Today was the day Naruto was going to become the new Hokage. Finally.
Kei had been bracing herself for that moment for long weeks. She couldn't quite believe that it was finally happening for real. She had imagined many times how it would happen, careful about every detail.
She was finishing getting dressed for the big event. Her hair was neatly tied up in a high ponytail. Only the bangs that were too short were free. She preferred to have it this way.
She could feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She was wearing the traditional black and white outfit that was a must for such an important occasion.
She stared at her own reflection in the mirror and remained like that for quite a while.
It made her realise how time had flown way too fast. But she should stop always thinking about the past and old memories. Life is made to move forward, not to live in the past.
She shook her head energetically to get a grip on herself.
"Now's the time. Just be happy."
She stared into her own eyes intently. They were serious and looked almost threatening.
People knew better than making her mad, for her fury would be the end of them.
Suddenly, she attempted to smile, but it didn't look genuine. It looked forced and out of character.
Why can't I just be happy for him? She thought to herself as her smile faded.
She decided to give up as she sighed at her reflection before leaving her room and going downstairs.
"Good morning sweetheart. So, are you ready for the big day?"
Her mother greeted her warmly with that smile of hers that made all the men fluster and swoon over her, earning them murderous looks from her father. She smirked every time knowing that if they dared only to hit on her or even touch her they would be dead men. It made her heart swell with pride that her father had been the only man able to win over her mother's heart. They made such a perfect couple.
Her father looked up from the newspaper he was reading, sitting down at the kitchen table as her mother came near him. They were dressed just like her, in black and white, her mother with her Hokage haori over her black dress. She had always seen her wearing it. It was older than her yet it didn't look like time had left its mark on it.
"You look really beautiful," her mother noted causing a light blush to spread to her cheeks.
And she was sure her father noticed it.
"Huh...yeah. Thanks," she acted like she was unaffected by it, and she caught her father smiling. Even with his mask on, she could say whenever he was smiling. She couldn't remember having ever seen his face, even though she was his own daughter... (A/N: I think I've already mentioned that in one of the chapters before, but I can't even remember! So, sorry if I'm rambling!)
She remembered asking her mother once as a child about it.
"Mommy, why Daddy always hides his face?"
Her mother looked surprised by her question, but then suddenly a warm and soft smile brightened up her beautiful face.
"No need to worry, sweetie. It's only to hide his perfect and incredibly handsome face. Because if people saw it, they would be so stunned that they would never get over it, or even faint," she winked as she let out a soft giggle.
Whether she had just meant that as a joke or whether it was the truth, she could never really tell, for if her father was as stunningly beautiful as her mother, then her mother should wear one too.
"Come on, sit down. We still have time for breakfast before we have to go," her mother said as she interrupted her thinking.
Kei did as told and sat across her father. Their eyes met and she knew with his look that he knew what she had been thinking about; not about him and why he wore his mask, but Naruto becoming Hokage.
She suddenly remembered her mother's question.
"Even if I wasn't, would it change anything anyway?"
Her father didn't look away from her. Her mother brought her food and put one hand on her shoulder.
"Sweetie, I know you're sad because you won't be able to spend as much time with him as you used to, but it won't affect your relationship in any way."
Her father made a weird face at the word "relationship", but it faded as quickly as it came.
"Just focus on the positive, Naruto is finally going to live his dream, even though it won't be as marvellous and easy as he imagined it."
"It almost makes me nostalgic about the time when he used to brag about how he would become the best Hokage of all times, acting like a real brat," her father chimed in.
Kei would have liked to see that. She couldn't help the small smile that made her lips twitch up.
Her mother smiled too.
"I would have loved to see that."
Hmm? Because she hadn't?
"You didn't?"
Her parents both stared at her and exchanged a knowing glance.
"No. I wasn't in the village when your father became a Sensei..."
"And strangely when your mother came back, he didn't brag so much about it."
"No, that's true. I helped him become the man he is today. Even though he would have probably become him without me."
"You're the one bragging now," her father raised one eyebrow at her mother.
"I was only kidding...!"
