Chapter 16
It was relatively a calm morning, apart from the constant ruckus that arose from the tiny hut on the snowy mountain. Hitori was hastily packing her things to move in with Hikari at Konoha. Things would have been done well if she had done it beforehand last night but, being lovers as they are, their shenanigans last night wouldn't be of much help. Hikari, on the other hand, stood outside of the house, staring aimlessly on the falling snow. He was distracted since the day before but on that morning, it was worst. His face was of concern.
"Hikari-kun?" Hitori called for him as she peeked out of the doors. The boy wouldn't budge. She narrowed her eyes and made her way out of the house, concerned. She noticed that he was worse than before. When she arrived in front of him, his eyes didn't even catch her yet. It's like the light in his eyes had faded. She reached for his face and when she touched his cheeks, he immediately woke up from his trance.
"Oh, hey! Are you ready?" Hikari said and smiled at her. She didn't answer as she looked deeply into his eyes. After a while, she nodded.
"Something is not right is it?" she finally asked.
"Yeah, I felt a little off for a few days. It's like something bad is going to happen," he murmured as he reached for her hands that were on his cheeks. But instead, she let go and disappeared to a few meters from him. She glowed brightly and the snow around her began to sizzle. The glow became brighter and larger and when she was finished, she was in her Phoenix form.
"Get on, we need to get you there now. I can always get my stuff later," Hitori's voice was looming all over the mountain. Her tone was not to be messed with so he hopped on her back. She opened her wings and with one swift stroke, they were airborne.
Hikari was yelling all of the time. Her speed was not something he was used to and that is saying something.
"Hitori-san!! It's too fast!!!" he yelled as he gripped her fur hard. She suddenly made a dive and the speed was getting faster and faster. When they were a few shy meters from the bottom of the mountain, she stopped, flapping her wings and pitched up to level out the flight.
"Well that's one way to go down a mountain," she giggled. "Are you alright, Hikari-kun?"
A paler than usual Hikari was hugging the bird's back for dear life. He slowly raised his head and croaked.
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Ehhhh? Forgive me, dear. I should have warned you beforehand. But I am worried about you so we should head to Konoha as fast as we can," she reasoned. Hikari didn't say anything in return because he felt like he was going to barf something out and he held it in.
"I don't know if you wanted to hear this. One of my ninshu is the interplanetary travel," she suddenly said and Hikari immediately swallowed his throat. "Before you asked me anything; yes, I taught her the principle behind the technique but the one she developed ended up being another thing entirely. My ninshu can only connect point A to point B through a portal but hers was intricate enough to manipulate time and s.p.a.ce continuum. That would explain how you can be sent to the future. Regardless, it was one h.e.l.l of a complicated ninshu to do."
"I know that it's a piece of disturbing news. I only said it to distract you for puking on my fur. Given that it did work. I am glad," she continued.
"Actually, it answered some questions in my mind apparently. That solved the mystery of how do you both breathed in outer s.p.a.ce and got here so fast. My mother said that she arrived through a door. It seemed ridiculous at the time," he chuckled while she laughed along with him.
"Well, she isn't wrong. When we arrived at this system through my portal and she landed on earth alone and on my request, I stayed at the edge of the system to watch over the planet," Hitori explained. There were a few moments of silence between them before they continue.
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"Thank you for distracting me, love. But right now, I am feeling the same thing as the day I lost her," Hikari finally said. There weren't many words exchanged between them during the flight. She said that they would arrive in a few hours and advised him to take a rest for the time being.
A few hours later, Hikari suddenly rose from his slumber. He felt multiple chakra source fluctuates in front of them. Hitori was subtly increasing her pace.
"Is it?" Hikari managed to mumble.
"Yes, it is, Konoha is under attack. Quick, get into the sage mode! The enemy is not to be taken lightly," she barked as she flapped her wings hard. Hikari shut his eyes and began to acc.u.mulate nature energy. She was at the moment at her fastest speed and still, they were quite a distance away from the village. When they arrived at Konoha, she circled around the village to a.s.sess the situation.
"Multiple fights have broken out. There is a large three-headed snake wrecking havoc around the village and the civilians are in danger," she said. Hikari activated his Byakugan as soon as he was in the sage mode. He then saw the true extent of the battle, an invasion of Suna and Oto ninjas. His sensei, the Hokage was fighting someone inside a barrier. The Jounins was fighting Suna and Oto invaders. In a distance, his teammates were chasing someone and when he saw the person's chakra, it was Gaara's and he was chased by Sasuke and Naruto was catching up to the two. What intrigued him the most was both sides were feeling a tad nervous to see a giant flying phoenix on top of the sky. He took out his headband and tied it upon his forehead.
"Hitori-san, go for the barrier first," he asked and she obliged. She dived down and landed on top of a roof next to the barrier. There was a pair of Konoha Anbu monitoring the fight between his sensei and the stranger. All of them
"One of yours, I presume?" Sarutobi-sensei asked the man he was fighting against. The man rose his eyebrows.
"I thought it was yours," the man said, "sensei."
