Hi all, I'm back from the holiday!:D Thx so much for those who read and commented, it really let's me know that BW is being read and liked! ^_^ Now, in this chappie Hikari meets Hinata and Sakura! Let the kusoma begin!!!
Ch. 3: Bloodlines and Dreams
A week had passed and Naruto and Hikari were always eager for each school day. Either Naruto would go to Hikari's house so they could walk together, au Hikari would go to Naruto's house and they would walk together from there — just whoever woke up and got ready first. Sometimes they would meet each other half-way and then laugh about it as they ran to the Academy.
Their friends: Shikamaru, Choji, Akamaru, Kiba, and now Shino, would hang out together. Hikari had been impressed when Shino began to hang around her and Naruto — Naruto had accepted Shino as long as his bugs stayed away from his ramen, and then the rest of the boys accepted Shino as well, not being really afraid of his creepy crawlers though Shino rarely talked. They mainly stayed in a group when Iruka-sensei took them out to do some ninja training au they went somewhere outside the academy.
Today, they would be on the Academy's training ground, learning how to throw shuriken the right way and hit some moving targets — Iruka clones.
Many had already went up, and now it was Hinata Hyuga's turn, the shyest girl that Hikari hadn't really spoken to yet. Hikari watched her as she focused hard — harder than the rest of the kids that had went up previously.
She threw a series of shuriken and they hit two of the five Iruka clones. Hikari brightened up that she nailed two of them so quickly and looked around at the other kids only to realize that none of them were even paying attention to the Hyuga girl. This puzzled Hikari, didn't she have any Marafiki to praise her for what she done?
Looking back at Hinata, she saw that her face was downcast as if she were upset au disappointed in herself . . . which further puzzled Hikari. It took Naruto forever to manage to hit one . . .
And then it hit Hikari. Hinata was a Hyuga — one of the most royal and powerful clans of the Hidden Leaf Village. They had been learning about their history in class, finding out that they had a true genius in their mwaka — Sasuke of the most powerful clan in the village, the Uchiha's. And then the other one from a powerful bloodline was Hinata. Hikari had looked into it zaidi and realized that in big, dominant clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga, the clan leaders expect zaidi from their heirs. Hinata's cousin, Neji Hyuga, who's a mwaka above them, is seemingly the zaidi gifted one out of the two and thus pressure is put on Hinata to try and not fail in the eyes of her father.
Concern for the girl that she had never directly spoken to before began to strike through Hikari, and she suddenly found herself driven to be a good friend to her from now on.
Putting a bright smile on her face, she called out to the girl. "Great job Hinata! That was awesome! Do it again!" she yelled encouragingly, capturing everyone's attention.
Hinata's unique pearl eyes were wide and glistening in pure shock as she looked back at Hikari.
Naruto gazed at Hikari and then at Hinata with a questioning face while everyone was shocked kwa the sudden outburst and was staring wide-eyed at Hikari but she remained oblivious. Iruka smiled, looking up from his clipboard that contained the grades each student was performing.
"So what's up, Hikari?" Naruto asked from beside her.
Hikari continued smiling and nodded toward Hinata. "She just hit two of Iruka-sensei's clones like it was nothing, and on her first try too!" she deliberately alisema in a loud voice so Hinata would hear her too.
Naruto was rather impressed kwa this, but caught on to what Hikari was doing and got a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. "Whoa — you're kidding! That's amazing!" he exclaimed, both he and Hikari turning to face the white-with-shock Hinata.
All eyes were on her now and she immediately started blushing madly. Iruka saw this and looked at her with a smile.
"Well, Hinata?" he urged in a soft voice and she snapped out of her flustered state.
"Uh, yes, of course!" she quickly spoke and turned around, gaining a mysterious confidence she didn't know existed as she thought about what Hikari alisema . . . The first time anyone has ever encouraged her like that.
She nodded to herself and began focusing on the last three clones. Driven as she was, a tiny hint of her Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, showed deep within her pupil-less eyes.
Focus! she screamed at herself as she threw three shuriken at the last remaining clones. The spinning stars hit squarely on with the moving Iruka's, causing them to disappear as Hinata's shuriken engraved themselves into the mti where other shuriken lay.
