Black Light (Naruto)

Chapter 38

Then he'd asked Tenzo. 

"You had dreams about him too?" Tenzo turned towards him, an easy-going smile on his face. 

"No..." Kakashi responded, and now he became even more confused and curious than before. "Should I have had them?"

"Oh, no- Kakashi-senpai, not like that!" Tenzo waved his hands, a slight red darkening his cheeks. Kakashi hadn't even meant for it to sound like that, but the more he messed with people the merrier. 

"But, no..? Only Itachi talked about them before he went..." Tenzo trailed off. "Anyway, Hikaru-san, in my dream, is from a world that's close to this one. It gets obscure a lot, but he ends up being the only one left, kinda? I'm not sure what happens next- these dreams happened years ago."

"Can you describe them?" Kakashi managed to say. It was adding up weirdly- literally nothing connected other than Hikaru, a Konoha shinobi (or so he hoped), was in an unfamiliar war. Maybe- Kakashi had been mildly considering the whole in-cahoots-with-the-Akatsuki thing.

"Uhm..." Tenzo tapped his finger against his chin. "Not really..? I mean, he was with Sasuke-san and a pink-haired girl a lot, and an older, scarier version of you as well as Tsunade-sama. But then Tsunade-sama died, then you, then the pink hair, and then Sasuke-san."

Kakashi hoped they were just the regular, weird dreams Tenzo had. Otherwise it would be majorly concerning- and impossible. 

Yes. Impossible. 

Because Kakashi didn't know how to feel about the fact that if you looked really, really closely, Hikaru looked a lot like Naruto and Minato-sensei. Not to mention when he looked even closer, Hikaru looked way, way too much like Kushina to be brushed off as cousins, or even siblings. 

Kakashi would figure this mystery out. 

And he wouldn't stop until he'd gotten the truth. He excelled at it. Unfortunately, he'd gotten used to getting what he wanted. 

He didn't know if it leaned on the good side or the bad side of what he deemed moral. 

___

Hikaru's POV

He looked at the clone drawing the seal, making sure the lines were the closest thing to perfection. It wasn't that he didn't trust his clone, but he didn't want the clone to make a single misstep and fry his nerves to the point of no return. 

This would just dull the pain, and hopefully not extinguish it completely. 

Hikaru glanced around at the seals surrounding the room- silencing seals and seals that kept the area sterilized, along with quite a few chakra surpressing seals in at least three every single wall.

The front door slammed open, and Hikaru was so, so thankful the clone did not jump. 

"Hikaru-san..." Tsunade and Jiraiya trailed off when they saw what he was doing. 

"Close the door. You disrupt this you fry every single one of my nerves." Hikaru said, hating the fact his clone sighed. He had to take off every single one of the seals on him just to get this one painted on the back, including his hiding his chakra signature seal. 

"Why are you doing a dangerous seal without supervision?" Jiraiya looked over at him, then at the seal the clone was doing. 

"I have me and my clone, and now you guys. Good enough." Hikaru grit out, careful to not talk too much otherwise his clone would mess up and fry his nerves. Did they not get it? Did they  not comprehend the stupidity of getting me to talk would do?

Hikaru tilted his head. "So, what brings you guys here?"

"Jiraiya told me you got something to tell me." Tsunade said, sitting down on the couch opposite to him. "But it appears you're busy. What's that seal for anyway?"

"Dulling the nerves in my body." Hikaru responded dully. "Which is why if my clone makes a mistake it fries them."

"What for?" Jiraiya asked, looking mildly curious. 

"The Kyuubi left my body, thus my body which has been reliant on the Kyuubi my entire life, is sensitive to everything. And it hurts. This seal was made to fix it." Hikaru murmured, stifling a sound of pain as the clone started running chakra over the seal, making sure it was activated. 

"Hm. Interesting. How'd you make it?" 

"Talk later." Hikaru grit out once again, making sure they didn't see the level of pain he was going through. Hikaru would rate it at a solid 8 or 9.

More chakra-infused ink ran over the basic drawing of the seal, and Hikaru's fists curled tightly. There were white dots in front of his eyes as his entire body felt like he was being stomped on by one very, very large millipede.

He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, his voice only echoing back to him as he continued along the cave-

No. It wouldn't ever be the time for this. 

Then it was done. 

Hikaru explained the situation as he quietly tested out the seal, the two of them following him out to the kitchen. Hikaru grabbed a knife, and before they could move, sliced it along the palm of his hand. 

Much, much better than when he'd done it earlier. 

Hikaru sighed with relief when the wound closed up easily, Tsunade turning to yell at him then moment he'd gotten done with putting his shirt on. 

Then, later on when Hikaru was alone, he let himself remember the Tsunade who remembered him. Who remembered who he'd been before... this.

He let himself curl up in the corner, his sword by his side and a blanket over him, humming to himself a tune he didn't understand. And while he wasn't a great singer, it reminded him enough of when he slept to the music from bars below. It reminded him enough of when he was with Jiraiya and Tsunade, traveling back to Konoha with his godparents. 

He couldn't bring himself to cry anymore. There was nothing that was worth crying over- they didn't remember him and that was that, and yeah it did hurt like nothing he'd experienced, but he'd gotten somewhat used to it. 

He had to get used to it, because otherwise there wouldn't be anything done, and he would still be wallowing in his misery like an idiot. An idiot, as Sakura had always called him, or even Iruka-sensei before he'd had a flash of empathy. An idiot just as Hikaru had been deemed since the moment he'd proclaimed he'd be Hokage. 

And Hikaru was beginning to believe it. He was. 

Another flash of unbridled rage so harsh it made his fists curl tightly, dulled pain of worn-down nails breaking through skin. He hated how he'd been treated, but there was nothing left he could do about it. 

The only thing left to do was move on. 

And he knew exactly what to do next.

___

Hello! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Also, this book is my emotional support animal now. (12/21/2020: I'm updating this early cause I have semester tests. Three days before Christmas.)

Original: 11/29/2020

Edited: 12/21/2020

This chapter contains 1801 words!

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