17 A Hectic Birthday Party 4 (1/2)
Her lips moved as if they had a will of their own, detailing her meeting with Kokuo and their escape from Iwagakure. It was practically the same story that she had told Kiba a long time ago.
Unlike that boy, Tsume was more calm. After the initial shock had dissipated, she listened with a deepening frown.
”Five-Tails... Jinchuuriki... are you telling me that you're housing that creature inside your body?”
As an experienced ninja, Tsume was well-versed in the history of the shinobi world, especially since she had lived through all the three shinobi world wars. The term 'Human Sacrifice' wasn't alien to her.
To put it in simple terms, they were weapons of mass destruction. As long as a nation owned them, they could serve as deterrent from foreign invasion.
If she remembered correctly, the Four-Tails and Five-Tails were supposed to be owned by Iwagakure. She had never witnessed a Tailed Beast with her own eyes, but the people who had barely survived against them in the war had described them and their Jinchuuriki as frightening monsters.
'No wonder that midget of a Kage wanted to have this girl back at all cost... losing one their trump cards is goddamn devastating for their national security.'
Most likely, Iwa would never publicly admit that they'd lost a Tailed Beast. Their only option was to capture her back before the other villages could.
Unfortunately for them, she had wandered to Konoha by her own volition.
Ever since then, she had either cooped herself within the Inuzuka compound, or stayed inside the village wall. Naturally, the Iwa ninja couldn't get to her, as they couldn't send a large force to infiltrate lest they'd trigger another war.
Who knew how long they had stationed scouts near the vicinity of the village just in case they could catch a glimpse of her shadow? It sure had been quite a while, considering that Tsume and the rest of the Inuzuka ninja had been busy tracking down potential intruders for months on end.
That neatly explained their sudden increase of workloads.
Nevertheless, Tsume found it funny that the Iwa ninja had such a bad luck. The girl had went out of the village wall from time to time, yet she had always chosen the times when they had been chased away.
Sadly she couldn't stay lucky forever. Today's incident showed that the dirty little secret had finally caught up with her.
”I think I get it now.”
When she heard those words, Hikari immediately stopped talking.
Tsume already knew everything beyond that point, About how Akamaru had accidentally found her at the creek, about how Kiba had carried her back home, as well as the rest of the year that she had spent with this household.
Hikari tightened her fists up as she stared down at the tatami, unable to get herself to look at the woman''s eyes.
Meanwhile, Tsume was scrutinizing her, smiling at her expense. She was amused that the girl would look so scared like a prisoner waiting for judgement.
It seemed that the girl didn't believe that she was already part of the family.
'Maybe it's because she's a Jinchuuriki.'
It was such a cruel fate, to live as a living weapon. It was understandable if they didn't dare to trust people so easily.
She was suddenly reminded of those two brats. They, too, had put invisible barriers around their heart, something that she'd noticed but unable to help with. Especially for that yellow-haired punk that usually played with her son and his other friends...
”...”
Hmm, nah. Compared to that waste of air, this girl is far more sensible.
She suddenly grabbed Hikari's head, and then messed with her hair.
”Why are you looking like that? Get up!”
”Uweeh?”
She was met with Tsume's warm gaze.
”Wipe that frown off your face, we have a party to do! I better see you smiling when you get to the kitchen, or you'll eat my fist, ya hear me?!”
Without waiting for her reply, Tsume walked out of the room, leaving the confused girl to her own device.
---
”One, two, three- Happy Birthday!”
Popping noises rang out in the kitchen, followed by a rain of shiny ribbons.
In the middle of the dining table was a tall three-layered cake with a miniature dog perched on the top, suspiciously looking really similar to Akamaru. When the real one noticed it, he was so excited that he barked over and over again.
”Whoa! I forgot! It's my birthday!”
The star of the show, Kiba, showcased his amazing memory all of the sudden, inciting laughter from Tsume and Hana.
”See? I told you he'd definitely forget!” Tsume hollered.
”Hehe... Let's continue.”
Hana turned off the lights, and then lit the candles on the cake. The dim lighting gave off a serene atmosphere.
This kind of birthday party, it was the first for Hikari. In her short mortal life, she couldn't afford to care. But then, when she had finally reached immortality, birthday was kind of useless to think about.
Therefore, today's party had turned into an excitingly novel experience.
”We've got three candles here, so each of you should blow on one and made a wish. Let's start with you, Kiba.”
”Alright, big sis!”
The boy leaned over to the candle on the left, and then blew it off.
”You're next, Akamaru!”
He lifted Akamaru up onto the table. The puppy tilted his head, turning toward the middle candle, and then let out a strong bark. Somehow, the resultant wind was strong enough to blow off the flame in one go.
Everyone in the room was dumbfounded, except for Kiba, who was smiling with pride.
”Hahaha! As expected of my partner!”
”...”
That... dogs normally couldn't do that, right? Right?
It seemed that she had to have a long talk with Daji about not showing off too much...
One candle was left. And yet, nobody else seemed to be moving to blow it.
'Hmm? Why are they stopping?'
She turned to the side, thinking that it would be Hana's turn next. Instead, she found that Hana and Tsume were staring at her.
”What are you doing? Blow it,” Tsume said a bit impatiently.
Wait, what?
”This- this isn't my birthday!” She exclaimed.
”When is it then?”
”...”
When was it again...
Truth be told, she had long forgotten that little useless detail from her old life. As for this new body, she had no clue at all. Surprisingly, the memories left in this body contained little information about her identity.
”I suspected so,” Tsume sighed. ”I got this hunch that you're even worse than my son in this regard... so I went ahead with this arrangement. Hey, if you don't have one, just make it out from scratch, right? Besides, this way I can buy one cake for three occasions at once. That saves a lot of money!”
She laughed out loud, while her children and Hikari gave her a judgemental stare.
”Enough rambling. Go blow it off or else we'll stay here until morning!”
”...”
Fine, then...
She leaned closer to the cake, and then blew out the last candle.
”Alright! Now cut the cake!”
Hana handed a knife to Kiba, who proceeded to clumsily broke the cake into uneven pieces with his reckless attempt in slicing.
But who cares, eh? As long as it tasted fine, they would devour it regardless of the look!
”Here, little bro, your present. And this one's for Akamaru.”
Hana handed a blue-wrapped box to Kiba, and then a put a smaller, white-wrapped one on the ground. The puppy gave the box a sniff before scratching it open.
As Hikari watched the boy and his partner shredding the wrapping paper into oblivion, a red box was placed on her lap.
”Eh?”
”For you,” Hana grinned. ”Happy new birthday!”
...
Ah, damn.
She was forced to look away, too embarrassed to admit that her cheeks were starting to grow hot...
”A coat?”
To her relief, Kiba's remark successfully turned everyone's attention back to him.
He was holding a grey coat with dark-colored fur lining the hood and each end of its sleeves. It seemed to be a size bigger than the current him, but it should be fine to wear for a couple more years as he grew up.