20 Chapter 19 (1/2)

Third Person POV

It was a fine morning in Konoha despite the various bouts of rain for the past few days. It was business as usual for the civilians and shinobis alike. Sunagakure had issued a full surrender to Konohagakure after finding out that their Kazekage was murdered and replaced by Orochimaru that was manipulating them from the start. Both villages suffered the same loss of valuable military power and Konoha had accepted the surrender and they had begun mending their recently broken alliance. Konohagakure was steadily recovering despite the heavy damage done but in another shade of light, the casualties count would have been greater if it weren't for the two students of the late Hokage that came to the rescue and also the large phoenix that everyone seemed to talk endlessly about. People couldn't stop praising their heroism in the recent attack. Although Jiraiya had pretty much known to avoid unnecessary attention, Hikari didn't do well as most of his day was spent by showing his fiancé around the village. The people always greeted them if they had seen the couple passed by. Bashful as he always did, he mentioned that all of that wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the other Konoha ninjas. Hitori couldn't help but felt proud of her fiancé and gave him a peck on the cheeks whenever she had the chance. The people who saw it had their heart warmed by sights of such an act.

”Hikari-kun, I heard that there is a good Dango stall at the end of this park,” Hitori said as she tightens her grip on Hikari's forearm.

”Hmm?! Dango? What's that?” Hikari asked, baffled by the potential nature of food befitting of such name. Hitori could only giggle at the boy and pulled him to follow her stride towards the said Dango shop. When they arrived there, Hikari feasted upon his eyes on a small, open, family-friendly shack. From the distance, he could already guess that it was a sweet shop judging by the inviting smell. Hikari was surprised to see his sensei, Kakashi was there with a couple of friends. They seemed to be arguing with each other as to why they decided to go there. Kakashi-sensei seemed to be expecting someone in this case.

”Not really, sometimes I stopped by to buy some stuff. Right now, I am meeting up with someone,” Kakashi-sensei presented his case, ”I'm waiting for Sasuke-kun. Oh, hey lovebirds!”

His friends must have thought that he was calling them the L-word when Hikari and Hitori came into their view, they were shocked to see the younger couple.

”Good Morning, Kakashi-sensei. Fancy seeing you here. Oh, where are my manners! Good morning sensei, my name is Hyuuga Hikari and this is my fiancé, Hitori,” Hikari said before he bowed towards his sensei's friends. They smiled at the younger couple so fondly and the woman looked like she was brimming with happiness and glee. Hitori, being the shy one she was, hid behind Hikari immediately. The only thing that could be seen as the tiny section of her head was peeking at them. Hikari rubbed the back of his head and told them that she was just a shy person. The woman went ahead and held out a hand to Hitori.

”I'm Yuuhi Kurenai. Hinata's sensei. Welcome to Konoha, Hitori-chan. There's no need to be shy here, I hope you like it here,” the famed genjutsu mistress said as the woman introduced herself. Hitori shooked her hand and went back behind Hikari in a flash.

”Pleasure to meet you and don't ever call me chan, I am older than all of you brats combined,” Hitori monotonously said with a threatening tone. Hikari was immediately nervous at her words that might offend the other party but was shocked to see Kurenai-sensei went in and hugged Hitori as she rubs her cheek onto the golden-haired girl. Hitori's face went so red that she squealed in protest to no avail. All of them who were present let out a chuckle at the two girls. Who knew Kurenai had a soft spot for shy girls and Hitori had such weakness. It's no wonder that Hinata had been assigned to her care.

”I'm Sarutobi Asuma. I'm in charge of your classmates, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio,” the other man said. Hikari had heard his name somewhere before.

”Sarutobi-sensei's son. He had told me about you. My condolences,” Hikari bowed at the man. When he rose, he was met with an apologetic smile towards him by the man.

”My condolences too, Hikari-kun. He was always proud of you, his best student,” Asuma-sensei said. If it was a few days earlier, Hikari would have burst out into tears but he was a different person now. He had lived a life so positively ever since he was living here in this village. He smiled weakly and looked into the clouds imagining patterns into them so that it would look like his late sensei. Suddenly, he felt two strange chakra signatures inside of the Dango shop. One was big that could rival himself while the other one was dark, calculated, lonely and wallowed in guilt. He immediately looked inside for the source and his eyes were feasted with the sight of two travelers clad in a black cloak and wore straw hats inside of the shop as if they were hiding their faces. Hikari was going to mouth something but the one who Kakashi-sensei was waiting had arrived.

”Oh, Kakashi-sensei, it's very different from you to arrive first,” Sasuke said from behind them.

”Well, for some occasion...” Kakashi-sensei replied. Hikari turned away from the shop to greet his teammate.

”Morning, Sasuke,” he clipped, clearly he was distracted for the time being.

”Hn, showing your fiancé around the village, huh?” the Uchiha said in his mocked tone. Both of them weren't very closed in the first place, thus their awkward interaction with some. But both of them shared a camaraderie as to the well being of the team, meaning they can count on each other to take care of the team. There was no reply from Hikari as the two chakra signatures he felt had disappeared from the shop.

”What's going on?” Sasuke demanded but when there was no answer he was getting he turned away from them grumbling about wasting his time coming here.

”You like Dango right, Sasuke? Would you please show Hitori the best choice in this shop,” Hikari said, earning a glare from his fiancé whilst Hikari immediately whispered his wishes through hand signals to the Jounins and Hitori, ”I doubt Sasuke would follow through but we need to make sure he didn't follow us.”

”I got better things to tend to. Hn,” the boy said and continued to walk away. When they were sure that he was further away, they immediately murmured with each other.

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”Impressive sensing, Hikari-kun. But leave this to us Jounins,” Asuma-sensei smirked and all of the Jounins disappeared from the dango shop. Hikari breathed a sigh at their attitude towards him. He would always be viewed as the meek, psychologically troubled genin that he was, not that he mind about it. He went into the shop and bought her some dango. As they enjoyed their dango, Hikari's mind was drifting elsewhere. This was funny to Hitori because Hikari was denying his desires to follow and back the Jounins up. He hastily ate his dango and waited for Hitori to finish hers.

”Let's get you home, it's not safe here,” Hikari said tagging her along but he stopped when Hitori refused to budge.

”I am millennia of ages, love. Don't forget about that, I can fend for myself. Go, I can see it in your eyes that you wanted to follow them. Summon me if necessary. I'm going to look around for a house for us,” Hitori grinned and gave him a peck on his cheeks before she disappeared in a ball of flame. Hikari chuckled at her antics. He could always trust her to back him up in need and encourage him if he felt down. How he loved the old bird. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hikari arrived at the scene and stood next to Gai-Sensei who was ready to fight. Kakashi-sensei was knocked out, all the more reason for his presence to be valid there. He must assist the Jounins. The Jounins, however, was startled by his carelessness.

”What're you doing here, Hikari-kun?!” Asuma-sensei was angered by his presence. He thought that Hikari-kun would endanger himself.

”Don't worry Asuma, he can hold his own. He's your father's student, trust in him,” Kakashi-sensei croaked. ”Careful Hikari, he has the Mangekyou Sharingan, don't look in his eyes.”

”Sit back and rest, sensei. I'll be fine,” Hikari clipped. His hand tore off his headband before he went into his stance, ready to attack and looked at the two enemies in the eyes directly.