Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Art of the Angel ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

morning rays seeped through the thick woodland trees on to the grassy grounds. It looked so silent and peaceful in the area, and the fall colors gave it the autumn feel to it. The trees seemed to adorn the big, white wall ahead that was the wall to enter Konohagakure. It was a sign that the trip was over. Temari was looking at the wall like it was an idol. “Oh, I’m so glad that long trip was over. We’re finally at this place.” She said, putting down her giant fan that she carried with her occasionally, usually for battle. It could be a little tiring sometimes, to carry a big fan along with you, especially on hundreds of miles long trips. Kankuro laughed and smirked a bit, looking as well at the white structure ahead. “Yeah, well, this place brings back memories. We haven’t really been to stay here since the Chunnin exams.” Kankuro looked over his shoulder at his younger brother, Gaara, who was a little behind. “Remember that time?”

Gaara only stared at his brother with not much response, or even emotion. He didn’t really care that much about those times very much; it wasn’t something he pondered on. He would never forget some things like the fight with Naruto, and how he saved him. Along with the fights with Rock Lee and the Uchiha. He and his older brother and sister had to come to the village for reasons with Sasuke and things. There were going to be some discussion on how to retrieve him since he left to go follow Orochimaru long ago. All seemed to be hopeless now, for the Uchiha didn’t seem interested to return. He was too interested with the need of power. But this village didn’t want to give up on him. Gaara looked up the white wall ahead of him. With the morning light, the whiteness of the wall seemed to give a pure feeling to it. But that was eccentric to think such things of a lifeless wall, but the illusion given off the wall’s color in the morning, it seemed comforting. Gaara shook the unusual thoughts away as the front gate was opening for him and his older siblings to enter. He wasn’t even paying full attention to commotion around him.

Being the Kazekage, it was Gaara’s responsibility to keep Sunagakure safe and keep things in order. Konoha has been Suna’s ally, and Tsunade specifically asked if it was okay to come over to this village for a time being. Not only for discussion of what was to become… but for protection. Along with the Sound village, the Akatsuki were out and about. They were out for any Jinchuriki they could find. That included Naruto.. And him. There had been no disturbances for a while, but that didn’t exactly mean that was a good thing. It was possible that a big conspiracy was being planned. In spite of this, everything seemed to move a little deliberately. Working as the Kazekage did mean lots of things like paperwork and other things that were tiring and brought Gaara sometimes to a state of adnauseam. But working on such things kept him off of other thoughts in his mind… like the demon. Despite Naruto’s words that did change him, Shukaku still would not give up. He would try to persuade for what seemed to be endless hours convincing to go out and slaughter innocent souls. Gaara had become something the people looked up to and fell protected, even though they didn’t really show it all the time, and he couldn’t do such a thing. But sometimes he just did want to give in to those words, cause sometimes he did miss the old times. He enjoyed the violence, but it was wrong, and he felt he needed to fight it. It was an addiction he needed to overcome.

The sand siblings entered the main street of Konohagakure. It was the place where it seemed you could see a good outlook upon the village. The buildings were lined all beside each other, with the background of the mountain that had the monument of the four Hokages. People seemed to not be abundant this certain day, for it still may have been around breakfast time, or from the chilly air outside. Gaara didn’t really like the cold air so much. He was more used to the hot, dry weather in Suna, but it wasn’t going to drive him insane, he could live with this. Gaara saw some of the people he had seen in earlier missions and other things before as he passed through the streets. Temari had a plan of where to go in Konoha and was leaving it all to her. She said something of how that boy Shikimaru told some places to stay. In a matter of minutes, they had reached a place and got a room. It was a large room, it could practically pass for an apartment home. It was simple, and it had some couches in a living room with a television set, two bathrooms, a small kitchen, and three rooms. Temari seemed to be pretty proud with this hotel room. “These kinds of rooms are rare, and usually expensive, but I don’t have to pay as much as regularly priced!” Did it really matter?

After everything was packed, Temari said that for the time being, until any meetings are announced, they were officially under a small vacation. “I think we deserve one. It won’t be very long, but still good.” She explained. Kankuro had agreed with her. Gaara didn’t really seem to mind what happened, anything to keep him another minute away from any paperwork needed done was a moment to somewhat enjoy. But he wasn’t sure what could keep his time here in Konoha. What could he really do here? There wasn’t anyone he felt very much like seeing. He had become more open and social to people, but he wasn’t exactly one to just run up to someone and start a conversation with. It wasn’t that quick. He sat down in a chair in the kitchen with his fingers interlaced and looked out the window in the room. The view of the forest was right outside the window. They swayed slightly in the breeze, and some red or yellow leaves fell out and twirled to the ground. It looked peaceful right there.

