Konoha's Cherry Blossom

Chapter 8

"I'm home!" Takashi announced as he entered his house and took off his shoes at the entrance to replace them with some slippers. Soon enough, he heard quiet little thumps nearing him rapidly.

"Tou-san! Tou-san!"

Barreling at him, the man stretched out his arms to catch the flying pink blur he calls his daughter, "My, you're so energetic today, Sacchan." Takashi said as he examined her comically, "And this is definitely not the result of eating sweets before dinner, right?"

The pinkette's eyes widen as she clamped her mouth shut and shook her head, "Hnn hnm!"

"Really?" The viridian eyed man asked as he walked in further into the house, "And you're sure about this? Obaa-san didn't bribe you, did she?"

"Hm hnn!"

"Well alright, if you say so." The man hummed as he set his daughter down, "Now, if you don't have a sugar high, what's got you so elated?"

"I wanna have a sleepover!" Sakura said resolutely, "Ino-chan can't come over since she's busy helping out her family's flower shop, so I wanna go see if I can go have a sleepover with another friend I made at the park."

"Oh." Takashi frowned a bit. The elder's probably wouldn't just let Sakura go outside of the compound, and far from their protection, just because of a whim, "I'm not sure about that, Sacchan. But who is this new friend of yours?"

Sakura deflated a bit as she braced herself for disappointment, "I met her the last time I went to the park with Kaa-san, her name's Hinata Hyuuga."

Hyuuga? Takashi paused a bit after he heard the family name. If it were the Hyuuga, the elders might actually allow Sakura-chan to go, and if I recall correctly, the clan heiress is just about Sacchan's age, so this Hinata must be Hiashi's child...

"You know what Sacchan," Takashi said as he headed towards his office, with Sakura hot on his tail, "I'll go send a letter to the Hyuuga compound to see if you can go spend the night with Hinata."

"Really?!"

The man smiled gently at his daughter's hopeful face, glad that he had prompted such a happy reaction. "Yeah, I'll go write it right now."

Sakura smiled brightly as he gave her father a big hug, "Thank you! You're the best Tou-san!"

"No problem, Sacchan." Takashi said as he laughed heartily and reciprocated the hug.

__________

"Naruto?" Rin called as she opened his apartment door with the spare key she had gotten, "Naruto, are you here?"

"Nee-chan!"

"Whoa-!"

Naruto laughed as he jumped into the brunette's arms exuberantly, the smile from the evening never leaving his face while Rin looked at him curiously. "You're in a good mood, anything special happened today?" Rin asked as the boy calmed himself down a bit and headed towards the living room.

"Yeah! You'll never believe what happened today, Nee-chan!" The blond said as he took a seat next to his sister figure, "When I was out walkin' through the market there was this guy that said that I was gonna steal one of his masks and started yelling at me infront of everyone, but I didn't want to steal it. I tried to tell 'im that, but he didn't believe me, dattebayo!" Naruto explained, using his hands to describe it vividly, while Rin frowned. It was nothing knew to know how the villagers treat Naruto, but it still makes her blood boil. "But then some guy came in between, so the guy at the stand yelled at him but then looked scared as he stuttered his name. And when I told 'im that I didn't try to steal it, he actually believed me!"

Rin stopped for a brief moment as she registered that, "Really?"

"Yeah!" The blond responded genially, "After that he bought me one of the masks' and introduced himself. And then when I told him that I wanted to become Hokage, he didn't laugh or tell me that I couldn't, he said that he believed I could do it if I worked hard enough. And after that he invited me to Ichiraku's! He even bought me four bowls!" The boy finished off with ecstasy.

The brunette had to take a few moments to fully process everything Naruto had said rapidly, before her eyes softened and a small smile made its way to her face, "Is that so? I'm glad to hear that, Naruto. Did he tell you his name?"

"Yeah, he said his name was Takashi. But when he came in between me and that ol' man from the market, the guy looked kinda nervous and called 'im 'Senju-sama'." Naruto explained, much to the other Jinnchuriki's surprise, "Why? Do you know him, Nee-chan?"

"Yeah... I do." Rin responded with a smile. She's glad that Takashi had gotten a chance to meet with Naruto, since she knew that he had been wanting to meet him for a while, but the council had made that quite difficult for him. "Maybe we can go and meet up with him again. I'm sure he'll be glad if we do."

"Can we?!"

"Of course!" The brunette chuckled as the blond tackled her in another bear hug. Maybe then I can introduce him to Himeko-obaa-sama and Sakura-chan...

__________

Had anyone from the outer branch seen him now, they would be slightly, if not very much so, dumbfounded (if not slightly horrified) to see even the smallest, unnoticeable smile on Hiashi Hyuuga's usually stoic and passive face. In all honesty, this was all a shock to him as well. When he allowed his daughter to step foot outside of the compound for the very first time, he did expect her to make connections with other clan children and heir's, however, her befriending the clan heiress to one, if not the most, powerful and influential clan in all of Konoha was something he did not anticipate.

With hurried steps, he made his way to the Hyuuga clan's private dojo where his daughter should be finishing up with her training. He could put aside training for a day or two.

"Hinata." Hiashi called once he slid open the shoji door to the dojo.

Said girl froze for a second before walking towards her father, with her cousin and uncle looking from afar. "Yes, Tou-sama?"

"For today, your training will be put on hold." The man said aloofly, yet with a somewhat proud tone of voice, much to the surprise of the room's occupants. "Hinata, when you went to the park the other day, did you meet or befriend anyone?"

"B-Befriend anyone?" Hinata repeated uncertainty, wondering if that is what he had actually said. She would have never thought that her father would be invested in her relations with others not part of the clan. "W-Well, I suppose I did. Her name was Sakura Senju. Why do you ask?"

Hiashi's eyes widened for a moment, as well as his brother's, before a small smile stretched onto his lips, So she did manage to befriend the Senju clan heiress, "I see. A letter had just arrived a few moments ago, from Takashi Senju. Apparently, his daughter wanted to spend the night with you."

Huh? Tensing up as she processed all of that, Hinata didn't know how to react. On one hand she was touched that Sakura wanted to spend some time with her, but on the other hand, she didn't know how mad or displeased her father would be with her. "T-Tou-sama, please forgive me, I didn't-"

Before she could even finish, her father had cut her off with a wave of his hand, "I am not displeased with you, so no need to apologize. On the contrary, befriending the Senju heir will be beneficial to the Hyuuga in building relations with them. So this evening, Takashi-san's daughter will be arriving so prepare yourself." With that, he left a slightly flabbergasted Hinata and a very much confused Neji in his wake.

"... What just happened..?"