H.Shuyo

12

After waking up late from my blank dreamland I got ready a faster than I usually do so I could meet up with my team before the exams tomorrow.

"I wonder if anything interesting gonna happen today." I mumbled grabbing a fruit on my way to one of the bigger buildings in Konaha.

I saw Kakashi giving the exam forms to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. "You're were supposed to do that yesterday baka." I commented as I walked up to the group. "Gomen tou-san." Kakashi mocked.

->
"They'll be fine Kakashi." I tried to ease the worried look I saw him giving his students.

After the kids we're gone out of sight, Kakashi turned to me and rubbed the back his head. For some reason he radiated nervousness. "You want to go get something to eat?" I pretended to think about it. "Free food?" I asked. He nodded his head yes. I grinned. "Count me in." We walked mostly in a comfortable silence on our way back to the villages shopping district.

->
I eyed the Yakiniku Q restaurant in curiosity. "I wonder if this place is any good." I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Kakashi nudging his head at the door. "I don't know for sure, but Asuma says it's alright." He held the door for me as we entered the restaurant. "Arigato." We sat down in one of the window booth's

"Hi guys, my name is Lucian, and i'll be your waiter for tonight-oh hello Hiroto-sama. Day off?" A familiar face stopped at our table with a smile. "Hello Lucian," I sent him a smile. "Took a half day. I'll have a cherry soda please." He nodded turning to Kakashi who had put his menu down and was giving Lucian his classic bored look "I'll take whatever he's having I guess." He nodded then proceeded to sashay away from our table.

Not even a minute after he'd left, he was back with our drinks. "Two cherry sodas." He placed our drinks down as I pointed Kakashi what I thought we should get. "So what'll it be gentlemen?" The ex-Anbu shot me a nod so I ordered. "I think we'll just have the shinobi special, but maybe on a smaller scale please?" He nodded, "be back in a bit with your order." took our menus and ran off again. "So Hiroto, you seem to know a lot of people." I didn't deny or confirm his statement. "It makes me wonder sometimes why you hang out with loners like me and Naruto?" I shrugged . "I'm just not big fan of crowds I guess." (a/n: introverts unite!?) "Hard to believe since everyone you meet adores you." I slurped my drink which stopped whatever he was going to say next. Slurping is one his many pet peeves. "I'm better at one on one conversation. Plus I said I wasn't a fan of crowds, not that I couldn't handle them Kakashi." He didn't dropped the subject. "I'm curious." He took a sip of his own drink. "About?" I looked around spotting Lucian at another costumers table, an adorable couple that were feeding each other, and a team of ninja talking quietly about their most recent missions. "About you're past." A waitress came by and set out food down on the table. "Will there be anything else?" Kakashi shook his head no to her while I was busy thinking over his question. "Like everyone else I've had my ups and down, but it's probably nothing compared to most people." I took up a pair of chopsticks. "Are you asking because you actually want to hear about my past or what?" The seasons in the little bitesized piece of steak exploded with flavor in my mouth. "Holy shit man! This is good stuff." Kakashi nodded taking a piece for himself. "If you're willing to share then i'm willing to listen." I frowned thinking about where I should begin. "Well for starters I have never met my actual family. Midori and Jon adopted me around my twelfth birthday. Midori was an angel. She was sweet, patient, and a little naive. Jon was the opposite, so they balanced each other out. Anyways, I was homeschooled for the most part, though every now and then Midori would take me to the academy." I took a moments pause to chew my food. "I started working at Punch Line when I was fifteen. That's where I got my skills in fighting. I had a place. I was happy." I leaned back in my chair with a huff. "Then Midori died all of a sudden from some complicated disease, so Jon went into depression. After we lost the house; me, him, and three others took punchline underground. I had no clue what that meant exactly at the time. I entered the rink in the following year and for the next two or so years I was on top. Jon usually made a lot of money off of our fights so I was happy to help. To finally see him smile," I couldn't help but laugh at my stupidity. "I thought he was getting better." I popped a piece of chicken in my mouth. "Was he?" I shook my head no. "He didn't care about me, he only cared about the money I made him. I was his trophy, but I didn't want that. I wanted out and when I told him that he freaked out. He got so angry at my decision he ripped up my adoption papers." I kicked the ground accidentally kicking my best friend in the shin. "Gomen." He accepted the apology. "That actually happened the day before you found me." He took my hand in his as he spoke. "Did he ever abuse you or we're your injuries from the fights, they aren't from both right?" I stuffed another couple cubes of steak in my mouth to avoid answering. I almost yelped when he suddenly started crushing my hand. "Kakashi Hatake." His eyes snapped to mine at my commanding tone. "You will not seek out Jon, Kimiko or Loa unless I see an official mission scroll. Do you understand me?" He pushed my hand away from his with a huff.
I crossed my arms at his childishness. "Hai Hiroto-sama." He rolled his eyes but the nod told me he understood.
->
"You know what Hiroto? You're a lot more interesting that I had originally thought you'd be." Kakashi commented people watching. "Thanks?" I questioned with a mouthful of chicken.

->
I let out a breath and scatter the meat around my plate "Hey Kakashi?" He turned his attention from one of the waitress's to me. "If you're still curious as to why I hang out with mostly you and Naruto, it's because you guys are some of the strongest people I know. I like people who don't care what others think. People who are honest, true to who they are and what they believe in. There's more than one of the reasons I hang out with you guys." He looked up from his plate raising a eyebrow. "Oh, well the same goes for you too." I heard this and grinned. "Cool." I only laughed to lighten up the mood. He nodded his head okay. "Thanks for being a friend Kakashi."

We continued eating. "Right, just friends." I looked at Kakashi who was already staring at me. He had that sad look in his eye. "yeah.. friends." I looked outside and saw that the sun was leaning more and more towards the edge of the horizon. "Thanks for the meal Kaka-baka, I'm going to go train some more before it's gets dark." I got up and put a tip on the table. "We should do this again sometime yeah?" He nodded his head agreement and I took that as my cue to walk out the door.

—>
When I walked to another one of the training fields on my way home I saw Sasuke alone with his fierce opponent: Trickster-Tree. DUN! DUN! DUUUN!!

"Hey." He glanced back but otherwise said nothing. I stood next to him in front of another tree and watched.

Sasuke let put a grunt as he round house kicked the tree leaving a small crack. "Try not to put chakra into every hit." The Uchiha took a step back and finally turned his attention towards me. "Why not?" he questioned. "Well for starters, you save a lot more chakra and you're opponent(s) won't know how much chakra they need to use to defend themselves, so if you're lucky they could use all of it to protect themselves." He nodded, un-tilting his head."It's also a great way to exercise chakra control."
"So I see." He took up his stance again. "I've learned that the most important rule of a fighting is to always have the last hit and to make sure you opponent is down before you turn your back." He grunted out an affirmative then turned back to his cracked tree.

"Another word of advice? Don't get too cocky while you're taking the exams by the way." He turned and nodded his head with a classic Uchiha smirk. "No promises Hiroto-sama."