'Hey, brat!' A blurry voice managed to reach you in the strange world you were in. 'Brat! It's time to wake up! It's over!' They informed. In a matter of a few seconds, your dream of celebrating your birthday with family and friends warped into a hazy reality as you sat in some water.
"Diaval," There was some sort of relief in your voice as you said his name, glancing around the familiar place. Though, there was a noticeable lack of a few different dragons.
He seemed to notice your unspoken question before you had the chance to say it. "The others are gone."
You needed a second to process his words as you stood up. "Like... Dead, gone?" You asked stupidly. Your mind already began to think up the possible scenarios, could you see the ghost of a dragon? Now that you thought about it, you'd never see an animals ghost before. But surely, if you tried hard enough, you could unlock some sort of hidden ability behind your eyes and—
You weren't able to finish your thought process, Diaval flicking the stupid out of you with a single claw. "Ow!" You rubbed your chin. "Since when were you freed out of those bars?" You wondered.
"A while," he responded curtly. "You just barely realized. Didn't you?"
"Guess so..." You replied in a murmur. The blaringly obvious elephant in the room making it hard for you to say much else.
Before you could brood longer, he hit you again. "Stop doing that! You're not exactly small, Diaval!" You yelled.
Diaval chuckled in your face before he stopped. "Are you calling me fat?"
"What? No," You grumbled. "You were bigger than the others, though... Speaking of—" The dragon already picked up on your change of topic before you could successfully execute it.
"Before I tell you, you better not get all up in your feelings about this like you always do." He warned.
"I won't..." you murmured, glancing elsewhere.
"Well, they're dead. Kind of." He explained. "That punk tried to extract them from you, but failed miserably. Their powers, their mind and even their souls are in those lacrimas... But their spirits still in you," You weren't quite understanding what he was getting at. "Basically... They're in that lacrima, but without their spirit it might as well be like they're dead. Or maybe... Braindead is more like it."
Braindead... Nothing about your powers could do anything about someone being Braindead—maybe if you tried hard enough to do so—
"Hey brat, what'd I tell you?" Diaval cut you out of your thoughts.
"Right, right," you stood up straight, trying to look firm. You didn't have those dragons your entire life like you did Diaval, but they had still been part of you for a long time. "Not to get all in my head about it..." You repeated what they told you.
You sucked in a deep breath, composing yourself. "Are they suffering like that?"
"I bet they are." Diaval put it bluntly. You kind of appreciated it right now.
"What should I do?" You asked for some sort of advice.
"Let them go."
It was ironic, that was the same piece of advice you had given to the sand villages guards way back when they begged you to stay. People die everyday, people learn to move on everyday... That's what the Sand needs to do. Maybe you were talking to yourself back then, too. You were a part of the sand village after all, weren't you?
"Thanks, Diaval." You meant it—even if in the context, it could've come off as sarcastic. "You know... Even in my darkest times, you were the one there. Though, it's more like you had no choice, huh?" You laughed a little bit at that irony. You were thanking someone that never even wanted to be there.
"Maybe not." Diaval admitted bluntly. "But it's not like I hated all of it, either."
You closed your eyes, a vague smile on your face. "You really are a sweet dragon despite the rumors."
"The rumors?" He repeated ludicrously. "There are no rumors, you're the only one that can see me you brat!" He scoffed.
"I guess you're right." You replied, stepping closer to Diaval and letting your entire body lean against him—your arms planted and laid out on his... Uh... chest? You weren't fully sure of the anatomy of a dragon. Plus, it wasn't like your arms were anywhere near to actually enveloping him in a hug.
"Are you trying to hug me?" Diaval asked.
"Maybe." You responded. "I guess I wanted one..." You said honestly. "You're warm."
"I am a fire dragon." He replied. Even if that was true, it took a lot for you to feel warmth of heat in that regard. It was comforting—when was the last time you had gotten a hug? You felt like you used to get them all the time from your team.
"A good fire dragon. Sweet little dragon," you tapped him with your hand—but you doubted he felt it.
"When'd you get cheeky?" He scoffed.
