White Silence [Naruto Fanfiction]

I • Welcome Back

It didn't take long for Daichi to realize that, no matter what he did, he'd never be able to win. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was his downfall. This would be what eventually made or broke him.

"Don't look too upset, Daichi." Sakura tried to cheer him up. It didn't work. "Maybe someday-"

"I just don't get it!" The green haired shinobi threw up his hands in exasperation. "I mean, I'm hot, right Sakura? I am a hot guy?"

"What-"

"I'm attractive, aren't I?"

"I mean, I guess, in the right lighting-"

"Yes or no, Sakura." Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes. She was starting to remember why she tried to spend as little time around Daichi as possible.

"Yes, Daichi."

"Thank you."

Now, Daichi didn't have many faults. He was, for the most part, a flawless character. Daichi liked to believe he was perfect, and preferred if everyone else believed the same. He did everything right: he was charming, smart (enough), and, as he preferred to be called, hot. That's why his current dilemma was one hundred times worse than it probably should be.

"Well?" Sakura questioned, an eyebrow raised.  Daichi looked at her, confused.

"Well what?

"Weren't you going to make a point? About being hot?" Sakura's raised eyebrow began to twitch in irritation. Getting information out of him was hard, and especially aggravating when he put that dumb look on his face and acted like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh, no, not really. I just needed the validation." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Daichi didn't have many flaws, but always having to be validated was definitely one of them.

Sakura, on the other hand, had many faults. While she was undeniably perfect in the form of physical attributes, her personality held a number of flaws. Her temper, being the main one. Because of her temper, this moment she shared with the self-absorbed Shimizu might have ended with a good punch to his jaw, had be been someone else. But because he, like his best friend, had the obvious traits of the seemingly-indestructible Shimizu, Sakura preferred not to take her chances with punching in that chiseled face of his.

"Don't you get enough validation from all the girls ogling you as you walk down the street?" Speak of the Devil, and Daichi's best friend shall appear.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Kaeru-San." Daichi crossed his arms.

"You're joking." Sakura deadpanned.

"You have half the girls in the village under your spell and you know it." Yosuga placed her hands on her hips.

"But alas, the one who has my heart is out of my reach." Daichi dramatically sighed.

"Seriously?"

"Emiko rejected him again today." Sakura elaborated.

"It seems so."

"Can you stop telling my business to everyone, Sakura?" Daichi bitterly muttered under his breath. Sakura merely shrugged.

"Maybe Emiko doesn't like you because she's not a pedophile." Yosuga wondered as they walked down the street to the dango shop, the place they usually met up at to eat and complain. Others occasionally joined, like Sakura was today, but it was usually just Daichi and Yosuga.

"I'm a grown ass man, Kaeru-San."

"Aren't you still technically underage?"

"What the hell, Sakura? I thought you were on my side." Daichi mumbled.

---

Their meeting had been cut short when Yosuga had to meet up with her team for a mission. Something she had learned to loathe, as her team was rarely easy to deal with.

They stood in the back of Hokage's office as Yosuga received their mission for the day.

"I hope we get a cool mission, today. Like fighting off a band of thugs or something." The stars in Rei's eyes twinkled at the thought of a fight.

"Wasn't it you who, just last week, insisted you were a lover, and not a fighter?" Tenshi wondered.

"It switches, on occasion."

"Let's go Losers, we have work to do." Yosuga drawled with a small yawn, her team following close behind. Tenshi opened his mouth for a snide comment, but decided to keep it to himself when Yosuga looked at him over her shoulder and simply said: "I will break all of your fingers."

They were now walking to a small farm on the outskirts of the village in order to help pull weeds (a mission that left Rei sorely disappointed), but they were interrupted when a familiar voice called out to Yosuga.

"Yosu-chan?" It faintly spoke, almost in a whisper, like they were trying to convince themselves that it was her. She looked so different from when he had last seen her. Yosuga stopped. Only one person called her Yosu-chan. "Yosu-chan!" It called again. Yosuga turned around.

"Naruto?" She raised an eyebrow. Naruto grinned at her. It was him. Naruto. He was there. Yosuga's face lit up in a grin as the ran towards him, pulling him into a hug. He picked her up and spun her around, laughing. When he set her down, she put her hands on her waist, scanning over her friend. "I see you ditched the orange and blue jumpsuit. Can't say I miss it."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Naruto laughed dryly, his cheeks flushing as he got a good look at her. "You look... different." Yosuga lifted an eyebrow, looking down at herself.

"Yeah, I suppose I do." Yosuga mused. "So do you."

"Uh but a good different!" Naruto quickly added. "Not to say you didn't look good before though, I just-"

"Uh, Sensei?" Rei raised an eyebrow, his teammates doing the same. Yosuga sighed, her attention leaving Naruto, who also raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Sensei?" He repeated, looking at Yosuga.

"This is my genin team." She gestured to the three genin behind her. "Chihiro Otonashi, Tenshi Jetsuki, and Rei Seijimura."

"Your team? As in you train them? Like Kakashi!?" Naruto exclaimed in shock.

"He's kinda slow..." Tenshi chided under his breath. Rei narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"He looks kind of annoying, too..." Chihiro added, mumbling. The boys nodded in agreement. "You think that's her boyfriend?"

"I sure hope not." Tenshi muttered.

"I already told you guys, Sensei doesn't not have a boyfriend!" Rei whisper-yelled.

"You would know." Tenshi rolled his eyes.

"Yes I am, though I try to not be anything like Kakashi." Yosuga confirmed, her and Naruto ignoring the genin's conversation. "Ah, speaking of which, we were just on our way to complete a mission. I'd love to stay and talk, but we'll have to catch up later. Let's go, guys." Yosuga gestured for the genin to follow her as she passed Naruto. "I'm really glad you're back, Naruto."

As the three genin passed Naruto, they all gave their own goodbyes.

Tenshi yawned as he passed him, hardly giving Naruto a glance.

Rei never faltered in his step as he glided past the older shinobi, his arms crossed. He pompously pointed his nose into the air, giving Naruto a side-eye.

Chihiro simply bowed politely at him, followed by a small "welcome back".

---

I didn't initially intend for the whole first half of this chapter to be dedicated to how attractive Daichi is, but I guess thats how the good Lord works.