Paths of Divergence

Affection

The Uchiha showed up to the Hyuga compound at the break of dawn. After getting past the usual guard runaround, Shizake approaches his friend's household. He knocks on the door, patiently waiting for someone to answer. A groggy Nitatchi answers, his eyes bloodshot from being woken up.

"Dude... do you sleep?" Nitatchi asks while rubbing his eyes in annoyance.

"I was a bit restless. Today is the day... you know. Our trip to Hidden Hot Water Village," Shizake says.

"Right. I'm excited too but you don't need to drag me into your early morning nonsense," the Hyuga groans

Shizake closes his eyes, running a hand down his face. "I kind of ran into a dilemma thinking about this," Shizake replies.

"Well I'm up now, so what is it?" Nitatchi asks.

"It's a festival we're going to, right? Don't we need some sort of... nice clothes?" Shizake asks ashamedly.

The Hyuga perks his head up, realizing how desperate his friend sounds. While his family did take the Uchiha in, Shizake never really had a true father figure after the massacre to show him these types of things.

"Hm. You don't have a Kimono to wear do you?" Nitatchi asks.

"Never really needed one I guess," Shizake replies, flustered.

"Ah, well, I'm sure my dad has one you can borrow," Nitatchi says, ushering the Uchiha into his house. "But first- Breakfast!"

The Uchiha's stomach rumbles as he looks down before nodding his head in agreement. Shizake sits at the kitchen table, relaxing while Nitatchi goes to work making a large breakfast assortment. The Uchiha then stands up, heading over to the counter as he begins brewing some tea.

"Still remember where everything is?" Nitatchi asks, stirring some noodles.

Shizake nods his head, grabbing the tea kettle from the top cupboard. "Yes. This was basically my second home after all," he says.

The Hyuga smiles. "Heheh. Just making sure. Anyways- what's the plan for today?"

"Right. Well. When I met up with Sakura a couple days ago she said that her and Ino would head there early in the morning. They plan on stopping at this tiny village that's about a twenty minute walk from hidden hot water village to get ready and such. We'll meet them there and head into the festival together," Shizake explains.

       "Makes sense. All we have to do is throw on our Kimono's huh?" Nitatchi muses.

The Uchiha lays out the cups in a line, pouring one for himself and three for the rest of the Hyuga household.

Hiroshi appears through the doorway yawning with a wide stretch. He scratches his head, looking at both Shizake and Nitatchi with a smile. "You two sure are up early," he says with a grin.

     "Yes, father. Today's pretty important for us," Nitatchi responds while setting the plated food on the table.

     "Hm? What's today?" He asks.

     "Well. We both have dates today. We're going to the Hidden Hot Water Village for the Twilight festival," Nitatchi explains.

The older Hyuga pauses for a moment before wrapping his arms around the two boys' heads with a massive smile stretched out across his lips. "DATES?! Look at my sons, growing up and going on dates. You guys grow up too fast!"

Sweat drops runs down the younger ones' heads as they sheepishly smile at one another. Hiroshi releases them from the headlock before sitting down at the table and taking a sip of warm tea. "Well you two be sure to have fun and make sure to show those ladies a good time, you hear?"