Kei made a face as she looked at her mother. (Just imagine her mother acting like Hashirama and Naruto would, I can't get over it ^^)
Kei just shrugged it off and began eating her food. Her heart was still racing. It was such a big thing, something that everyone would remember as long as they lived, so how could she not be nervous?
From the corner of her eye, she saw her mother sitting beside her.
"Don't worry. It's going to be fine, really. I know how it feels to witness such a big event."
She didn't see the look her parents exchanged. She could only think about how it would happen.
It was time to go now.
🌻🌻🌻
There were so many people. The whole village was there. It was so impressive, and it was all the more so when you were overlooking all of them.
They were standing on the roof of the Hokage Tower, as was the custom; with her mother, father, Shikamaru, Konohamaru, Naruto's sister, but Nami wasn't with her, neither were Boruto and Himawari for that matter. Theere were a few other people all around whom she didn't know personally.
"Well, now that you're going to retire, we're going to be able to take a long holiday at the hot springs, just you and I," her father told her mother.
"Oh no, don't count on that," Shikamaru interfered. "We're not going to let you go have a good time far away from the village wile we'll be doing all the work. The village still needs its former Hokage, and when I say that, I mean you too. We count on you to become the Hokage's advisor."
Kei chuckled slightly as her father made a face.
"I've never said we would never come back...just a small holiday at least, a weekend. We need some time to ourselves," he said in a low and grave voice.
"Well, it will have to wait, Kakashi-Sensei."
Kei chuckled again as his feeling of dejection only intensified. She caught her mother giggling too. Then she chuckled once again as Konohamaru scolded Shikamaru for trying to smoke.
"There's not a damn place where smoking is allowed anymore."
"Smoking is bad for your health anyway," her mother chirped.
But then she suddenly thought about something else.
"Where are Grandma Tsunade and Aunt Shizune? I haven't seen them yet," she pointed out.
"I have no idea. I thought they would be here too," her mother replied. "They must be only late."
And indeed her mother was right because they arrived just when she finished speaking.
"Sorry for being late," her aunt apologised sheepishly. "We went to bed quite late last night..."
Kei smiled to herself. She loved to see how her aunt took care of her grandmother, how close they were despite not being related by blood. It was so heart-warming.
"We're not that late anyway. I see Naruto is still not here."
Now they were all waiting for Naruto to come since it was his day. They waited and kept waiting for a long while, but there was no Naruto in sight...
At some point, they saw Hinata running towards them with the Hokage cloak in hand.
"Sorry to keep you waiting" She apologised as she caught her breath.
"Hey Hinata," Shikamaru greeted her.
"Where is Naruto?" her father asked. "It's almost time to start, and we can't start without him," he pointed out.
Hinata looked surprised at his statement.
"What? My husband isn't here yet?"
"Not yet. Didn't he celebrate a little too much last night...?" Shikamaru said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"No, no. Nothing like that. Can you take this please?" she asked as she handed Konohamaru the Hokage coat.
"Sure."
"I'll go check on him," she added before running away from them, leaving them all wondering what Naruto could be doing.
Suddenly Kei had a bad feeling which made her stomach hurt.
"This is not looking good."
"Yep."
"Let's just wait for few more moments. There must just be something that is holding him back. Even if he is a bit late, that's alright," her mother spoke, her tone grave.
"Well, there's nothing more we can do anyway," Shikamaru replied.
But the more they waited the more worried Kei was getting. Another long while passed, and neither did they see Naruto or Hinata and their children. The feeling in her stomach only became worse.
"What in the world is holding Naruto back? This is bad. He won't make it in time," her father told Shikamaru.
Akira sighed.
"The moron's dumb enough to miss his own ceremony," she stated, her arms crossed.
No...he would never be that dumb...Kei knew it. It was so important for him. The day he could finally live his dream. He would never be dumb enough to miss so important a moment in his life...
She was holding her left wrist tight as she couldn't let go of it. She could only hope he was alright...
"Mum, if he's not here yet, there must be something wrong! What if something happened to him?"
Everyone looked at her as if she had gone crazy.
"Sweetie, don't panic. What could have possibly happened to him? We're within the village and we would know if some intruder had come in to attack him. And even if it was the case, Naruto is the strongest shinobi in the village, so there's nothing to worry about, really," her mother tried to reassure her, but it didn't help at all.
