Shikamaru fastened his steps to the hokage's building, everyone would gather today as kakashi ordered to prepare for the day everyone had waited for, Especially their hero.
A lot had changed in these years he didn't know the reason but the memories of the few past years passed in his head as he passed through the streets and how amazing this life. unexpected things happened sad memories, joyful, painful and many feelings they felt together as the time flew.
Shikamaru suddenly felt old even though he was still in his 24 years old, he smirked at his thoughts
They all have grown up.
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Kakashi looked up and down to his student in front of him "when did you come?" He flipped the papers between his fingers and scanned them with his bright eyes as he answered quietly "last night" Kakashi pretended that he was busy with the papers "did you get any rest?" Naruto nodded and so did kakashi even though he knew that was a lie.
The hokage leaned on his chair as he observed Naruto closely, his student's hair was still wet from the shower but his clothes stained dusty "what happened?" Naruto pretended that he didn't know what he was talking about but the look on his face dared him to lie and so he gave up and spike after a sigh "I met kiba" those few words were enough for kakashi to understand what had happened, they fought. Kakashi returned back to his papers holding back a sigh they were acting like kids but he didn't say that out loud, the door and Shikamaru stepped inside with a bow "Kakashi-sama" this was a bad day for him he knew that already "drop the sama Shikamaru" then he noticed how happy Naruto was to see Shikamaru when he stood and walked to him with open arms.
Shikamaru was one of the few people who hadn't treated Naruto differently when they were kids, he also one of the people who stood for him and helped him in everything since they were kids even though everyone don't know how close Shikamaru to Naruto he could see that, he smiled as he watched Naruto trying to give the genius a hug but the other refused.
The door opened again revealing Sakura dressing nicely both of Shikamaru and Naruto looked confused she was too she didn't know about Naruto's return "Naruto?!" "Sakura-chan?!" She walked to them "when did come back?" He rubbed his head smiling sheepishly "last night" then he noticed her outfit "Sakura-chan are you going to a date?" He pointed to her clothes while she reddened "N..No why would you say that?!!" He found no problem to say anything "then why are you dressed like this?" If this was the old sakura she would punch him but looking at her as she avoided his eyes to the right and left until her eyes drifted slowly to the man behind the table then they hanged on him as he focused on the papers both of them weren't aware of the dark eyes that were watching them, "let's go" Shikamaru dragged Naruto out with him and closed the door behind them, Sakura turned to the hokage fixing her clothes then stepped closer to his table
Taking out the green tea she made from her bag and placed it in front of him "here kakashi" she went back again to that but he said nothing and continued his papers work as she rolled her sleeves clearing a spot on the floor so she could help him again but before she does he spoke after a sigh "sakura there are other chairs sit in one of them at least" but she didn't listen "it's ok kakashi I will be f—" a huge stack of papers was thrown in front of her and she looked up in shock watching him as he got up from the chair joining her in the cold floor she jumped before he sit "Kakashi-sensei!! It's—" but he sat anyway and started working "I'm fine too sakura I won't die" and so they both worked on the cold floor together
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"Where did you spend last night?" Shikamaru asked cutting of whatever Naruto was saying but Naruto didn't mind he glanced confused then answered "in the library" Shikamaru nodded his head as he hided his hands inside his pockets, a habit he had whenever he was about to say something he wasn't sure if it wasn't sure if he should say or not.
"You know Hinata moved from your house" Naruto stopped his steps "then where is she now? At the hyuga's compound?" Shikamaru kept walking while shaking his head then turned to his friend with a smirk "Somewhere else" then left him standing there lost in his thoughts
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Sasuke was about to go back to his old routine standing in front of her door fighting back his fear to knock but... he didn't expect to see her come out from one these empty dark rooms in this building why was she here? Did she forgot where his place was? Even the furthest person knew where the last uchiha lives. He saw her locking the door and wore a Jacket she wasn't aware that he was watching her from the end of the hallway what made him more confused was she didn't head to the way out but to the up to his place and he almost jumped when their eyes met "eh, sasuke-kun?!" He didn't know how to answer that so he kept his mouth closed "are you going out?" He nodded then walked forward but she stopped him "can I please come with half the way" he didn't say anything but waited for her to step first and she did smiling at him knowing that he agreed
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"I need you to do me this favor" Iruka glared down at Naruto harder after what Naruto told him he didn't believed that before a year Naruto came asking him to be in his father's place in their engagement and now? Now he was asking to be with him in the hyuga's why?