"I'm pretty sure I got it from you." You replied, cheek pressed against his rough scales. You doubted anyone could blame you for taking after the voice in your head for your entire life.
There were a million things you felt in that moment. Closure? Relief? Sadness? But the most overwhelming feeling was content. Not overly joyous or depressingly empty; somewhere in the rough messy mix in the middle. "Thank you. I mean it, thank you..."
"Don't get too attached, what if I die next?" The dragon laughed.
Your lack of response made him huff. "I'm joking. Sadly for you, I don't plan on dying any time soon."
—
Diaval had done you the favor of walking back to the battlegrounds you had been taken out of suddenly. Being released from the infinite Tsukuyomi came suddenly--causing you to fall over onto the floor the moment you regained consciousness.
"Ugh," You groaned, your chin hitting the floor directly. You were sure it managed to rattle your brain, taking you a few seconds before you sat yourself up--rubbing the sore spot on your skin. Diaval held back a witty remark at your sloppy recovery...
There was a snicker behind their words. 'You okay?'
"Best I've been in a while, actually..." You rubbed your chin a bit more, getting up from your fall. There was a weight in your pockets that caught your attention.
You pulled out both of the lacrimas, holding one in each palm. "What do I do with these...?"
"The only thing you can really do is destroy them." He replied. "Or you could keep them, I guess. But it's like having their braindead bodies around at all times... Blehh."
"And besides, destroying them means no one else needs to have a [Firstname] story 2.0." He added his two cents. Hey, wait, since when did he actually say your name?
That... Was a tough choice. They were technically alive, but Stings botched Jutsu ruined them to the point they may as well not be anymore—but there had to be a chance to bring them back to how they used to be. And a '[Firstname] 2.0 story' would be nice to avoid. Maybe at some point in your life you'd done bad things, but you'd like it if you could avoid having anyone else live like that. In the way that you were born solely to satisfy some guys hunger for power, indirectly cause a massacre and go on for the rest of your life in shambles.
Don't get all in your head about it... You tried to remind yourself. If someone was braindead, there was nothing you could do. There was nothing no one else could do, either. You were the only one that knew these dragons personally, now. No different than your family. They might've known the title, but they'd never know them.
You had accepted it from a young age that you were the one carrying on the title of your clan. So you had to be serious about it now. You weren't a little kid anymore... You were eighteen!
Eighteen...
Hey, weren't you supposed to become a bazillionare at eighteen? To think you'd almost let yourself die before that! But there were a lot more things in life that you had to look forward to now.
"How do I destroy these?" You asked. There was no sense of wind coming from the light blue one, belonging to Kaida. And the black one didn't have a single swirl of darkness to radiate from it—the darkness that usually swallowed everything whole was more like a dark grey. No life, no spirit.
"Well, they're dragons. And you're a dragon slayer." That sentence seemed familiar, who had said that before? "Just put a little bit of firepower into it." He advised.
You sucked in a breath, trying to gain the courage to actually do so. "Oh, I forgot, when you do release it it's gonna release a lot of power. You know, so they can be reborn into little babies in stuff." He added.
"What?!?" You blurt immediately. "You could've said that a lot sooner!" If you'd known that they'd be reborn you probably would've broken them a lot sooner!
"In my defense, you didn't—"
"I didn't ask, I know!" You interrupted him, all too familiar with his comeback. "And by... reborn into babies, what do you mean? Like, they'll be actual babies, or some babies gonna be the host of them?"
"They'll be reborn into actual baby, uh, dragons, Don't know when, though. Maybe a year from now, or in a hundred—maybe a thousand years." He responded. "It's always a bit random. You may never see them again in your lifetime, but they'll be back."
That made you feel a little bit better about what you were going to do. Even if you were never going to see them again... It was like your brother and sister—although you never met one of them, will still live on somehow. And then they'd have a second chance at life, and actually live. Now that you thought about it...
"Don't you want to be free, too?" You asked Diaval. Maybe you didn't want to know. Diaval was a free spirit, clearly always doing things the way he wanted too. There was no way he wouldn't say yes, and then you'd—
"Not really." He replied. "If you wanna kick me out, that's another thing. But if your askin' me, I'm real cozy in here. It's not like being held in captivity too me." That reassurance made you happy to hear—maybe that was something you needed to hear right now.
