Hikari; Cataclysm

Chapter 5

*

Three days later, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, and Sai had been waiting for me to wake up. That day was the memorial ceremony for two of the Konoha shinobi clans, the Hyuuga and the Sarutobi. Hinata had brought me the black Kimono to wear to which Naruto and Sai helped me wear it. When I was finished, I took a seat in a wheelchair and Sai pushed me towards the cemetery. In the hindsight, this moment of despair had brought something good, at least. Naruto had learned to see the signs as I saw him holding hands with Hinata when they were walking to the cemetery.

There, I was greeted by Hiashi-sama, Hanabi, Neji, and Kurenai-sensei who took over my wheelchair and brought us to their final resting place. Tears that we withheld for two whole days were let go and I wanted to give in to it. I placed the bouquet on their grave and silently prayed for them. After a while, only Kakashi-sensei and I were left standing there since he had promised to bring me back to the ward.

‘How's Naruto doing?’ I asked in a somber.

‘Well, he succeeded,’ Kakashi-sensei answered, and that finally brought a smile to my face.

‘I knew he could do it all along. He’s the son of the Yellow Flash, he is also a genius in his special way,’ I said, and silently, I renewed my promise to Hitori and I will defeat these Akatsuki guys.

‘Let’s get you back to the ward, I think I got somewhere to be. Those three are going out to hunt Asuma’s killer,’ Sensei said as he pushed my wheelchair back to my ward. I know that Asuma-sensei had taught them well enough to not attend their sensei's memorial as long as his killers were still out there.

‘Keep them safe, sensei,’ I breathed to which he chuckled at me.

‘I never let my comrade die on my watch, Hikari-kun. Not while I'm alive,’ he said. Remembering those nostalgic words of promise, I am confident that my three friends were in good hands.

Before I slept that night, I promised myself that I will get better faster, and then I will bring hell to Akatsuki.

*

The next morning, I was visited by Tsunade-senpai who was excited to see that I was doing the walking exercise today with Sakura. She had told me that Kakashi-sensei had gone out of the village to assist Shikamaru's team to continue their manhunt for the task force that was formed to hunt the Akatsuki in Fire country. Meanwhile, I was making good headway in my rehabilitation and the strength was slowly coming back to me.

‘You're showing a remarkable recovery rate, Hikari-kun. Not as fast as Naruto but still,’ Tsunade commented to announce her arrival and I perked up, grinning at her.

‘Morning, Senpai, Shizune-san. Although my blood may play a part in this, it is all of your hard work that made this possible,’ I beamed and followed through with my exercise. Senpai took a seat near the bed as she continued to observe me walking shakily while holding the bars.

‘How's Naruto doing?’ she wondered.

‘From what Kakashi-sensei had told me, he's starting to get the hang of it. Though he did say that it might be a while longer to perfect it,’ Sakura explained and I bit my lip to try to steady up my hip as I began the next set.

‘I see…’ senpai answered.

‘Shishou, the fact that Kakashi-sensei had gone ahead and joined team 10, surely means that team 7 would work well with team 10. Our team should be the reinforcements, is that right?’ Sakura probed and I was eager to go but I doubt that I would be useful for now.

‘You're sharp,’ Tsunade-senpai commented. ‘That's to be expected of you.’

‘But we don't know if Naruto-kun's new jutsu will be completed at all. We should send a different team,’ Shizune-san interjected.