when we left something and would happen. In reality there wasn't much three extra genin and a limping jonin could do though. We were here without necessity and really should've returned home by now.

But what if something happened?

Stop it Hikari, you can't play these 'what if' games forever!

I wanted to just go to sleep, but I was way too restless. The clock silently ticked away, so I sat up and did some meditation instead. It helped some, and finally the clock struck midnight and I had to get up to relieve Naruto.

It was a cool night outside, so I brought my blanket with me. I found Naruto sitting on the edge of the platform surrounding the house.

"Hey," I called, walking over. "My turn."

Naruto yawned loudly, making me giggle at the theatrics. He looked over to me and I smiled automatically.

"Hey Kari, that time already?" He stretched a bit, then froze. I raised a brow at him before he turned to me. "I just remembered! You don't like that dark!"

I had to laugh.

"You're just remembering now?" I teased. He huffed, crossing his arms.

"I always knew it y'know! I just…. I didn't realize what it meant for you. You went on a mission, slept outside, and had to stay up in the dark." I ducked my head, embarrassed to recall the first few nights. I still didn't like the dark, but sitting on the docks, watching the calm water flow by me…. I wouldn't go as far to say I found it peaceful, but it certainly settled me down a bit.

"I managed." I said simply, not wanting to get to the root of the problem. Naruto glanced at me, and for a moment my eyes drifted from the dark waters over to his much brighter, bolder, eyes. He stared, getting a bit too close as he squinted to see me better in the dark. Likely checking my face for some sort of lie. He looked over my face, and I looked over his. He had cleaned up before going to bed and smelled freshly of soap. A welcomed change to the dirt and grime we normally smelled like. I had started to make it a habit that we both had to bathe before going to bed, considering the awful preteen odours we could both make and that fact that we both trained a lot longer now that we were capable.

Naruto leaned back, another yawn escaping him. I smiled.

"You should go to bed, you'll be up in just a few hours." I encouraged, Naruto seemed to have other plans though. The blond laid down on the wood next to me, his head resting on my thighs. A giggle escaped my lips as he tried to get comfortable. He eventually yanked his jacket off to cover himself, however it wasn't nearly enough.

"Trade you." I said, offering the blanket from around my shoulders. Naruto looked up at me, grinning, before we swapped jacket for blanket. I dangled my feet over the side of the dock, my toes missing the water just barely. The jacket was very warm, combined with the living furnace resting on my lap it was easy to get comfortable. My fingers absently began to brush through his hair, and a soft sigh of contentment escaped his lips. His eyes closed some time later, and he curled onto his side and gently held my leg. Much like he did a pillow when he slept.

I sat at the docks, content, when I heard another sigh escape his lips.

"Kari…" He said sleepily. I looked down to Naruto.

"Still love you."

I got a sleepy murmur in reply.

Morning broke, Daisuke was up and ready to go home. I think he wanted an early start because of all the walking. We'd likely be taking a fair amount of breaks.

We were up considerably earlier than the rest. Sasuke was on watch when we left, not saying much to us for a goodbye. I had to leave Naruto on the dock, not wanting to wake him just to say I would see him in a few days. I tucked his jacket beneath his head before going off to pack my things. The sun was just peaking up when we finally left the house. It was slowly rising as we took a boat across the waters under the bridge.

I stared up at the structure, impressed to think that Tazuna was the man in charge of such a project brought a little bit more respect to the front of my mind.

We hit land, thanked our ferryman, and were on our way in no time.

The entire morning I felt restless, and being on the road did nothing to curb this. I twitched at all the sounds nature possessed, flinched when a twig snapped. Meanwhile the rest of my team looked considerably calmer. I decided I had to rein it in, least I wanted to tip off anyone who might actually be following us.

"We'll head east for a while, might get lucky and see a caravan coming back from the ports. Might hitch a ride." Daisuke said, already looking a little bit more tender on his leg.

Reiji faltered in his step, I noticed immediately and looked to him. He didn't react at first, just kept walking, then he looked to me.

"On your toes, Hikari." Was all he said. I nodded, knowing the only reason he directly told me was because they were coming from my side. Daisuke was in the front, Akira on the left, myself on the right, and Reiji behind. I squared my shoulders a bit more, prepared for a strike to come.

They didn't disappoint.

A kunai came flying at me, which I dodged before throwing one back at the same angle. It vanished into the tree line and hit something metal. A ninja flew out of the trees, then another. Both were connected by a long chain.

They didn't go for me though, instead opting to reroute themselves to Daisuke. I used my flash step to get in front of them, clashing my kunai with the one in the front. He pushed me back significantly, but I did my best to hold my ground until I felt him not push anymore. The other ninja attempted to fly past me, but he was yanked back by the chain connecting them.

I looked down to the shadow, which had slithered along the ground and connected to the ninja I was clashed with, all the way back to Akira with a smirk.

"My turn." Reiji appeared in front of the second ninja and struck him in a chakra point. I knocked mine out with a blast of chakra to the back of the head shortly after. When both were down for the count, Akira let the knocked out one go.

"Good work kids," Daisuke limped up to the passed out ninja. He examined them before voicing, "these look similar to the ones in Kakashi's report. The ones that attacked them prior to the jonin."

That struck a chord, and I realized what this was.

"They wanted to keep us busy… Their target had been Daisuke….." I said slowly. Reiji nodded.

"If that's the case, then the jonin Zabuza must be on his way to the bridge." Reiji's words had me turning to run without another thought.