Hikari suddenly appeared next to the ANBU while stretching his arms. The ANBU breathed a sigh of relief. Hikari's red, saged eyes were piercing through the man inside the barrier. The chakra and aura emitted from the man was pure evil.
"I left for a few weeks and this is what happens, sensei?" Hikari monotonously said. The man raised his eyebrows and turned at the Hokage and he was chuckling.
"One could never a.s.sume these things to happen. Well, Hikari-kun, meet my former student, Orochimaru," the Hokage said. Hikari was immediately glaring at the man.
"Am I right to a.s.sume that he is behind all this?" he asked. "Why didn't you beat him to a pulp yet?"
Orochimaru was laughing haughtily at the events that had unfolded in front of him.
"You still take students at your age, Sarutobi-sensei?" he said. "Brat, I imagined that he pa.s.sed down his weak notion of the will of fire to you. Tell me, how is it working for you right now?"
The Hokage didn't say anything but suddenly the bird breathed fire on the barrier. It was intense but no damage could be seen on it. Hitori then reverted back to her human form and appeared next to Hikari.
"The barrier, it's impenetrable. Plus, it..." Hitori concluded.
"It kills whoever that touched it," the ANBU commander gritted, "we're stuck outside, Hikari-kun."
"Go and help the civilians, Hikari-kun. You're the only one fast enough," the Hokage requested. What he had asked for was immensely logical and productive. The boy nodded and turned away from the barrier.
"You better win, Sensei," Hikari said as he swallowed his unnerving uneasiness. "Be ready at all times to intervene, ANBU-Nisan. Let's go, Hitori-san."
Both of them suddenly flickered away from the rooftop in a ball of flames and appeared around the gigantic snake. It was easily the largest snake he had ever seen and three-headed too. The elite jounins of Torture and Investigation that was fighting it were having a hard time.
"Sandaime-sama's student? You look different," a man clad in black suddenly appeared next to the boy. Hikari recognized him from the round trips he had done with Sarutobi-Sensei.
"Morino-san, is it? It's my sage form. Where must we evacuate the civilians? Sensei requested me to help with the evacuation," Hikari answered.
"The shelter is at the peak of the Hokage mountain. We're counting on you," the head of TNI simply said. Hikari had always known him to be a man of few words and if the eyes of a man who had seen it all doesn't tell anyone of what he was capable of, he didn't know what can.
"Let's go," Hikari said to his lover and they immediately disappeared. With that, one by one, the civilians were hastily being shuns.h.i.+nned or flown to safety. In the end, their involvement had significantly reduced the casualty rate. A few minutes afterwards, they returned to the snake and waited for no one before the began their a.s.sault.
"Senpou; Hitori no Jutsu!" Hitori yelled and a firebird burst out of her hands. Hikari was whirling some hand signs at lightning speed and then he brought his hands to his mouth.
"Senpou, Karyu Endan!" He yelled and with that, a few large fire dragons grew from his breath headed towards the target and then, the snake was engulfed in flames. The heat was too intense as the ninja had to retreat a bit. When the flames had gone, all that was left was a charred snake.
"As expected, remarkable," Morino-san said.
However, Hikari was taken aback by something else, he felt that Sarutobi-sensei's chakra was fading. He panicked. Hitori was going to comfort him but the presumed charred snake was moving again so suddenly, the thing was shedding skin.
"We can't handle this," Morino-san said. Suddenly, a giant toad landed on top of the snake.
"Ninpou Kuchiyose; Yatai Kuzus.h.i.+ no Jutsu!" a man yelled from the top of the toad.
"This jutsu, it's...!!" Morino-san was shocked.
"Long time no see, eh, Ibiki?" the white-haired man said. "geez, is your body the only thing that grew up!? I just can't withstand to watch you, eh!"
"Jiraiysama," Morino-san managed. Hikari breathed a sigh of relief. This was the long-awaited Jiraiya, the student of Sandaime-sama. With him here, it is safe to say that the snake is done for. But that words were shattered with the way he theatrically introduced himself. A sweat dropped off Hikari's forehead.
"This weird man is my senior?!" he mumbled desperately. "I am starting to think that everyone here is either clinically insane or just morons."
Hitori was giggling at Hikari's desperation. She thought that it was funny. Morino-san suddenly jumped on top of the toad and both of them decided to follow him.
"Where's the Sandaime?" Jiraiya seriously asked.
"He's at the test arena!" Morino-san said. The renowned toad sage was silent for a moment and he noticed something before he turned to face Hikari.
"That was a fine Sage art, Hikari-kun. I am your Senpai!" the toad sage grinned widely akin to what Naruto had always done. "And who is this lovely Miss?"
Hikari rubbed the back of his head and grinned back. Hitori was hiding behind Hikari when she noticed that someone is paying attention to her.
"So Sarutobi-sensei had told you everything," Hikari said and he was considering whether or not to tell him who Hitori was. "This woman is my fiancé, the phoenix sage, Hitori-san."