Hinata stood back from her hunched over form and breathed deeply, visibly relaxing. Then her classmates began cheering behind her, surprised, she turned around to see that they were all watching her, all cheering at what she had done, with Hikari in the lead. For one mgawanyiko, baidisha second, the Hyuga heir didn't feel like such a disappointment, a failure.
And that's when she smiled brightly.
Iruka nodded, pleased with her results. "Great job, Hinata. wewe can go take a break," he told her.
"Okay!" she said, happiness lacing her voice that took the shy stammer-ness away. She quickly ran away, and to the group that had been cheering her on the most, the one that Hikari and Naruto belonged with.
"You were amazing out there!" Hikari complimented with a big smile.
"Yeah, wewe were all like whoosh and then —" And Naruto began elaborating everything in a hyper-active way.
For the rest of the period, the small group of kids talked, watched, and cheered each other on as they each went up to practice throwing shuriken. Hikari had done well, almost as well as Hinata, and she spent the rest of the saa telling Naruto she would help him train and get better at it since he seemed a bit disgruntled after Kiba teased him that two girls did better than him.
After shuriken practice, it was lunch break and Hikari and Hinata went in to get the lunches while the boys tried to find a decent spot to eat. On their way out, Hinata slowed to a stop and Hikari stopped, coming up beside her questioningly.
"Hikari . . . th-thank wewe f-for ch-cheering me on before . . ." Hinata alisema quietly, looking down.
"Well someone had to," Hikari smiled warmly, inviting the girl to open up.
Hinata nodded, not knowing what to say and Hikari pulled out some confidence.
"Hey," she said, holding out her hand and Hinata stared at her, confused. "We haven't really officially met yet, have we? I'm Hikari Kyoko." She smiled, and Hinata noticed the stunning glow of light around her before smiling too and shaking her hand.
"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga," she alisema before they let go.
"Let's find those boys so we can eat!" Hikari alisema and Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Right!" And together they found their group sitting under a shady tree.
"Finally! I'm staarving!" Choji whined, patting his stomach with a frown on his face.
Hikari gave him a comforting smile as her and Hinata sat down with the food. Hikari noticed that Shino was already sitting with the group and she smiled to herself that all of her Marafiki were together.
She mainly talked with Naruto, Kiba, and Choji since they were the most talkative of the group — Shikamaru immediately began relaxing right after he ate and even started snoozing lightly. Shino remained quiet, studying his bugs and Hikari often involved Hinata in their conversations enough that the guys grew to like the quiet girl and cherish her as a friend like Hikari.
When they packed up their lunch and headed inside, Hikari walked with Hinata while all of the boys walked in front of them.
"Wow, your um, fr-friends are n-nice H-Hikari . . ." Hinata said, still a bit shy.
"They're your Marafiki too," Hikari told her with a smile and Hinata seemed to brighten up at that fact.
Friends . . . Hinata thought contently to herself, liking that feeling of companionship.
Together they all went back to their classroom for zaidi lessons before school ended. Naruto began whispering to Hikari in the middle of the lesson.
"Pssst, hujambo Hikari!" Naruto alisema in a somewhat loud whisper but no one could hear him because they were in the very back.
"Huh? What is it Naruto?" Hikari quietly whispered back, both of them having one hand up to cover their mouths so no one would be able to tell what they were saying kwa looking at them.
"Well, uh, please don't be mad but I was going to go hang out with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba after school today. They say its guys only so I couldn't bring wewe no matter how much I pleaded!" he alisema with a guilty expression.
Hikari thought it over. So this means I'll be alone after school . . . she thought sadly to herself, and Naruto could sense her train of thought.
"Hey, I don't care what they say! I'll bring wewe along anyway! Believe it!" Naruto told her, not wanting her to be hurt. But Hikari knew that this was important for Naruto, hanging out with new Marafiki could help him better than she ever could.
"No, it's okay. I'll find something better to do, maybe hang out with Hinata some zaidi — wewe go and have fun!" she told him with a smile, and Naruto studied her for a moment, trying to see if there was any hint of sadness.
