14 Chapter 13 (1/2)

I woke up relatively early that day. With my towels and toiletries in hand, I got out of my room. I noticed Neji was closing his doors and he was already fully dressed for the day.

”Aren't you a bit early?” I asked groggily as I rubbed my eyes. I heard him chuckled at my question.

”I got training for the day with my team,” he answered and he moved the doors.

”Come to think of it, I never saw your team. How are they like?” I asked and on cue, he stopped short and shivered.

”Nightmare. Total nightmare,” he simply said and that had piqued my interest, ”later then, Hikari.”

I didn't answer it because I was still sleepy instead I made my way to the bathroom. Inside, I tried to stretch out my shoulder to see how far has it recovered, a smile made its way on my face as there was no pain that I could felt. I turned around trying to look at the long diagonal slash at my back through the mirror and found that the wound was healed now. I concluded that I could finally do some mission today. After the C-Rank mission that turned B-Rank, Sarutobi-sensei had me permanently placed on the team 7. He felt that I could learn some more by being in an actual team. After stretching out some more parts of my body, I took my bath. Twenty minutes afterwards, I was freshly changed and headed out to the dining room. As usual, Hinata was already there prepping breakfast.

”Morning, Hinata,” I said as I sat down at the table. I noticed that Hinata had already prepared me a cup of tea. Since the mission in the Nami no Kuni, I grew fond of drinking tea in the morning. Hinata had naturally substituted my morning milk to the tea instead. Not only that, but she also prepared it with a pot of hot water that was not mixed yet and a cup along with tea sachets just the way I liked it.

”Morning, Hikari-Nisan. Feeling better?” she asked as she was kind of chopstick-fighting the frying pan.

”Yes, thank you. I think I'm going to do a mission with them today,” I said, grinning. She then handed me my plate of Omurice for breakfast. I sniffed the warm vapour that came out of the meal and exhaled in bliss.

”This is heaven. You're the best, Hinata,” I grinned at her to which she just nodded and smiled at me, ”oh, I think I might have ramen for lunch with Naruto today. I've promised him yes...urkk...”

A lump of rice got stuck in my throat. I punched my chest in despair. Hanabi appeared out of nowhere and slammed her fist onto my back and my throat is cleared.

”Geez, Oni-chan! How many times did I tell you?! Eat slowly!” she yelled while crossing her arms.

”It is so good, I can't help it, Hanabi-chan,” I whined. Hinata just laughed at our antiques. That was how my morning normally began. To be honest, I wouldn't trade it for the world. After breakfast, I headed straight for Sakura's house since she was the nearest. I was lucky to catch up with her when she got out of the house.

”Oy, Sakura!” I waved at her as I ran. When she turned to see who was calling her, her eyes lit up.

”Hikari-kun!” she yelled at me and we high-fived when we got close to one another, ”feeling better?”

”Yeah, all healed up. I think I am ready for a mission,” I said and grinned at her while giving her a thumb up, ”up for a stamina training after the mission? I feel like I lost too much of it since Nami.”

”Hell, yeah!” she yelled while cracking her knuckles, ”let's go! We're going to be late.”

We ran towards the meet point together. Since the mission, Sakura was visibly changed. No longer the same girl, she was more calm and happy now. His eyes were no longer bearing the strange sudden darkness and occasionally tired expression anymore. We managed to get there on time. Naruto hadn't arrived yet but he will be because we could hear the sound of his running from miles away.

”Good morning, Sakura-chan! Wait, what?! Hikari!!!” he ran at me and I held up my hand and he high-fived it, ”how do you feel now?! Ramen on me today!”

”Hehe, I was going to ask you to treat me but you volunteered. It must be my lucky day! I'm fine now!” I grinned as I flexed my biceps at him. He was grinning too but when he noticed Sasuke, both of them turned away from each other. Sakura and I dropped a sweat.

”What's up with them?” I asked Sakura. She turned at me to whisper.

”They had been this way since we got back from Nami no Kuni,” she said. I exhaled a heavy sigh.

”I wonder what took Kakashi-sensei so long,” I commented. That question was answered three hours later when our sensei arrived.

”Hey, guys! I got lost!” he waved at us. Sakura was immediately irritated.

”Stop lying with a straight face! Give it a rest!!” she yelled angrily.

”Oh, Hikari-kun! Morning!” our sensei greeted me. I could return his greeting but he was very late.

”Pft, it's already noon,” I scoffed.

”You're a failure as a ninja...” Naruto muttered, ”Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei!! Lately, all of our team 7 missions have been too easy! I want a more, y' know, hot one! Where I can shine! That follows my ninja path!! And my heart like!!!”

”Yea, yea,” our sensei sighed, ”I pretty much know what you are going to say...”

We started to walk towards our mission for the day. My mind started to wander into my memories when I fainted. About an imminent attack on the five nations' tailed beast. Sarutobi-sensei had told me to keep the information to myself for the moment and that he will ask Jiraiya to sniff around. When we finished the mission successfully today, it was more or less a success. Naruto was pushing himself to the limit. So, I ended up piggybacking him. He winced in pain as he panted heavily.

”It's because you pushed yourself too much,” Sakura chided him.

”Pft, can't you take care of yourself,” Sasuke scoffed. That irked Naruto and he got down from my back in an instant causing me to fall on my face.

”Goddammit, Sasuke!!” Naruto yelled but Sakura clunked him on the head.

”If you don't calm down, I'll finish you,” she yelled at him, ”look at what you did to Hikari-kun.”

I stood up and brushed off the dirt on my dogi. Sakura handed me a handkerchief to wipe my face.

”Thanks,” I muttered. She just smiled at me.

”Sorry, Hikari...” Naruto said guiltily and I smiled at him.

”Hmm, teamwork seems to be suffering lately...” Kakashi-sensei said.

”Yeah!! Yeah!! You're the one ruining our teamwork, Sasuke!! Always hogging the spotlight, you bastard!!” Naruto yelled, accusing.

”That's you, you moron. If you want me to stop making you look bad,” he turned at Naruto, ”then, just become stronger than me.”

There was no exchange coming from either party as the tension seemed to rise. They were getting worse than before. That was because there were people stronger than they were and they were competitive about strength.

”Ok, that's it for today,” Sensei said, dismissing the tension. ”I have to go submit the mission report.”

”Then I'm going home...” Sasuke immediately said. Sakura remembered something and went after Sasuke.

”Hey Sasuke-kun, wait,” she called, ”how about right now we work on our teamwork, just the two of us.”

Sakura was fawning over him and I thought that she had forgotten about our training. Naruto seemed to be in despair for some reason.

”You're the same as Naruto,” Sasuke said and she looked like something bad had been dropped on her, ”if you have time to bother me, practice a jutsu or two. Frankly, your ability is below Naruto.”

She slumped in defeat.

”Now that's rude,” I complained but Sasuke just glared at me and turned around to walk away, ”Sakura, don't take it too seriously. He must be having a bad day or something.”

She was unmoving, it seemed that Sasuke's words hurt her more than she let on.