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AS IT TURNS OUT TABLE MANNERS was a topic that was completely foreign to both Naruto and Sasuke, Hikari sat next to Kakashi with her eyes twitching as the two genin had a eating contest.
"I want some more!" Sasuke and Naruto announced before they glared at each other and then emptied out their stomachs on the floor in the process making Hikari lose her appetite.
"Don't eat so much if you're gonna puke it up!" Sakura yelled angrily at the boys, "I have to eat." Sasuke argued, "And I have to eat more than him. It's the only possible way I'll be able to surpass him." Naruto shot back determinedly.
"That's true but puking won't help you." Kakashi pointed out, "Oh no Mask Face, Sakura let the boys have and puke. In the end they are the ones who are going to clean up after all," Hikari said with a sickly sweet smile looking satisfied as the boys paled.
After everyone ate everyone was drinking tea, excluding Sakura who was looking at a picture on the wall that coincidently, Inari also kept glancing at it, "Excuse me, this picture is torn. Is there some reason for that? Inari I saw you glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like there was someone else in the picture but they got torn out. I mean that's kind of strange isn't it?" Sakura asked.
Hikari watched with narrowed eyes as Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna all went tensed up, "It's my husband." Tsunami said sadly as Sakura winced, "They used to call him a hero in this land." Tazuna said sadly, as Inari left the table rather abruptly.
Tsunami looked back at her son, "Inari, where are you going?" She followed Inari, "Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that." Tsunami scolded him before leaving the room.
"Inari's so... I mean what happened to him?" Sakura asked, the other's too sat up and their interest peaked, "Is there a story behind this?" Kakashi asked as Tazuna explained how the man in the picture was not Inari's real dad and he was the hero of this land before he was killed by that stupid shrimp Gato.
Hikari glared at the wall, they need to get rid of the shrimp quickly, "Since Inari's changed so did the Tsunami and all the people. We lost our will." Tazuna said. Naruto got up suddenly and immediately fell.
"What are you doing down there, Naruto?" Sakura asked him. "Take the night off. No more training, you have used too much of your chakra today already. If you push yourself even more it can kill you." Hikari advised Naruto.
"I'm gonna prove it." Naruto stood up.
"Prove what?" Sakura asked him.
"I'll prove that it's true. That in this world, there are real heroes." Naruto said smiling. Hikari frowned looking down, this look wasn't missed by Kakashi.
✤✤✤
Hikari groaned before slightly sitting up, looking out of the window Hikari noticed the sky was dark blue decorated with pink, it was still early. Turning to her right Hikari noticed Kakashi on the makeshift bed next to hers.
Since Tazuna's house wasn't a big one, they all agreed on sharing a room, looking around Sakura was asleep, Naruto's bed looked like it hadn't been slept in and Sasuke's bed was neatly folded well now she knew who the early bird of the team was.
Hikari's eyes once again wandered before she laid them on Kakashi, He looked quite peaceful, he had removed his head band showing his scared eye but his mask was still in place.
Hikari tilted her head slowly assessing him, he had changed, she could easily tell. Even with his mask on, she could make out the defined and sharp structure of his face. Hikari had only seen Kakashi once, that night...
Features were as symmetrical and sharp as they came.
A small freckle or birthmark below his left, bottom lip.
A blush decorated her cheeks as she shook her head to remove those thoughts. It had been years since that day, and both Kakashi and Hikari had mutually agreed on never talking about it.
"I shouldn't, that would be a complete violation of privacy" Hikari muttered offhandedly as she stood up and folded her bed before making her way outside but not before taking a small glance at the sleeping form of Kakashi.
Walking out of Tazuna's house Hikari found herself near the lakeside, but what caught her eye other than the crystal blue water was the blue haired boy sitting on the long dock, his legs dangling off the dock.
Silently Hikari made her way towards and sat down next to Sasuke, "Looks like someone is any early riser," Hikari mused looking at him with a sly grin. "Speak for yourself," He muttered, Hikari hadn't really expected a reply from him, she honestly expected something along the lines of 'hn'.
Honestly Hikari wasn't an early riser, in fact her record was sleeping through an entire day, she mentally chuckled at the fit Kushina had thrown.
"What are you thinking about?" Hikari asked, noticing his steady, glassy eyes as they stared into the rising mist off the reflective lake.
Sasuke blinked a few times and looked at his lap, for a moment Hikari wondered if her words fell on deaf ears but he eventually muttered his answer, just loud enough for her to hear. His voice was low and he seemed uncomfortable sharing with her, "This lake, it's so much like the one I used to practise my Fire Ball Jutsu at with my brother and father."
"Oh," Hikari mumbled, a little surprised. Her thoughts immediately went to Itachi, she remembered when she had an Anbu mission with him and she met him for the first time. The Fire ball Jutsu a single blow and he could take out two dozen shinobi or more at once. It was truly a remarkable sight.
"It's nice isn't it to have a special spot that holds memories of you and your loved one," Hikari said smiling slightly as she remembered the lake her brother and her used to spend time in.
"Hn," Sasuke grunt, once again resorting to his grunt language, The two of them sat in complete silence enjoying the view along with the birds chirping until a small gleam caught sasuke's eyes.
"What? How do you have that?" Sasuke asked accusingly pointing a finger at Hikari who shot him a confused look before she followed his sight which landed on her necklace.
It was a three tier chain necklace, the top one was the Hyuga clan symbol that rested below her neck, the second one was the one Sasuke was pointing at. It was the Uchiha crest and the last one was the blue drop chakra container.
"It was given to me by an old friend of mine, he was an Uchiha," Hikari said, smiling slightly grasping it as her eyes glossed over a little, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "What happened to him?" Sasuke questioned.
"He died," Hikari stated, her face emotionless and her eyes void of emotion, Sasuke knew he should push it but his curiosity was getting better of him, "Who was he?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.
Hikari stayed silent before she stood up and turned around, Sasuke expected her to walk away but instead Hikari said, "That's a story for another time."
With that Hikari left the Uchiha on the docks with his thoughts.