Finding none, he mirrored her smile with a grin of his own. "Thanks, you're the best Hikari!"
They both began giggling to themselves, not paying attention to how loud they were getting.
Iruka loudly cleared his throat, catching the two giggling children's attention. "Is there something wewe would like to share? Naruto? Hikari?" he asked them, and they both flushed, Naruto laughing to himself and Hikari scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.
~ * ~ * ~ *
School was over and Naruto had already left with Kiba and the rest, her waving them off and telling Naruto it was fine, and them telling her that she could come inayofuata time.
Sighing, she looked around and saw Hinata, but she was just leaving with her father. She saw them leave quietly, almost without a word, and Hikari found herself at a loss on what to do for the time being.
"Jeez, wewe have such a giant forehead billboard brow!" A girl teased harshly in a loud voice, causing Hikari to overhear a group of girls ganging up on something.
Confused as to what they were doing, Hikari walked up closer to them. And then she saw that a gang of girls were cornering the pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno.
And Sakura was . . . crying. The brutal verbal assaults coming from the mean girls triggered something inside Hikari, she didn't like how they were ganging up on the defenseless girl like that. It reminded her of her past, something she didn't like to think about, especially when Naruto wasn't with her — he was always her rock, as long as he was near, she knew she would always be safe.
"How could wewe ever think wewe would make it as a ninja with that big forehead of yours always gettin' in the way?" Came a snooty remark from one of the girls, and she alisema this while pointing at Sakura's forehead and Sakura shrunk back in embarrassment and tears.
"Stop that right now!" Hikari found herself yelling, face set in a scowl to onyesha her disapproval of their actions toward the innocent girl.
She stepped right in between them and the teary-eyed girl, her arms outstretched from her, effectively blocking their way.
Sakura stopped shaking and crying for a moment to look up in shock at the snow-white haired girl who was defending her. The gang of girls were equally shocked kwa her sudden intrusion before they began frowning at Hikari.
"That's that girl my parents told me to stay away from," One of the girls whispered to the one in front.
"Fine. Whatever." She alisema out loud, turning to leave with the rest of them following her.
Hikari watched them leave, the defiant look still on her face until she heard Sakura sobbing behind her.
"Hey, are wewe okay? They didn't hurt wewe did they?" Hikari asked her softly, her face concerned as she knelled down in front of the girl and placed her hands on the sobbing girl's shoulders in an act to calm her down.
Sakura couldn't believe it. Someone had actually stood up for her. Her! The one that they make fun of because of her extra-large forehead. And it was none other than the girl who had drawn everyone's attention today kwa encouraging the shy girl, Hinata, during shuriken practice.
She looked up at the girl, Hikari.
"There now, wewe see? Everything's going to be all right!" Hikari told her with a bright smile, her positive glow beaming and it stunned Sakura out of speaking for a few moments.
What is this girl? Why is there a light around her? Sakura thought to herself before regaining her composure and looking down. "Uh . . . thank you, Hikari. For helping me." She alisema in a soft whisper.
Hikari's eyes slightly widened. "You know my name?" she asked, astounded that someone remembered her name, the outcast.
Sakura looked up at her with big, green innocent eyes. "Of course I do, your the one who's so nice to everyone."
Those words echoed in Hikari's heart, and she almost let herself cry. To anyone else, those words would but have little meaning, but to someone who was branded their entire seven years of life as a freak au monster, it had a special meaning. It meant someone had noticed her, someone besides Naruto, her best friend. She briefly wondered if this is what Naruto felt when Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba asked him to hang out with them. This sense of zaidi friendship . . . of acceptance.
"Hey what's wrong? Did I say something . . . ?" Sakura questioned, seeing how Hikari was on the verge of tears.
Hikari then smiled the tears away. "Thank you, Sakura."
Hikari helped Sakura up and they stood in the empty academy schoolyard.
"If those kids bully wewe again, just stand up for yourself — you're ten times better than them!" Hikari told her, she didn't like bullies, and she wanted to help Sakura.
"Th-Thank you, I'll try," Sakura said, nodding to herself.