To apologize and inform them about their separation
"How did it happen?" Iruka asked quietly Naruto couldn't look up to his sensei he kept his eyes to the floor "I don't know" he whispered but Iruka heard him "you don't know? Why? You don't love hinata anymore" Naruto looked up fast "No!" Then realizing his loud voice he looked down again "I do but not like that" Iruka sighed not knowing what to do this was his student sitting on the cold floor on his knees asking him a favor "Then do you still love sakura?" Naruto shook his head "hinata-chan made me realize that I didn't like sakura that way I was just looking at her that way because she looked beautiful that was all and when I knew about Hinata's feelings I was so grateful and sorry that I wasn't paying attention to her and that made me wanting to make up for her and so I thought that I loved her romantically but.." He waited a little to find the right words "I wasn't and I tried to stay but I realized that i was hurting her forcing her to live a life she didn't want it but she was accepting it because of me and then i realized how i was destroying her life without my intention, I realized it too late and I'm ashamed and sorry and I wanted her to let go of me so she could live her life as she wanted I don't deserve her but.." he took a break thinking if what he would say was the right thing or not but he had promised to say all he had with honesty "these things are new to me, I don't have a mother who I could ask what love is how can I know that I like a girl and I don't have a father that could give me some advices to treat a girl nicely and Hinata got everything she was the princess of one of the strongest clans here and I couldn't help sometimes but compare my life to hers and then I wondered if I really could be like them I didn't know what romantic was and maybe if Sasuke was a girl then I would chase him mistaking my feelings again"
Iruka couldn't help but to smile covering the tears that threaten to roll down at the last part knowing fully what his favorite student wanted to say he was grateful for Hinata's feeling but he mistaken it to romantic if anyone heard this they would laugh but to Iruka he felt sad for Naruto he was 24 years and he didn't know how he could know if he loved a girl or not because he grew up alone with no one to direct him and so he nodded "thank you Iruka-sensei"
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He stopped when she turned looking at her as she stood outside the the small cafe "I will stop here you can continue on your way" then she waved he fought back walking inside with her or going to the hokage's
But what would she think if he did? So he walked to the hokage's building busying himself with his thoughts of her.
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Hinata looked at all the cake in front of her they all looked tasty but "hanabi-chan likes cake rolls" she ordered one vanilla cake and before she left she thought of someone then ordered cinnamon rolls too
And left smelling the box she held they both smelled good a beautiful mix her father hated sweets that why she bought a tea too his favorite drinks in any time
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Naruto knelt in front of hiashi hyuga, even though the air here felt less than outside and colder he was able to spoke some words thanks to his sensei's help
"Naruto came here to speak to you personally, please hear him out" Iruka was nervous too this was his first time being this close to hiashi hyuga and he looked strangely scary, he wondered how was related to hinata? Hiashi didn't say a word he waited for Naruto to speak.
Naruto cleared his throat before looking up then he realized his mistake he should have looked down all the time because he got chills when their eyes met
Hiashi Hyūga had the same eyes as Hinata's but this one looked more white with a hint of grey and they were so cold and scary.
"I came here to apologize for you and hinata-chan"
He waited for an answer, a curse or maybe a punch but nothing and that was scarier than anything else
He didn't dare to look up which made it worse
It felt like someone was pointing their gun at you and you were waiting for them to shoot or let you go
"About what?" These few words sounded calm yet it held something in them "for the way I treated hinata-chan and for everything" hiashi straightened himself "what is everything?" The question sounded ridiculous but Naruto thought more about and closed his eyes replaying all his flashbacks with her
His mouth started talking his control.
"For wasting all the food she made for me before I came home ,for all the times she waited for me to come back home and I didn't, for all the time she had to walk from home to the hokage's building to give me something, for all the times she couldn't sleep and I wasn't around for all the times she had to hear that I won't be home tonight and for wasting a huge part of her life on the wrong person"
It felt so good when he say all of that out loud,
Screaming at the waterfall in the cloud village and all that training was nothing compare to this, he sighed again his chest felt so empty he was able to breath now he took a deep breath as he looked up meeting those white yet dark eyes "you should say this to the right person she is the only one who had the right to hear this" Naruto bowed his head "I will I promise but In the right time i will" Hiashi sipped from his tea letting the Uzumaki on his knees for more minutes as he enjoyed his the view of the garden beside them.
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Sasuke knocked on the door before entering, it surprised kakashi that he knocked "glad to see you again Sasuke" sasuke looked with raised brow at the standing person who just looked up and went back to the papers "you called for me" Kakashi nodded his head and then looked to the closer person "sakura-chan, would you mind if i speak to sasuke alone?" He didn't missed the look she held in her eyes but she nodded anyway and walked out.
