What about us?

Chapter 11: Homecoming

Still Hinata's POV

"By the way, have you taken the lead yet?" I asked.

"Not yet, I'd like to change that a little bit, I don't want to go the same way as your father. I want to do it my way."
He was probably changed by his father's last words.

"So, shall we go?" asked Neji-nii-san and grabbed my bag.

"Umm, thank you!" We returned home. Hanabi was impatiently waiting there.

"Nee-sama!" She hurried down the stairs and greeted me.

"Hanabi!" I hugged her.

"What happened? Where is father?" I looked into her eyes. I can’t lie to her!

"Hanabi, could you please go to your room? I'll tell you everything there."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"All right. You must be tired after the long way. See you upstairs!" As soon as she came, she left again.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"It's not that easy. I have to think about it."

"I see. I'll leave you here alone with her. In the meantime, I'm still going to arrange a funeral."

"You don’t have to-!"

"I want to do it. I think it will be better that way. Then I'll tell you the date."

"A-all right." Neji-nii-san left again. There is no escape. I have to tell her now! But she loved our father so much… No, I have to be honest with her! But I'll probably keep what he did to our mother to myself. I don't want to hurt her even more.

"Hanabi!" I was looking for her. She probably wanted to play hide and seek. I found her in our parents' bedroom.

"Hanabi!" She looked at photos of our parents. Where still was our mother.

"Hanabi."

"Nee-sama, our father is all right, right? I don’t want to lose someone important to me again."

"Hanabi…" I wanted to cry. How do I tell her that that's exactly what happened? She suddenly hugged me.

"Whatever happens. I just don't want to lose you, Nee-sama." Tears streamed from my eyes. I couldn't hold it anymore.

"Don’t worry, Hanabi, you won’t lose me. I promise." I knelt and she rested her head on my shoulder.

"So tell me the truth. Don't keep it to yourself. You will be relieved, Nee-sama."

"The truth is, you probably won't see your father again…"

"What do you mean, Nee-sama?"

"Father... died on the last mission. I’m sorry, Hanabi." She cried. I felt warm tears on my shoulder.

"I-I knew something was wrong. But at least you are here."

"Don’t try to be strong, Hanabi. It’s all right to be sad in times like now."

"I really, really loved father, you know? I never thought about this, Nee-sama!" I hugged her tightly. She must not be alone now. After two hours, Neji returned. I was in the kitchen with Hanabi. I wanted to make her happy and I made an ice cream sundae.

"It's already settled. The funeral will be around three o'clock on Monday. They say they need time to prepare."

"Nee-sama, I'm going to lie down for a while."

"O-of course…" It broke her when she heard it from Neji-nii-san.

"I see you told her. You are strong," said Neji-nii-san.

"Maybe I shouldn’t tell her. She’s still too young to hear this."

"Don’t. It would hurt her more if you lied to her."

"Yeah, you are right."

"Unfortunately, neither you nor I are of legal age. I don't know if we can stay here." I cut my finger as I sliced the strawberries.

"You are right, we are all orphanages."

"Well, we will stay here. At least until the social worker finds out about us. We don't need to end up in an orphanage. When we finish school, we would move somewhere else. Of course, I will continue with the Mafia now."

"That sounds good. I don't want Hanabi to be in an orphanage."

"I feel the same way. The two of us are at an age when we can take care of ourselves. It's summer and you'll be seventeen in the winter. I'll be nineteen soon. Don't worry, we can handle it somehow."

Neji-nii-san didn't think twice and hugged me. He knew I needed it now. He has really changed. He certainly wouldn't have done this in the past. I'm not going to school tomorrow. I have to take care of Hanabi, who will also be missing tomorrow. I also have to apologize for Monday. There will be a funeral on that day.

Meanwhile in school

"Does it seem to me, or do I see an unknown face here?" thought Kabuto. He was just leaving Orochimaru's lab, and since he had memorized almost every face, it was strange to him. He followed him to the other end of the dungeon.

"Hey you, I've never seen you here before. Who you are?"

"Is this how you treat new students? Somewhat rude."

"Here I ask. What is your name?"

"Horuki, Horuki Mieko."

All right, this is the end of season 3. Thank you to everyone who survived with me until this stage! Seriously! I know it's not easy with me! But my imagination seems to know no bounds, so I'm always trying to come up with something for the story. Each season has a different plot, so it's probably familiar. Thank you all again and I look forward to seeing you next season, which I am currently still writing! 🦊🦊