Gaara felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see his sister. She smiled looking out the window for a split second, and turned her gaze at him. “C’mon. Me and Kankuro are heading out just to look around. I say you go take a walk around yourself. Find something to do other than lock yourself up somewhere.” She laughed a bit to herself. “You do that enough at work.” Gaara gave a moment of thought and sighed. “Okay, I’ll take a walk.” Gaara didn’t want to say very much, but her idea didn’t sound bad. It looked nice outside anyways. Besides, if he grew tired of seeing things, he could just head back. The three siblings all left the hotel room and went outside, each going their own directions to meet up later.

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Hikari got up the cash register in the store and took a thorough look through it. She hadn’t been using one of these in a while, and she needed to remember where everything was. It wasn’t hard, her Aunt didn’t really move many things around since she was gone. Hikari almost felt like she didn’t leave her house or the store. It all looked so similar. Earlier she lifted some of her work she would be giving away in pats of the store for display. She also got the craft table all set and ready. She had watercolors, markers, colored and graphite pencils, crayons, paintbrushes, paper, and clay all set on the table. She wanted to make the table all ready for her new “students” she may have. After three years, it was unlikely Hikari would have the same people as last time. Usually, she had 3 to 7 year olds visit her craft table, along with occasional 8 to 11 year olds. She remembered greeting them all with a big smile, and beginning either the craft of the day, or instructions on how to draw something. No matter the project, Hikari enjoyed it. She loved children, they were so playful and curious.

Once all was set, she gave a nod to her Aunt, and she nodded back and got the store ready to open. In an amount of time, a moderate number of customers came in, some taking notice of the new art Hikari put on the display. Some of the over lookers recognized the art immediately and were on a rush to find Hikari. One customer, a preteen girl with curly brown hair, tan skin, and brown eyes ran up to the desk to see Hikari there. She waved with a look of glee on her face. She almost jumped to the desk in excitement. “Miss Hikari! You’re back!!” she cried out. Hikari’s eyes met the girl’s immediately as a grin formed on her face. “Kiku! I remember you!” Kiku was one of Hikari’s early craft students back when Hikari first started to run the store with her Aunt at 11 years old. At that time, Kiku was only about five years of age. She was one of Hikari’s favorite students back then.

Kiku put her arms around Hikari’s upper waist in a hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long! Where have you been?” Hikari laughed and quickly hugged Kiku back warmly. “I was on a school trip. I wanted to learn more about art.” Kiku frowned. “I don’t like school enough to go an a long field trip! My school’s field trips are boring.” She said. Hikari giggled and patted Kiku’s back. “I assure you Kiku, my trip was indeed fun, but I missed home.” Hikari looked over at the craft table, then throughout the store at the over lookers and art critics browsing the shop. “ I missed home.” She said softly. Kiku made a slight pout on her face. “Did you miss me?” Hikari smiled at the girl. “Of course! I missed everyone I saw in this store frequently!” She gaily said.

Kiku grinned. “Thank you, Miss Hikari.” She said. Kiku’s mother came up about that time and told her to come on and leave the store. Kiku told Hikari she would come more now that she came back. Hikari enjoyed the fact that people at the shop was very happy about her return. She felt cared about and important. Hikari walked over to the craft table as her Aunt’s shift for the cash register came on. There were a bunch of young children there all drawing pictures. A couple of the kids there looks familiar, and Hikari greeted them all with a smile. One of the kids asked how to draw a simple flower, and that became the lesson of the day. Slowly, step-by-step, Hikari showed everyone the process of drawing from the stem to the petals. She made sure no child was stuck or not enjoying themselves. Also, at the same time, she would occasionally turn to the help or comments of the customers in the shop. At a glance of her Aunt at the register, she saw Izumi gaze at her with a smile on her face. It made Hikari fell so good. She missed all this good times at the shop, it made her feel such at peace and happy. This was her “happy place” pretty much. She could see herself doing this forever. However, despite all the wonderful things here at her home, something still seemed to bother her inside. It was so distant, but was still there to feel. It was that feeling that Hikari had forgotten something. Something that meant a lot to her, and it kept this feeling of depression…

As the kids for her little art class were finishing up, Hikari walked to her Aunt, who was a just finishing up a moderately busy customers purchases. She leaned over the counter and looked at her Aunt happily. Izumi smiled at her warmly. “You did well with those children today. It feels just like it did three years ago.” She said. Hikari beamed. “Well, it feels great to be back.” she said. “People were telling me how happy they are to have you back. They say you have improved. Also you have some new styles that attract art buyers.” Izumi said. Hikari felt a little pride as she looked over at some of the empty places at the display walls. She gazed at them for a long time, until darkness covered her eyes. She smiled as she heard Izumi laugh. Hikari put her hands on the hands over her eyes and giggled. “Hello Rei.”