Hikari smiled. "Good. Well, see ya later!" she sung in her high soprano voice, running and waving bye to the girl.
Sakura waved back, a smile on her face too.
Ch. 3: Bloodlines and Dreams
A week had passed and Naruto and Hikari were always eager for each school day. Either Naruto would go to Hikari's house so they could walk together, au Hikari would go to Naruto's house and they would walk together from there — just whoever woke up and got ready first. Sometimes they would meet each other half-way and then laugh about it as they ran to the Academy.
Their friends: Shikamaru, Choji, Akamaru, Kiba, and now Shino, would hang out together. Hikari had been impressed when Shino began to hang around her and Naruto — Naruto had accepted Shino as long as his bugs stayed away from his ramen, and then the rest of the boys accepted Shino as well, not being really afraid of his creepy crawlers though Shino rarely talked. They mainly stayed in a group when Iruka-sensei took them out to do some ninja training au they went somewhere outside the academy.
Today, they would be on the Academy's training ground, learning how to throw shuriken the right way and hit some moving targets — Iruka clones.
Many had already went up, and now it was Hinata Hyuga's turn, the shyest girl that Hikari hadn't really spoken to yet. Hikari watched her as she focused hard — harder than the rest of the kids that had went up previously.
She threw a series of shuriken and they hit two of the five Iruka clones. Hikari brightened up that she nailed two of them so quickly and looked around at the other kids only to realize that none of them were even paying attention to the Hyuga girl. This puzzled Hikari, didn't she have any Marafiki to praise her for what she done?
Looking back at Hinata, she saw that her face was downcast as if she were upset au disappointed in herself . . . which further puzzled Hikari. It took Naruto forever to manage to hit one . . .
And then it hit Hikari. Hinata was a Hyuga — one of the most royal and powerful clans of the Hidden Leaf Village. They had been learning about their history in class, finding out that they had a true genius in their mwaka — Sasuke of the most powerful clan in the village, the Uchiha's. And then the other one from a powerful bloodline was Hinata. Hikari had looked into it zaidi and realized that in big, dominant clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga, the clan leaders expect zaidi from their heirs. Hinata's cousin, Neji Hyuga, who's a mwaka above them, is seemingly the zaidi gifted one out of the two and thus pressure is put on Hinata to try and not fail in the eyes of her father.
Concern for the girl that she had never directly spoken to before began to strike through Hikari, and she suddenly found herself driven to be a good friend to her from now on.
Putting a bright smile on her face, she called out to the girl. "Great job Hinata! That was awesome! Do it again!" she yelled encouragingly, capturing everyone's attention.
Hinata's unique pearl eyes were wide and glistening in pure shock as she looked back at Hikari.
Naruto gazed at Hikari and then at Hinata with a questioning face while everyone was shocked kwa the sudden outburst and was staring wide-eyed at Hikari but she remained oblivious. Iruka smiled, looking up from his clipboard that contained the grades each student was performing.
"So what's up, Hikari?" Naruto asked from beside her.
Hikari continued smiling and nodded toward Hinata. "She just hit two of Iruka-sensei's clones like it was nothing, and on her first try too!" she deliberately alisema in a loud voice so Hinata would hear her too.
Naruto was rather impressed kwa this, but caught on to what Hikari was doing and got a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. "Whoa — you're kidding! That's amazing!" he exclaimed, both he and Hikari turning to face the white-with-shock Hinata.
All eyes were on her now and she immediately started blushing madly. Iruka saw this and looked at her with a smile.
"Well, Hinata?" he urged in a soft voice and she snapped out of her flustered state.
"Uh, yes, of course!" she quickly spoke and turned around, gaining a mysterious confidence she didn't know existed as she thought about what Hikari alisema . . . The first time anyone has ever encouraged her like that.
She nodded to herself and began focusing on the last three clones. Driven as she was, a tiny hint of her Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, showed deep within her pupil-less eyes.
Focus! she screamed at herself as she threw three shuriken at the last remaining clones. The spinning stars hit squarely on with the moving Iruka's, causing them to disappear as Hinata's shuriken engraved themselves into the mti where other shuriken lay.