"Hikari!"

Daisuke's words halted me, my fingers digging into my palms, I knew what this would be.

"But I-"

He cut me off.

"This is not our mission. Kakashi is more than capable of controlling the situation. I understand you want to help your friends, but they need to complete their own mission. You've done enough."

I took a breath.

Done enough…..

What did it mean, to have done enough? When was enough? Where was the line, the limit to one's capacity to do more?

"To protect." I said under my breath.

"What are you muttering?" Akira snapped.

I took a breath.

"I promised myself, back then…." I looked to my palms. "I'm not very strong. I've failed a lot in my life already. But I…."

I made my hands into fists, then turned to look at Daisuke.

"I promised, that I would protect them. That's my nindo, my ninja way. To protect those who are precious to me, by any means necessary." Daisuke sighed, but I pushed forward.

"I understand that you're not concerned, but I…. I can't-"

I can't lose Naruto.

I can't lose Sensei.

I took a breath.

"I think I can out run you, y'know." I said with a bit of cheek. Daisuke was quiet, watching me. Then he sighed, looked to Reiji, and spoke.

"Scout the area, I'm sure we will find more of these rag-tag ninja lurking around," he glanced to me, "and you better hustle, Kakashi will need to be notified of this as soon as possible."

I almost didn't believe him. Akira held out his hand, surprising me. He frowned.

"Well? Hand over those weights. You are the fastest of us, after all."

I gave a small smile, practically tearing off the weights and feeling ridiculously light now.

"I won't let you down!" I bowed to Daisuke, knowing very well he'd rather be heading home, and earned a shooing motion from him.

"Don't do something stupid, Hikari." He warned, I nodded, then turned to rush off back to the bridge.

Naruto, I'm coming!

What's up my dudes? Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

So sorry for the wait, with things slowly opening back up I've got my plate full again. I work full time in home care but also work for a non-profit organization that is looking to open up very soon. Been wicked busy getting everything back up and running! This chapter was supposed to be significantly longer and more fleshed out but I didn't want you guys to wait another week for it. I'm also so done with this arc. The next chapter is the last one, as I am ridiculously eager to introduce another OC into the mix. I am legit scared/excited what you'll think of them, because I love them to bits but you might not.

I'm not happy with this chapter, but frankly I never am so what's the difference really? I think it was extra frustrating just because I didn't have the time to make sure this all flows nicely. (I'm looking to go back and do a gentle rewrite for grammar errors and story flow, no changes to story!)

Can guest reviews distinguish yourselves a little? I have like 5 guests now reviewing and I would hate to confuse who I'm talking about.

Guest: Yes! Uzumaki clan is super cool! I'm hoping to do a little more coverage of them in the up coming story! I think Kishi just had so much going on he didn't have time for them anymore, but I'm hoping to widdle some background story in at some point! And yeah, Naruto x OC stories that are romance are so hard to find! I saw a handful of them but none were interesting... which was why I created this story.

SnowyWee: (For some reason I can't pm you so here's the reply) Yes, I was legit dreaming about the day Naruto started his 'Hero Training', which is huge considering Naruto in the original script had a very different idea of what a hero was.

Simmaris: I get what you mean, I have a love/hate relationship with people finding out a sad backstory. I don't like to really lay all the cards on the table, because I know there are things that have happened to me that I just don't talk about, so why would Hikari? However, it definitely is in her character to react how she did. Hikari is a normally kind individual, but she's got a different opinion on heroes that a lot of people might not understand right away. Which is why Naruto wanting to prove heroes exist for her is actually a big plot point, believe it or not.

Unamed: YES! Oh yes she's gunna have a summoning animal! I'm trying to widdle it into the plot earlier, but it's sort of hard. I wouldn't call it a 'huge' creature, not nearly as big as Gamabunta, but it's pretty big. I spent a LONG TIME trying to decide what her animal would be, and figured one out that I think is both badass and interesting.

FishInTheBox: I've already covered this, but I'll say it again. I don't consider Boruto canon to Naruto, but Naruto is canon to boruto. The issue is Boruto, as the main character, needs to shine uniquely, but that means knocking down the OG cast. Which I hate. I have nothing against the series Boruto on it's own, I just don't acknowledge it as part of the Naruto universe. (A lot of stuff in it doesn't really make sense to me tbh) Also, if Hinata and Naruto don't marry then Boruto and Himawari can't be born. If I did do a Next Gen I might use some of the offspring of the characters, but not all. And if Naruto and Hikari were to marry they would have different kids. I may have also considered what those kids would be like too...

Guest: Thank you, I am upset I couldn't present a longer version of this chapter, but I didn't want you all waiting so much longer. Also frustrated with formatting not being done right for some odd reason. It's not italicizing all parts that are supposed to be, so a lot of memories come forward as actual speech. No, Naruto didn't talk to Haku, he doesn't have to actually. The reason Haku was so important originally was because Naruto didn't have anyone important to him like that. He had had his team and Iruka, but even they weren't that close to him in the original. There was a set term of interaction, but to Naruto that was still huge. Now, however, he has Hikari. Hikari who is not afraid to show her affections for him and encourage him. In my eyes, Naruto is already very aware of his ninja way, he's already set on protecting his best friend. The Haku/Zabuza relationship might have a slightly different light in the next chapter.

Random Fool: not sure if I replied to your review before, but thank you. I try, although I may end up re-writing this chapter when I have a chance. It's a start though.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well! Wash your hands, and STAY SAFE!

Iland Girl