It was Jiraiya's turn to be taken aback, he knew of the tale of the Phoenix Sage of course and he went hiding behind Morino-san's back trembling in fear. No doubt that the toads had told them stories about the Phoenix Sage and most definitely, none of them was good. A sweat visibly dropped from Morino-san's forehead. Jiraiya then peeked out and looking in glee.
"Fiancé huh? That young?" Jiraiya jokingly said. Hikari couldn't help but laugh at him but then he winced hardly and Hitori was back in her cold demeanour. No doubt, she was keeping her facade and pinching him hard.
"Mock me, one more time and I will toast you and your frog," she monotonously said but the way she was engulfed in fire told them that she shouldn't be messed with. Jiraiya and Hitori were bickering back and forth when the dreaded happens. Hikari froze in his stance. The worst thing that could happen had really did occurred apparently. The second Hitori noticed him, they both disappeared in a ball of flames and went back to the arena.
"No," Hikari whispered as he stood next to the aftermath of the fight that he had previously walked away. The uneasiness feeling was long gone by now but another thing had crept up and wrenched his heart. He was trembling, unsure of what to do. His hand was reaching for his blade, he wanted to deflect the pain he was experiencing but Hitori immediately hugged him from behind locking his hands.
"It's okay. It's okay to cry," she coaxed and naturally, Hikari conceded as tears fell from his eyes as he fell sitting down on the roof tiles with a gut-wrenching wail. One by one, ninjas were gathering around them, mourning. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei went ahead and rustled Hikari's hair. His eyes, all of their eyes were filled with sadness and loss of their patriarchal figure. Jiraiya was also in tears on the other side of Hikari and Hitori. Rain poured down Konoha the instant that the Hokage was confirmed killed in action by the medic ninja.
As soon as medic ninjas and TNI ninjas took over the scene, all of the injured were isolated and treated and the casualties were gathered and placed at the morgue for their relatives to claim them. Meanwhile, Hikari and Hitori were meeting with Hias.h.i.+-sama at the Hyuuga compound.
"I was sent away for an above S-Cla.s.s mission by Sarutobi-Sensei. Sorry for not informing you ahead of time," Hikari rose from his bow in front of Hias.h.i.+-sama. The boy's eyes were still wet from the tears. Hias.h.i.+ was silent as he also shared the same grief with Hikari, the whole village was sharing the feeling.
"It's okay, he had informed me so a few weeks ago. Welcome home, Hikari and who is the girl you brought in with you?" Hias.h.i.+ asked.
"She is my mission and I was promised to her by my family. So, she technically is my fiancé," Hikari said. Hitori bowed at him and introduced herself.
"Welcome then, Hitori," Hias.h.i.+ said. The man acknowledged her strength as he knew that she fought alongside Hikari during the invasion and to disrespect her would be unwise. "By the way, what happen to your Byakugan, Hikari?"
"Oh? It's my sage mode." Hikari closed his eyes and the lines on his face dissipated and his stress level was reduced greatly. Hitori breathed a sigh of relief as being in sage mode enhances Hikari's empathy and that's why he was severely affected by Sandaime's death. He was feeling it with everybody.
"Go on inside, clean yourself and take a rest. Dinner will be done soon. I have to go to the Hokage Tower for some business," Hias.h.i.+ said when he felt that there will be nothing more he could get out of Hikari. He pitied the boy as Hikari had built a certain kind of respect towards the late Hokage and to some extent, love. Hitori commendably stood beside Hikari throughout the day. She had bathed and also dressed him all by herself in his room as the boy was still in mourning. She hugged him tightly when the boy's tears were falling.
"I'm sorry, I'll be fine. I'll just have to go through with this," he croaked and then he kissed her hair. Hikari continued to cry until he was satisfied and all that was left were sobbing.
"Pardon me, Hikari-Nisan, Hitori-Neesama. Dinner is ready and Tou-sama is waiting," Hinata called while she was sitting on her knees outside of the room, waiting for the right moment. Apparently, the door wasn't locked it seems. The lovebirds hastily stood up from their reverie.
"Oh, Hinata, meet my fiancé, Hitori-san. Hitori-san, this is my sister, Hyuuga Hinata," Hikari said as he smiled widely and Hinata bowed at them.
"Pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the family," she said but she was surprised by Hitori was hugging her hard.
"Thank you for taking care of him so well. Let's be best sisters, okay?!" Hitori said enthusiastically. She already liked Hinata so much.
"O...o...okay," Hinata's face was profusely red as..h.i.tori hold her hand and pulled her to the dining room of which she didn't know where. Hikari could only chuckle at his two favourite people in his new life.
At the dining room, however, Hitori was keeping her strict facade in the presence of Hias.h.i.+. It was probably in respect to Hikari.
"Ne, Oni-chan, is..h.i.tori-Neetan bipolar? I saw that she was different at your bedroom meeting nee-chan," Hanabi whispered at Hikari.
"I think so too," he whispered back. Then he winced because once again, Hitori pinched him too hard. They all managed to have a good laugh despite what had transpired today.