Kakashi stood from his chair and mentioned for Sasuke to sit then he took sat on the chair opposite from sasuke, the hokage's expression turned serious suddenly meaning he was getting straight to the point "the small town that you faced in the mission isn't actually small" Sasuke raised his brow "it's held one of the strongest shinobi from different villages" sasuke had noticed that they didn't have any headband which means that they didn't have a name to that town then how did they live together and who's their leader "what do you mean?" Kakashi rested his back hesitated if he should tell this to Sasuke or not "they don't have a leader or someone who run things there" he decided that he would trust his favorite student "that place was an exile" Things began to be clear for Sasuke but he let kakashi continue anyway after he sighed kakashi explained "the villages abandoned them for some reason and they gathered in that place" Sasuke had the desire to punch something, dark memories of his past began to replay In from of him "they lived together as any other villagers but when you killed one of them they are asking for a revenge" His vision began to darkened and he didn't know what he was doing but he wanted out of this place away from people
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Hinata didn't believe her sister when she told that Naruto had came this afternoon why? To apologize and he told her father about their separation
"What do i do now?" Hanabi sipped from her tea "what do you mean go talk to him?" But hinata was nervous "is he mad?" She asked nervously bitting her nails "I don't know" hinata walked slowly with hesitation to her father's room which was in the second floor knocking quietly afraid to face him,
"Come in"
It sounded so deep and quiet yet it still held the same scary note ,hinata took a deep breath before she opened the door quietly bowing to her father who enjoyed the view of her mother's flower from up here under the moonlight "Father" he mentioned for her to sit and she did after a minute he spoke "Have you tasted the tea you brought?" She shook her head so he gave her some after she sipped he waited for her to take her time to speak and after a while she spoke "I heard from hanabi about this afternoon" and so he waited again then she knelt before him
"I apologize father" she kept her head down not daring to look up "hinata, you're a hyuga and hyuga never look down" she raised her head but still looked down "apologize father, I should have told before"
She heard nothing from him beside his sipping from the tea then she gathered he courage to speak again
"Please don't be mad" She hated the idea of getting her father mad at her she finally, finally had this good relationship with him and she didn't want to ruin it "I'm not" it came as a warm touch to her freezing chest she was surprised but she didn't say but she stared at him without a word "you and hanabi are both capable of handling everything in your life now and both know already how to deal with your problems so I'm not worried" she remembered the frown he used to wear in the past he wasn't mad or disappointed but worried that his precious daughters won't survive in this cruel world
"Beside I have decided to take a break now" he looked with this warm tiny smile "I will take a long rest from being the head of the clan and being your father" she returned his smile with one "here taste it" he offered another tea and she sipped from forgetting about all her problems
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Naruto laid on his back he had drank so much,
Naruto had faced so many people, pain, obito,madara and even Kaguya and yet Hiashi Hyūga was the scariest.
His white eyes held something no one had it's like they were giving you the permission to do something but you couldn't, He was the kind of person who spoke few words yet these words held thousands words behind them but he was only Naruto who couldn't understood those kind of people.
"I promise you that i will do my best to take care of hinata-chan" those words were his first when he met hiashi and when he looked those white eyes were laughing at him like they saw something he couldn't see, as if they were searching for a reason to know why hinata liked someone like him and couldn't help the feelings that clanged inside him.
"Dobe" Naruto jumped from his place up to his feet and he almost hit his head hard he felt dizzy
"Whoa!"he held into the the wall
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke stepped closer to his friend who was trying to gain his control back "I could ask you the same thing"
Sasuke looked at Naruto closely ,he had red cheeks he couldn't walk straight (drunk?).
"Let's go dope I will take you home" Naruto let Sasuke took his arms over his shoulders while he just chuckled "where is home?" Sasuke sighed he hated the idea to take this idiot home and see hinata as usual wiping his face with her worried expression
"Where else? Now let's go"
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Kakashi walked out of the building and let the cold night wind hit him soon, he will take a rest.
From being a hokage ,sensei and a shinobi. He will walk out from his place in the morning under the sun he wondered when was the last time he felt the sun warm his body? It's been a while kakashi walked down the long stairs as he remembered (it was with sakura) the last time he enjoyed the sunlight was when sakura took him out of his office suddenly saying it was important to take a rest and enjoy the day, kakashi looked down the stairs and spotted a person with red jacket standing at the end of the stairs (waiting) he walked down until he stood close to her "sakura-chan?" She wasn't smiling at all then she stood in front of him straight "Kakashi-sama I hope you remembered that I'm a shinobi too and from team 7 too" he didn't know what she was talking about so he kept his silence "do I bother you so much i thought you said that my feelings didn't effect you what now should hope something from you?!" Kakashi didn't know what he did to deserve this "What are you talking about?" Her eyes held more anger more sadness "why did you kick me out of the office when Sasuke came? Am I useless as a shinobi? Wasn't i part from tea—" she stopped when he chuckled and wondered how could that voice suck all her madness "gomen Sakura-chan, you see I didn't want to bother you so much with that it's from the town that attacked sasuke i needed to hear the whole story from him too and i know how much it had effected you gomensai" what is this? He was worried about her and how was she supposed to move on "you're one of my team too and you're a strong shinobi I want to treasured you" he patted her head before he walked past her leaving her in her tears behind
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They were almost there to their house he planned to knock and leave before he see anything else but this stupid was heavy "why did you drink so much?" Naruto smiled again "I was scared" this wasn't like Naruto "I met hiashi today and I was scared" sasuke wanted to ask more why did you go there and what happened if anything was alright with the hyuga but he kept his silent "I went there to apologize for him and hinata-chan" but this time sasuke couldn't keep his mouth shut so he asked hoping he wouldn't sound too much curious "why?" Naruto let go of sasuke when they reached his house he claimed the stairs and looked back to Sasuke with his smile
"Cause I want to make up for hinata"
Then he went inside leaving the uchiha standing outside trying his hardest to stay still as he watched the bedroom lights went on then he turned.