Still, her mother went in sensor mode just in case.
"Hn-Hn. I can't sense any unusual presence within these walls," she assured her.
But this wasn't enough to make her feel better. Besides, Hinata should have come back by that time, so this only strengthened what she feared.
"I'm going to go to his house!"
"No, Kei. You stay here with us," her mother said as she grabbed her wrist before she could go anywhere.
"I'm going to go see what's going on," Akira said. "But don't cancel anything. The ceremony must happen. We don't want people to worry, do we?"
Kakashi nodded at her.
"She's right. It's too late to cancel anything anyway."
Her father turned to Konohamaru who was still holding the Hokage coat in his hands.
"Konohamaru, you're going to have to replace Naruto for that one," he said bluntly.
The brown-haired man looked totally horrified.
"What...wait! Why me? I think Akira is the best fit to do that."
"No, Akira has to go check on him. You're the only one who can do that. You've spent so much time with him, even imitated him, he was a real role model to you, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to do it."
"..."
Kei wanted so badly to go with Akira to check on him. But she couldn't disobey her mother. Or...could she?
She didn't care about what everyone else said. If Naruto wasn't there, there was no use for her to be there just to watch a fake Naruto live his day for him.
She sprinted towards the exit of the roof, not looking back as she did.
"Kei!!!" she heard her mother shout.
Soon enough, she was nowhere to be seen any longer.
"Just let it be," Kakashi told Mai. "It's pointless trying to hold her back as stubborn as she is."
Mai sighed.
"I just wished it could have happened differently. But we can't go back in time to change things, can we?"
"If only," Shikamaru said.
"Well, it's high time we started time now. Konahamaru, please get ready."
The man did as told, although a bit reluctantly, and shortly afterwards, the ceremony could finally start.
Naruto officially became the Hokage that day, even though he wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Kei was running as if she was running for her own life, and soon enough she reached Naruto's home. She barged in it like a madwoman, ignoring how breathless she was.
"Naruto!!!"
Akira was already there with Hinata.
"Kei-Chan..." Hinata said both worried and surprised.
Her heart skipped a beat as she came closer to them.
"Naruto!"
"Don't worry, he'll be alright. He's just been knocked out. He just needs time before he can come to. Anyway, he definitely won't be able to attend his own ceremony," Akira told her, her tone grave.
"Knocked out???!!! But who did that???!!!"
It meant she had been right, despite what her mother had assured them. The intruder must have used some special technique so their chakra couldn't be detected, even by the best sensor. She swore that she would kill the one who had done that to him.
Hinata looked desperate while Akira had that steady and serious look plastered on her face as if she didn't care at all. But this was serious!!!
"WHO?!"
Their silence was making her even angrier with each second that passed.
"It was...it was Hima's doing..." Hinata said in a low voice.
Kei made a face. She was ready to fall off her feet just hearing that. Had she heard well?! It couldn't be possible...not Hima...
"It was because of Boruto," Akira said. "He wrecked her favourite plushy, and it made her so angry that she managed to awake her Byakugan. And then she went into a murderous mode. I swear you wouldn't have recognised her had you seen her. Never had I thought it would happen for something so trivial."
Akira was strangely calm as she spoke, and Kei couldn't believe it. Her jaw dropped as she was looking horrified.
Hima...that sweet and innocent little girl into a murderous mode...Who would have thought...
"You should go back to the Hokage Tower. Hima has calmed down and Boruto has learnt his lesson. And we're going to take care of him," Akira then added.
"No! I want to stay by his side!"
"To watch him sleep? It will just be a waste of time."
"I don't care! I can waste my time if I want to!" Kei snapped.
"Just go tell your parents what happened and that he'll be alright."
She had that look in her eyes, and Kei knew better than pissing an Uzumaki off.
She left the house with a sigh, not hurrying at all as she was walking through the empty streets.
"What a day..." she mumbled to herself.
She made a mental note to herself. Never upset Himawari if you don't want to end up like Naruto.
She finally came back to the roof of the Hokage Tower after a while. She spotted her parents, aunt and grandmother, as well as Shikamaru and Konohamaru.