"Then... I'm glad." You replied with a small smile. "Then... This blast won't do anything to anyone when I destroy these, right?"
"Well... It might get windy—and there might be a blackout for a second. So I bet you'd just freak people out for a moment." He chuckled in amusement, no doubt thinking about all those poor soldiers that thought the war was finally over get cast in darkness again.
"You're such a schemer." You commented.
"Pretty sure that trait of mine rubbed off on you, too." Well, you had to have some sort of male figure in your life! Though, it would've been much better if you took after Guy Sensei, really.
Well, to Kaida and Kakuju one, or a thousand years from now... I hope you'll remember me. You gathered the two orbs close together in your hands—closing your eyes at the amount of force you put into pressing them together before you put some 'firepower' into it as Diaval had advised.
You almost missed the sparks and sparkles that sprinkled out and faded into the air due to the gust of wind. Diaval had completely down played it by describing it just as 'windy,' it was strong enough to nearly knock you over—you had managed to keep your footing someway. You wouldn't even be surprised if your hair looked crazy after that, it had gone on for so long all you could really do was brace yourself and keep your eyes closed.
You steadied yourself after, adjusting your clothes that got rustled in that burst of energy. "I think that was a little more than just windy," you commented to your dragon.
'Cut me some slack. It's been a while since it last happened!'
There was a lingering darkness that took a bit longer to fade, but once it did—it was bright out. You were about to look for your teammates, but you didn't actually have to put in any effort into finding them, since they were the ones that quickly found you.
"[Firstnameeee]!" Lee announced his presence before you actually saw him. He had been helping Neji carry your sensei--that looked beat up after battle, but Lee let him go to run up to you. In the process, Neji got knocked over with the lack of balance and got smooshed under his Sensei:
Neji groaned at the sudden move. He wasn't exactly in the shape himself to get up and recover after running out of chakra, like, thrice in the two-day-long war—also, he was pretty damn sure his arm was broken.
Lee was still fast himself despite everything, of course, he was exhausted, but the three of you finally being back together again in a happier setting gave him enough of an adrenaline boost to knock into you so fast that you were unable to avoid the direct headbutt he gave you.
"Augh! Damn!" You cursed, your head rearing back at the impact—your hands going over your forehead now. Surely, had Lees forehead not been covered by his bangs, he would've had a bright red sore spot. "I missed you too Lee, but ouch!"
"Sorry!" Lee quickly apologized. "I got carried away! I am just so happy we are all together again! We lived throughout the war!"
"Yeah..." A relieved smile formed on your face. He was right, you all made it through. And really, that was all you'd ever wanted. "But we made this promise a while ago." You recalled.
Neji inevitably recovered from being crushed by Might Guy--and met up with the two of you with an annoyed look on his face. "That our three-man squad would be forever," Neji recalled. "Which makes me wonder; why did you suddenly dump Guy Sensei on me?"
"Hehe, oops." Lee rubbed the back of his head, quickly slipping back under Might Guy to help Neji keep him up. You couldn't help the small smile that remained on your face. That bright future you yearned for didn't seem impossible at all.
Though, when your eyes drifted down toward your Sensei, you took a step back. "Holy crap! What happened to Sensei? Is he... Alive?!" You panicked, a hand over your mouth.
"He should be," Neji murmured. The topic of death was a sore one after losing his uncle. He didn't like him all that much, but they were still related. "Naruto performed some sort of Jutsu on him that kept him alive. Though I'm not sure his recovery will be full." He deduced.
"No!" Lee denied. "We must stay positive! There is nothing Might Guy can't tank! Surviving the gate of death... Oh, Guy Sensei! Every day I'm reminded why you're such an inspiration!" Lee said emotionally.
Neji couldn't help but sigh at his overreaction. 'You'd think he would at least wait until Guy Sensei recovered to get teary-eyed...' He thought to himself.