Hinata stood back from her hunched over form and breathed deeply, visibly relaxing. Then her classmates began cheering behind her, surprised, she turned around to see that they were all watching her, all cheering at what she had done, with Hikari in the lead. For one mgawanyiko, baidisha second, the Hyuga heir didn't feel like such a disappointment, a failure.
And that's when she smiled brightly.
Iruka nodded, pleased with her results. "Great job, Hinata. wewe can go take a break," he told her.
"Okay!" she said, happiness lacing her voice that took the shy stammer-ness away. She quickly ran away, and to the group that had been cheering her on the most, the one that Hikari and Naruto belonged with.
"You were amazing out there!" Hikari complimented with a big smile.
"Yeah, wewe were all like whoosh and then —" And Naruto began elaborating everything in a hyper-active way.
For the rest of the period, the small group of kids talked, watched, and cheered each other on as they each went up to practice throwing shuriken. Hikari had done well, almost as well as Hinata, and she spent the rest of the saa telling Naruto she would help him train and get better at it since he seemed a bit disgruntled after Kiba teased him that two girls did better than him.
After shuriken practice, it was lunch break and Hikari and Hinata went in to get the lunches while the boys tried to find a decent spot to eat. On their way out, Hinata slowed to a stop and Hikari stopped, coming up beside her questioningly.
"Hikari . . . th-thank wewe f-for ch-cheering me on before . . ." Hinata alisema quietly, looking down.
"Well someone had to," Hikari smiled warmly, inviting the girl to open up.
Hinata nodded, not knowing what to say and Hikari pulled out some confidence.
"Hey," she said, holding out her hand and Hinata stared at her, confused. "We haven't really officially met yet, have we? I'm Hikari Kyoko." She smiled, and Hinata noticed the stunning glow of light around her before smiling too and shaking her hand.
"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga," she alisema before they let go.
"Let's find those boys so we can eat!" Hikari alisema and Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Right!" And together they found their group sitting under a shady tree.
"Finally! I'm staarving!" Choji whined, patting his stomach with a frown on his face.
Hikari gave him a comforting smile as her and Hinata sat down with the food. Hikari noticed that Shino was already sitting with the group and she smiled to herself that all of her Marafiki were together.
She mainly talked with Naruto, Kiba, and Choji since they were the most talkative of the group — Shikamaru immediately began relaxing right after he ate and even started snoozing lightly. Shino remained quiet, studying his bugs and Hikari often involved Hinata in their conversations enough that the guys grew to like the quiet girl and cherish her as a friend like Hikari.
When they packed up their lunch and headed inside, Hikari walked with Hinata while all of the boys walked in front of them.
"Wow, your um, fr-friends are n-nice H-Hikari . . ." Hinata said, still a bit shy.
"They're your Marafiki too," Hikari told her with a smile and Hinata seemed to brighten up at that fact.
Friends . . . Hinata thought contently to herself, liking that feeling of companionship.
Together they all went back to their classroom for zaidi lessons before school ended. Naruto began whispering to Hikari in the middle of the lesson.
"Pssst, hujambo Hikari!" Naruto alisema in a somewhat loud whisper but no one could hear him because they were in the very back.
"Huh? What is it Naruto?" Hikari quietly whispered back, both of them having one hand up to cover their mouths so no one would be able to tell what they were saying kwa looking at them.
"Well, uh, please don't be mad but I was going to go hang out with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba after school today. They say its guys only so I couldn't bring wewe no matter how much I pleaded!" he alisema with a guilty expression.
Hikari thought it over. So this means I'll be alone after school . . . she thought sadly to herself, and Naruto could sense her train of thought.
"Hey, I don't care what they say! I'll bring wewe along anyway! Believe it!" Naruto told her, not wanting her to be hurt. But Hikari knew that this was important for Naruto, hanging out with new Marafiki could help him better than she ever could.
"No, it's okay. I'll find something better to do, maybe hang out with Hinata some zaidi — wewe go and have fun!" she told him with a smile, and Naruto studied her for a moment, trying to see if there was any hint of sadness.
Finding none, he mirrored her smile with a grin of his own. "Thanks, you're the best Hikari!"
