Itsu No Hi Ni Mo

Chapter 47 : Farewell

: farewell :

: said to or by the departing

_____

"Hiashi..."

The said man stood at the entrance of the room, he held a mighty poise as he responded, "You have called, father?"

The older man slowly nodded, gesturing his son to sit at the other side of the table.

The mighty head of the clan looked at his father, still looking ever-so stoic.

"... Son. I'm very old" He said, "I can not even activate my byakūgan, because I'm already blind"

Hiashi looked down, "I had a feeling..."

"Good" The old man said with a nod, "Then, you should be aware by now that I'm not going to last long anymore"

The younger one nodded, "I know"

The former head crossed his arms.

"I heard that Hinata's grown into a beautiful woman" He said, "And that Hanabi's been growing her hair out again"

Hiashi was slightly shocked, and he looked at his father, "F-Father? How long-?"

"I never saw Hinata off to war"

That long?

"Hiashi, I heard lots of wonderful things. I just wish I saw my grandchildren more..."

"They-"

"I meant..." The old man clarified, "I wish I treated them as my grandchildren, and not our heiresses"

Hiashi fell silent.

"In fact..."

The old man finally opened his blind eyes, "Son... I have something to tell you... I did it years ago..."

"What is it?" Hiashi asked, seeing that his father had regret in his voice.

"It's about Hinata"

- - - - -

"It's getting really cold, huh?" Ino asked, eyeing her flowers, "The flowers are wilting because of it..."

"Yeah... For sure, it's colder than the past few years" Sakura said as she hopped on a stool, "And I feel like the night gets getting longer"

"I guess we're having an early winter" The blonde muttered.

- - - - -

Kakashi looked up expectantly at the opening door, only to look back at his computer, not really surprised that the one he thought wasn't the one that came.

"Still not helping, huh?" Shikamaru asked as he crossed his arms, "Seriously, he should come back to keep updated with the political issues"

"Ah, don't mind him" Kakashi dismissed, "Besides, he excused himself"

"Naruto's been excusing himself eversince that day" The Nara pointed out in an annoyed tone, "Don't you think it's about time we pull him off of his sorry ass? He's been moping around for far too long"

"I would," The Hatake said, "But he isn't moping around. It's surprising, really"

The Jonin only raised a brow at his Hokage, asking for an explanation.

"You won't believe how much complaints were filed, from the Hyūga and their neighbors" Kakashi chuckled, "And they were all caused by none other than Naruto himself"

"What did he do?" Shikamaru asked, worried of the infinite possibilities.

"Mostly noise complaints caused by his 'fans', since they already learned his route, especially now that all he's been doing is practically beg for attention from her" The Hokage answered, "And the daily intrusion he's been doing to the compound"