"Well that's a relief..." You sighed, "So... You guys got caught up in that dream thing too, right?" You asked. "What did you guys dream of?"
You were genuinely curious, your teammates' dreams... You might've had a vague idea... Neji's could possibly be about his clan--and as for Lee, probably about beating up his rivals and being the best ninja ever, or something.
Though, they didn't seem as eager to share their dreams as you were to hear them.
"I'd rather not say..." Neji dismissed the topic. Okay, fair enough... He always was the secretive type.
"Ah, well..." Lee looked off. "I defeated my great rival Neji! And Naruto, too! But that will not be a dream for long... I will make it come true!" He declared. Just about what you expected--even through he had been a bit more hesitant to start with than you would ever expect. He was the type to confess anything--a guy who couldn't keep a secret for the life of him.
Even though nobody asked, you told them about your dream, too. "Mine was..." You looked for a word. "...Warm?" You didn't know exactly how to describe it. "Ah, well... You guys were there. Everyone was there... But you guys were all different. Like some sort of uncanny valley."
"Mm," Neji hums. "Well, the two of you were in my dream, as well." That was all he was willing to spill.
"And in mine of course!" Lee assured, but that left a bit of a hole in his story.
"I thought you said your dream was defeating Naruto and I?" Neji questioned.
"..." Lee thought for a moment. "Well, [Firstname] came in afterward and congratulated me of course!" He explained. It did seem like something he would dream up.
"Well I probably would congratulate you.." You agreed. "If that were real."
That perked Lee up, immediately turning toward Neji. "Neji! We must fight! Right now! This will be the day I finally defeat you!" He declared with a fire in his eyes.
"Absolutely not..." Neji immediately shot him down. "We just finished fighting in a war, you'd think that'd be enough for you for a decade..."
"Hehe... You may be right..." Lee eventually caved, "I will save it for later, then! But I will still be waiting for it!"
"I'll be expecting it..." Neji sighed. The sight of them getting along so well had gradually become so normal. The old times when you and Neji would butt heads for him throwing an off-hand comment at Lee that offended him. It'd been so long since you were able to smile so bashfully that it nearly hurt your cheeks to continue doing so. But a real smile was hard to force and get rid of.
It wasn't long until Shisui found the group of you guys, he must have been stuck in a dream too--you wondered what a person like Shisui would dream about. He never really told you his dreams... You figured it could be something about his clan--you knew he cared a lot about it. Or the village? He never told you what he truly loved outside of those two, other than...
...
... Anyway.
"You guys are okay," He sighed out, putting a hand over his chest as if it had really been hurting that bad. "But [Firstname]! Where'd you end up going? I was worried when you disappeared out of nowhere." He diverted his attention to you entirely. That made your teammates look at you too.
Clearly, they wanted to know, too--but didn't want to bring it up in the lighthearted moment. Their concern was reasonable, you had been zapped and poof, you up and dissapeared. You wanted to ease their past concerns by saying something like; 'well you didn't have to worry about me being dead!! If I was, Shisui would've flopped over and died I think!' Or 'you just wouldn't remember me at all if I did die!' They both seemed stupid to say when the hundredth scare of your life being in danger was already over; damn, you really put these guys through a lot of stress.
"I can't really explain it..." You put a hand to your chin. "He was like me, his attacks were all light. So I guess it was like some sort of speed of light situation, he hit me with those a bunch of times." You commented.
"He did?!" Lee gawked ludicrously, a fire in his eyes. "Just you wait until I come across him!" You were pretty sure Neji rolled his eyes.
"Well, he's dead... So..." You glanced at the floor awkwardly. Technically, it was Diaval that had done it—but you weren't innocent from murder, either. You had a few lives under your belt.
"You sound ashamed when you say that." Neji pointed out. "But it was inevitable if he only had it out for you—it was a kill or be killed situation."
"So wise!" Lee agreed. "I am only glad that you are alright..."
"Isn't it... Kind of tiring?" You asked them. "I mean, I've scared you guys with the threat of my life, like, a hundred times."
"Sure, it was stressful.." Neji started. "But it was the same for you, wasn't it?" He asked.