They both began giggling to themselves, not paying attention to how loud they were getting.
Iruka loudly cleared his throat, catching the two giggling children's attention. "Is there something wewe would like to share? Naruto? Hikari?" he asked them, and they both flushed, Naruto laughing to himself and Hikari scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.
~ * ~ * ~ *
School was over and Naruto had already left with Kiba and the rest, her waving them off and telling Naruto it was fine, and them telling her that she could come inayofuata time.
Sighing, she looked around and saw Hinata, but she was just leaving with her father. She saw them leave quietly, almost without a word, and Hikari found herself at a loss on what to do for the time being.
"Jeez, wewe have such a giant forehead billboard brow!" A girl teased harshly in a loud voice, causing Hikari to overhear a group of girls ganging up on something.
Confused as to what they were doing, Hikari walked up closer to them. And then she saw that a gang of girls were cornering the pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno.
And Sakura was . . . crying. The brutal verbal assaults coming from the mean girls triggered something inside Hikari, she didn't like how they were ganging up on the defenseless girl like that. It reminded her of her past, something she didn't like to think about, especially when Naruto wasn't with her — he was always her rock, as long as he was near, she knew she would always be safe.
"How could wewe ever think wewe would make it as a ninja with that big forehead of yours always gettin' in the way?" Came a snooty remark from one of the girls, and she alisema this while pointing at Sakura's forehead and Sakura shrunk back in embarrassment and tears.
"Stop that right now!" Hikari found herself yelling, face set in a scowl to onyesha her disapproval of their actions toward the innocent girl.
She stepped right in between them and the teary-eyed girl, her arms outstretched from her, effectively blocking their way.
Sakura stopped shaking and crying for a moment to look up in shock at the snow-white haired girl who was defending her. The gang of girls were equally shocked kwa her sudden intrusion before they began frowning at Hikari.
"That's that girl my parents told me to stay away from," One of the girls whispered to the one in front.
"Fine. Whatever." She alisema out loud, turning to leave with the rest of them following her.
Hikari watched them leave, the defiant look still on her face until she heard Sakura sobbing behind her.
"Hey, are wewe okay? They didn't hurt wewe did they?" Hikari asked her softly, her face concerned as she knelled down in front of the girl and placed her hands on the sobbing girl's shoulders in an act to calm her down.
Sakura couldn't believe it. Someone had actually stood up for her. Her! The one that they make fun of because of her extra-large forehead. And it was none other than the girl who had drawn everyone's attention today kwa encouraging the shy girl, Hinata, during shuriken practice.
She looked up at the girl, Hikari.
"There now, wewe see? Everything's going to be all right!" Hikari told her with a bright smile, her positive glow beaming and it stunned Sakura out of speaking for a few moments.
What is this girl? Why is there a light around her? Sakura thought to herself before regaining her composure and looking down. "Uh . . . thank you, Hikari. For helping me." She alisema in a soft whisper.
Hikari's eyes slightly widened. "You know my name?" she asked, astounded that someone remembered her name, the outcast.
Sakura looked up at her with big, green innocent eyes. "Of course I do, your the one who's so nice to everyone."
Those words echoed in Hikari's heart, and she almost let herself cry. To anyone else, those words would but have little meaning, but to someone who was branded their entire seven years of life as a freak au monster, it had a special meaning. It meant someone had noticed her, someone besides Naruto, her best friend. She briefly wondered if this is what Naruto felt when Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba asked him to hang out with them. This sense of zaidi friendship . . . of acceptance.
"Hey what's wrong? Did I say something . . . ?" Sakura questioned, seeing how Hikari was on the verge of tears.
Hikari then smiled the tears away. "Thank you, Sakura."
Hikari helped Sakura up and they stood in the empty academy schoolyard.
"If those kids bully wewe again, just stand up for yourself — you're ten times better than them!" Hikari told her, she didn't like bullies, and she wanted to help Sakura.
"Th-Thank you, I'll try," Sakura said, nodding to herself.
Hikari smiled. "Good. Well, see ya later!" she sung in her high soprano voice, running and waving bye to the girl.
Sakura waved back, a smile on her face too.