The Wolf Within| The Possesions of the Wild series| Volume 2

1 | Homecoming

The sun shone brightly over Konoha, as the August afternoon took over the village, warming it up gently. A group of three tired teenagers (two boys and a girl)l, and an adult walked through the main gates, returning from a successful Chuunin mission. The mission was rather long and required a lot from them while offering little rest during its completion.

"I still can't believe you became a Jounin, Neji!" The girl, Tenten, said.

The tallest boy in the group with dark, long hair, better known as Neji Hyuuga, had recently gotten a promotion to a rank higher than his Chuunin friends- Jounin. He was deeply satisfied with this result, but did not exteriorise his feelings so much. It was a fact that remained confusing to his friends, although being acquaintanced with him and his behaviours for years by then. While they were confused why he didn't exteriorise his happiness so much, Neji was confused why he should do it and found it rather unnecessary.

Upon seeing the adult, a large smile grew on one of the gatekeeper's faces. "Guy-san! Welcome back! How was the mission?"

"It was beyond amazing, Kotetsu!" Guy answered, who seemed to regain his energy upon asked the question about the mission, "We finished in record time! Lord Hokage said that the mission might take us seven days, but we finished in four!"

Just as Kotetsu opened his mouth to say something, no words came out as his attention drifted to somewhere behind the small group. A girl walked through the gates, obviously deep in her thoughts. She walked through the gates, her head straight and her eyes looking ahead of her, paying attention to not much except the road in front of her. Due to the lack of attention on her side and slow reaction from the small team, the impact was inevitable. The girl bumped into the other boy: an average height boy dressed in a green suit, with raven black hair cut short in a simple bowl cut just around his ears to the back of his head. Once coming back to their senses after the impact, the boy's eyes widened, nearly overflowing from the shock on his face. "Kaiya?"

The girl took a deep, slow breath in, and soon enough a grin was overly visible on her face. "Hello, Lee," she said, "it's good to see you again."

It took him a second, but Lee began laughing and next thing Kaiya knew, the boy took her in one of the tightest hugs she had ever received. She accidentally let out a yelp from the shock, and once he heard the sound, Lee immediately let go of the girl. As he recovered from the shock and being so close to the girl, Lee couldn't help himself to stare at his old friend. Kaiya had grown taller, her auburn hair coming to her shoulders still and her face grew sharper since he had last seen her. Her eyes were in the form of almonds and shined with an intensity he had forgotten when looking at him. He found beauty in her more than he could remember (and was worried, for a moment, if he somehow missed her traits being as beautiful a few years before) and felt a deep shame when finding his eyes lingering on her body for a moment, watching how she had developed. He corrected his eyes' position immediately back to her face, where a giggle was fighting not to be kept in like that. It was not meant ill, though. Upon seeing the boy fall quiet and blush so hard, she couldn't help but amuse herself with him, while wondering what of her brought him to this state. He had grown and came to realise the existence of deeper feelings, she thought.

Lee looked at her, and couldnt stop. He couldn't form a single proper sentence in his brain from his mix of embarassment and awe but the following train of thoughts: If he, through some curse, missed the notice of her being beautiful when they were younger, he surely didnt now. But how couldn't he, when the idea of holding her hand someday seemed such a beautiful dream? His lips curled into a smile at the thought, only for it to disappear from shame once again, when realising that she had asked something.

"Yes," he said, his voice cracking for a moment, "We just came back."

Kaiya smiled, raising her eyebrows in interest. "You'll definitely have to tell me all about it."