The question was so unexpected, you were sure a question mark nearly flew out of your head. "I mean—well, uh... Where'd you get that idea from?"
"A hunch, I guess." Neji shrugged. That was less of a 'hunch,' and more like mind reading! How could be even think that up? It would be a weird thought, unless...
You turned your attention to Shisui, who only gave you a sheepish grin. If he could explain it to your face, he'd say something along the lines that he couldn't bare the thought of your teammates actually thinking you were doing it out of malice. It was hard to actually think they would, they'd known you longer than he did, after all.
You should really thank him. He was there just as Diaval had been—but out of his own free will from the beginning. You could spend the rest of your life trying to pay back the kindness, loyalty and devotion be had shown you for the past five years of your life and still not pay it back in full. Really, even if you were to suddenly become a billionaire or whatever—you'd still be in debt with the love your teammates and friends showed you.
Yeah, you had to thank your teammates, too. For putting up with you and still worrying about you time and time again—for believing in you despite the nasty look you'd given yourself. And others in the village—maybe not the village itself, they'd done some shitty things. But most of the people in it hadn't done you any wrong.
And honestly, spending the rest of your life showing them the same appreciation they had toward you didn't sound bad. It would be peaceful—and you wouldn't take it for granted. Diaval and said it himself, he wanted you to live a long, normal life.
And to start with that, you could get what you were thinking most out of the way. "Thank you guys." You began. "For a lot of things. I don't know where to begin with it, but I'll show you guys one day... Just how grateful I am to have you in my life."
All three of them were silent for a moment—simply staring. Your thought process of 'not being able to pay them back for the rest of your life' was shared. There were things you had done for them that no one else could've done.
That feeling was mutual.
—
"I kind of forgot my apartment got destroyed." You rubbed the back of you head, staring up to absolutely nothing where your apartment would usually be. Shisui was standing beside you—he was your roommate... So he had no where else to go, either.
"Slipped my mind, too..." Shisui answered honestly, a flat look on his face. "And what have you been up to after busting us out of jail?" He asked your cat, that had been laying around.
"Waiting for you to come back!" He answered. "This village was in ultra high security since we were in war, and I haven't been able to sneak a single can of heavy cream!"
"Well, your coat looks nice." You answered him.
That cheered him right up, going from angry to content in a matter of seconds. "I try. And... Here's your little book." He had spoken about it when he had busted you out of jail, but you never actually saw it.
"Uh... You been clawing at it, or something?" You asked. It had already been worn out, but it looked even more so now.
"No! You try keeping a book in perfect condition outside in the cold!"
"Sorry," you cringed, taking the book from him. "But I really appreciate it, Pickles. Thank you." You said geniunely. "What could I have done without you?"
That hit him right in the ego, you were sure he was grinning all proud.
You looked through the photos he had used to bookmark 'important parts', the first one was the one you took with Shisui and Wendy.
Shisui turned his head to look at you, no doubt believing your mood would immediately plummet and you'd start brooding and throwing like a fit like you usually did while he was on damage control—but you'd gone on a lot of self discovery.
You turned to look at him too, your eyes meeting. He had to clear his throat to snap himself out of whatever he was thinking about.
"I kind of didn't want to think about it, but we're still in so much trouble, aren't we?" You mumbled. Just thinking about Tsunades wrath had you nervous.
Shisui blinked—he had never seen you actually so... content? Maybe that was the right word, here. Sure, you weren't always brooding. But there came some sort of peace in your expression there never had been before.
"You're probably right..." He could imagine Tsunades angry face, too. "But it wouldn't be the first time we get in trouble together, right?" He grinned.
"I get the feeling it won't be the last, either." You told him honestly, "You put up with me too much. I don't know how you do that..."
"Well, if you saw yourself that way I see you, I'm sure it'd make a lot more sense." Shisui answered you with an earnest smile.
You were silent for only a second—finding the right words to say in response, the perfect way to thank him for simply having walked into your life, but before you could find those words, you were interrupted.
"Are you seriously flirting right in front of me?" Pickles asked. "I mean, don't let me interrupt your game, but seriously!"