"So," her grandmother asked her. "What's happened?"
"Nothing serious. Just family business. A small argument that went wrong. But Naruto will be fine," she said as if it were no big deal.
She noticed how everyone was staring at her with big and incredulous eyes as if she had become crazy.
She didn't want to go into too much detail for she thought no one would believe her if she told them what had really happened...
Her father sighed in disbelief as he shook his head slightly.
"Seriously, on such an important day for the whole village. This couldn't have happened any other normal day."
Her grandmother sighed as well as she crossed her arms.
"We should have expected such a thing would happen."
Her aunt was looking concerned, while Shikamaru was looking like he thought this was so much trouble and Konohamaru was sweatdropping and somewhat looking concerned too.
Kei couldn't help sighing as well.
Anyway, this was the day Naruto Uzumaki officially became the Hokage, right.
🌻🌻🌻
Once Naruto was finally awake, Kei came to visit him.
"It's so nice of you to come to see him," Hinata greeted her with her sweet voice.
"It's only natural," Kei responded with a small gentle smile.
"Hmm...! It really smells good. I'm sure he is going to love it."
Kei could feel a slight blush spread across her cheeks.
"Thanks."
"He is upstairs," she said with a last smile before leaving Kei.
She removed her shoes and went to look for him. She found the blond man in his office having a talk with himself. He didn't hear her coming in nor did he see her for that matter. She remained still as she blinked at him. She didn't want to disturb him, but now that she was there...
She cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Oh, Kei!" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
Well, there was nothing awkward about talking to yourself. She was sure everyone had already done it at least once in their lives, even she had herself.
"That hairstyle looks nice too," he said with that smile of his that made her blush every time.
She hated that feeling of becoming flustered. The more it happened the stupider she felt.
She had her hair rolled into a messy bun which held into place only thanks to a dark brown stick. (Let's just say that she basically looks like this, with the clothes too. I just love this fanart so much 😍)
"Thanks."
As he was smiling at her he suddenly approached her. he examined closely what she was holding into her hands.
"Is that Ramen?" he asked her as his eyes grew big.
Ramen was their thing. So of course, if there was something she would bring to him, it could only be that.
"Yes. I made it myself, just for you."
His eyes lightened up in a way that made her heart skip a beat.
"You did?"
Well, yes, it's true that she had never cooked for him before, but there's a first time for everything.
She just nodded.
"You should eat it before it gets cold."
"What about we share?"
Sharing? They had never shared food before...
"No! I mean...I've already eaten become coming here."
He wasn't smiling anymore.
"Besides, you need to eat a lot after what you went through," she quickly added.
He looked somewhat surprised at first but then the look in his eyes softened.
"Thank you for caring about me. I swear the man who will be your husband will be the luckiest man on this planet."
Wait...Her heart skipped another beat, but the dread in her stomach was making her hands sweat slightly.
That wasn't the kind of woman she wanted to become...
Being nice and care for people close to you was one thing. But she didn't want to become a housewife. She wanted to become a strong and independent woman who didn't need to have a husband or children.
She needed to get rid of her feelings somehow. And quickly.
🌸🌸🌸
Hey everyone!!! It's been a while since the last time I updated (and as usual I'm sorry about it...)
I hope y'all doing well 😊
I'm not gonna promise something I might be unable to do, but I'm gonna try my best to update more often. I swear I really want to continue and finish this story, but life is life...😔
I'm starting to think that insisting so much On Kei's feeling for Naruto is making the relationship unhealthy and that it only shows that I'm obsessed with it (but I'm no maniac irl, don't worry 😂) Well, I don't know, I mean, I just love the idea that there is a very special bond between them, a kind of father/daughter love rather than the kind of love that goes with sex, but she needs to go through her teenage years and learn before she can get it.
As I had previously said, the next chapter will focus on the Boruto plot from now onwards, and more on Minato. Well, there will still be chapters with Kei, but it's hard to find a balance to show equal perspectives... I'll have to think more about it 🤔 That's the problem when you have several original main characters in your story
Anyway, I want to send a huge thanks to those who are still reading this story after all this time 🥰😘 Thank you so, so much!!!!❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones 💕💕
Lots of love <3
xoxo