“Aww, you always know it’s me!” Rei whined as he took his hands off. Hikari turned around and gave a friendly hug to Rei. Rei gave a warm smile. “I just thought I’d stop by and say hi.” He raised a plastic bag, which a wonderful aroma came from it. “And I got some takeout from the ramen shop.” Hikari took the bag and gave another brief hug. “Thank you Rei! That’s so sweet. I was in the mood for some ramen too!” She said. Rei gave a quick hug back as well and made a slight pout with his lip. “I’d like to stay, but I have some work to do.” Hikari smiled. “It’s okay, maybe we can take a walk around Konoha sometime. I gotta see what’s changed since I’ve been gone.” She said. Rei grinned and gave peace sign as he walked out. “I’ll be sure to do that Hikari!! Anything for you!”

Hikari watched as Rei ran off, his dirty blond hair blowing, along with his denim jacket he had unbuttoned in the autumn wind. Hikari’s Aunt came up from behind her and grabbed the bag. “He brought some takeout I see.” She said. There was a slight pause as Izumi looked out the window at Rei’s body that slowly started to disappear as he ran. “He’s really missed you, Hikari, that boy. I think he has a crush on you.” She said. Hikari looked down with a slight pink on her cheeks. “I know.” Hikari had a feeling that Rei liked her more than a friend. Rei was a great person to her, he had always been so kind and protective. Not to mention that he was a very handsome man. Many girls had had their eyes on Rei when he turned 13 years old, and since then, girls have been jealous of Hikari. She bet those girls who like Rei jumped for joy when she left on her art class trip. Hikari liked Rei very much, he was a great guy, but… She just wasn’t sure. She liked Rei, but not loved him. She felt very unsure when it came to close feelings like so.

“Hikari, do you like Rei?” Her Aunt asked her. Hikari looked at Izumi with a look of contemplation. “I’m not sure.” She answered distantly. He Aunt laid the bag down at the store counter and opened it up. She pulled out a medium-sized ramen cup and some wooden chopsticks. “Well, you could think about it later. You have plenty of time for love. You’ll know when you run into the right guy.” Izumi said with a assuring smile. Hikari grabbed the ramen cup and chopsticks and opened the container. She took a sniff of the wonderful smell of the hot, steamy noodles in her cup. She put the chopsticks in her cup and stirred the ramen noodles. She looked out the window for a second and a thought hit her. She walked to the door and opened it slightly. “Aunt Izumi, I’m gonna take a walk around for a while. I’ll see you in a few hours.” Izumi nodded. “Have a good time, and don’t stay out too late.” She said. Hikari nodded back and started eating the noodles as she headed out the roads of the leaf village.

It was really cold outside, it seemed the temperature went down since yesterday. Hikari couldn’t completely assume that because she didn’t really listen to the weather this morning in the living room television. It was a good thing her new lavender jacket she got from Ino and her warm cup of ramen’s broth to keep her warm right now. It was such a beautiful late morning in the streets of Konoha. Hikari found a small wooden bench to sit on and people watch as she ate her ramen. She saw in the groups people she could vaguely remember, one’s she knew immediately, and many new people as well. Hikari found it fun to people watch when she was traveling. It helped her understand the culture or style of an area by the way the villager were. Her village didn’t seem that different after three years. There were some new shops in a marketplace she passed, but that wasn’t too much of a surprise. There were some seasonal vendors that passed every year, or just some vendors that traveled from village to village with no particular order of when and where. But other than a few minimal things, the village remained the same.

As Hikari was finishing up the last of her ramen, she got up so she could head to the trash can that she saw walking to the bench. There was gap in the crowd of people, so Hikari decided to sprint a bit down. It was just this sudden burst of energy that made her feel like moving a bit. Maybe it was the ramen. But as she came to the trash can, she quickly skidded to a stop on the road.

However, the stop was not quick enough, with her eyes snapped shut, Hikari felt a body thump against her’s lightly. It felt kind of hard, like there was a board in front of her instead of a person. She straightened herself up and opened her eyes. She had run into this older teenage boy. He had red spiky hair that looked a little messy. His skin was sort of pale, and he had these aqua eyes that were surrounded with black rings that was a sure sign of insomnia or heavy use of eyeliner. Hikari opened her mouth to apologize, until she looked at the boy’s eyes. They looked so similar, that aqua color. She studied them hard. Hikari didn’t get to really see it, but the boy was looking right at her the same way. Hikari was finally able to stutter out, in a slight amazement, but still pondering.

“E-Excuse me, I’m sorry for running into you but… Do I know you?”