"But, but-" My mother kept shooting worried glances over her shoulders back at me even as my father led her further away as if I would suddenly go on a killing spree the moment she took her eyes off me.
No seriously, what the hell Mom?
...
"Please, trust me in this." My father spoke with a softness that he rarely ever displayed to anyone else, even as he gently if firmly, led her towards Naruto, who had at this point managed to reach the gates only to find them firmly shut.
"I know he is your son as much as mine but I am both a Jounin and the Head of this clan. In matters concerning the shinobi, I know best. Go look after Naruto instead and make sure she's ready, we both know she needs you the most. Leave Hikaru to me, I know what to say to him. I'll make sure he's head is in the right place, I promise." Hiashi gave my mother a gentle push forward and waved her off.
"Well," She wavered, shooting me a couple of more hesitant glances before catching sight of Naruto who, unaware that she had been noticed, was trying to silently pry the gates open. "I suppose you're right."
As second later Naruto broke out into a beaming grin as she finally managed to crack the gates open wide enough for her to slip through, only to yelp when she found herself tackled-hugged by my mother before she had the chance to so much as take a single step.
For someone with no shinobi training, that woman could move fast.
"Don't listen to your mother," Hiashi calmly assured me when he returned to my side, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "She means well, truly, she does, but ultimately she is not a shinobi. She is a civilian. Almost everything she knows of what we do comes from gossip and stories."
Oh. Oh! That... did make a lot of sense actually.
A lot of shinobi stories always involved either war or assassination or something of the sort. No one ever tells stories about the boring parts of the job, like weeks of guard duty or D-ranks missions, just the adventures. I guess if you grew up hearing those stories it must have seemed that every mission was a thrilling life or death battle with the fate of the nation at stake as if our lives were some kind of overblown action flick.
It wasn't much of a stretch for my mom to convince herself that me going on a B ranked mission meant that I'd end up having to take a life to successfully complete it.
I suddenly felt a lot better about what happened.
Then my father had to go and ruin it.
"Just…" Hiashi briefly glanced around before leaning down and whispered into my ear. "when you do kill someone, and I'm not saying that you will, please make sure to hide the body afterwards. Alright?"
I couldn't do anything but stand there as he gave me a couple of warm pats on my shoulder before walking away to join my mother, leaving me to stare at his back with abject shock.
What the hell did my parents think of me?
No, seriously! What the hell guys! I know I could hardly be considered to be the most normal child in the world but still, this was insulting.
What was worst, I wasn't even sure what to feel more offended over; my mother's belief that I'd definitely end up murdering someone the first chance I got or my father's insinuation that I would be stupid enough to leave evidence behind.
What did I look like, some kind of idiot?
It's been over four years since I last murdered someone and they still haven't found the body.
...
"Hey, Hikaru."
"Yeah?" I glanced to my side towards Naruto, whose brows were furrowed in thought.
We were making our way down one of the main streets to the village's main gates, where we're supposed to meet up with the rest of the team and the client. As far as I could tell we were the only ones up and about, the early hour meant that the usual crowds were still fast asleep.
This left the wide-open street feeling oddly empty, an almost deserted feel to it. As if we were the only ones left in the world. With the street wide enough to hold a dozen people walking side by side without room to spare, it felt so vast with just the two of us.
Despite all the room available, Naruto stuck close to my side. Her left hand held my right as we made our way to the gates, having taken hold of it almost as soon as we left the compound. I honestly barely even noticed it anymore, having gotten used to her unique brand of physical affection and complete disregard to personal space. At this point, it would have felt odder for Naruto not to cling onto me whenever she was nearby than not.
"It's just," she turned to look at me, her cerulean blue eyes shining in the early morning light, "have you been talking to Ino?"
"Ino?" I blinked, surprised by the question, before nodding. "Well, yeah. I saw her a couple of days ago when I was out delivering packages, but we only ended up talking for a couple of minutes."
I had to fight to suppress the smirk that threatened to appear. Just the memory of Ino's thoroughly red face as she stuttered in embarrassment invoked an urge to break down in cackling laughter.
Shaking my head I carried on.
"But we haven't talked about anything important." Other than teasing material of course but I didn't think she would bring it herself. I quirked an eyebrow at Naruto. "Why? Did she do anything about me?"
"No, nothing like that." My blonde friend shook her head before putting on a thoughtful looking. "It's just, the last time I ran into her she was acting weird."
"Weird?" I asked, "How weird?"
"Like, really weird." She said in a way of reply, nodding firmly as if that answered anything.
I sighed. "You're going to have to clarify a bit more than that."
"Well~," Naruto ran a hand through her hair, "You know how Ino loves to gossip?"
I snorted. Did I ever.
"Well, I ran into her at the market about a week ago, and this time she was, uh, kinda quiet, silent and so…"
"So un-Ino?" I supplied when she drifted off.
"Yeah!" She nodded, "That! She was so un-Ino that I had trouble believing she was Ino. Anyway, after just standing there awkwardly for a while it looked like she made up her mind or something because she seemed to pull herself together, dragged me aside to one corner and asked me about my mom."
That drew me up short, "Wait, she did?"
"Yeah, I know right?" Naruto nodded, sending her hair swaying, before gaining a doubtful look. "Or at least I think she did anyway. She asked if you and I went to see a redhead a few days ago."
Suddenly, I knew exactly where this was going.
"So I asked her how did she know the colour of her hair but instead of answering me, Ino just went really, really still before mumbling 'did you have a good time together?'"
I was right. It was even more glorious than I thought would be. Thankfully Naruto didn't seem to notice my amusement as she continued on speaking.
"So I told her 'that's kind of private, don't you think?'" Naruto made a face, "Then she turned all red and stuff before walking away, muttering something about Icha speaks the truth." Her frown deepened further before she turned her blue eyes towards me. "Hikaru, who the hell is Icha and what has he been saying about my mom and us?"
I just couldn't hold it anymore.
After that, Naruto spent the rest of the way to the gate asking me just what was so funny.
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