"We were not flirting." You told your cat, leaning over to pick him up. "I'm taking you with me to talk to the Hokage. For emotional support... Try to look cute so they won't banish me forever, yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah..." He grumbled, slacking in your arms. "But you know that the fifth Hokage is retiring, right?"
"What?!" You nearly dropped him. "Why?!" Your cat shrugged. "So then who'll be the sixth!?"
"Kakashi." He answered you.
"Kakashi..." You and Shisui repeated at the same time, looking at each other. The two of you couldn't help but laugh.
—
"Oh wow..." Shisui blinked in surprise.
"Kakashi!" You blanked.
"That's me." He held his palm up in greeting, based off of how his eyes were closed—you were pretty sure he was smiling.
"Yes... But how?! Why?" You asked. "You're the Hokage?"
"What's so shocking about it?"
Like a million things. Wasn't Naruto the hero of the war, or something? Kakashi felt like such an asspull. Naruto definitely had to be above the age restriction, considering Gaara was Kazekage at, like, 16. Of course, the two villages were different. But why?!
"Nothing. Sorry." You replied. "I kind of came here to talk to you about the fact that Shisui and I are... Kind of homeless?" You told him. Hey, that wasn't even the first time you said that! Except it was for real this time. "And also... About how we're kind of escaped convicts? I mean, I figured it'd be useless to avoid talking about it..."
"You're probably right about that," Kakashi agreed. "There is a lot to talk about... But as Hokage, it wouldn't feel right to leave someone of our village and their..." He glanced toward Shisui, in which he grinned in response. "Friend? Without a home."
You forgot what a smooth talker Kakashi could be! If he so much as asked, you'd hand over your life savings due to his kindness! Even if your life savings weren't enough to buy you a hundred things from the dollar store.
"Things are gonna be really busy after the war... There are lots of tombs to make and bodies to bury for one.." Oh, right, a lot of people died. You found that your guilt with deaths were very selective. Due to the fact that everyone that had died were not close to you in anyway—you weren't even that saddened about it. Actually, when it was time to actually pay your respects and go there, you'd probably see a thousand busted ghosts... But you couldn't exactly say no to paying respects to the dead.
The new Hokage already looked stressed just thinking about it. Kakashi was more of the lax type; you completely understood why he felt so much pressure. Reason one why you wouldn't be Hokage; an insane amount of work. Reason number two; you wouldn't exactly be wrong if you said that the leaf village was a little evil, right?There was a bunch of shit they swept under the rug!
"You could help us out a bit. With abilities like yours, you can help identify the dead and give them a proper burial." He suggested.
Oh. Wow... No, you'd be so ecstatic to do that! Send off a bunch of ghosts whose eyes are hanging out and stuff... Wouldn't that be fun. You were used to seeing ghosts, but seeming them all messed up was never.. Not messed up.
Shisui put his hand on your shoulder, making you look at him. "It won't be so bad. I might not be anywhere near as good as you with the entire Poltigan-Seishingan thing, but at the very least I can ask their names, right?" He encouraged you. You may have forgotten Kakashi to be a smooth talker—but not Shisui.
"I guess it wouldn't be too bad." You relented. "If it'll help the village..." You rubbed the back of your head. You could use some brownie points right now.
You weren't really serious about ghosts with their eyes popping out, but there were real when you went out to do the Hokages request. It was kinda funny, you remembered rejecting their requests a lot—yet here you were doing nasty work out of guilt. (Mostly)
Paying your respects was a silent endeavor. And you were sure Shisui was weirded out by all the busted up ghosts mourning over their own graves, but he didn't say anything. He was a ghost, too! There was a point in time where he was walking around without an eyes and looking like Bloody Mary. Who could he judge?
And that came to the topic of his gratitude. There were so many things to thank you for—you couldn't understand it, but he couldn't understand how you didn't.
Neji and Hinata cried quite a lot—having lost their father/uncle. Not to mention the stress Neji must've been feeling—his uncle had died for him, a second branch member, and forced him to be the head of the clan. That was a whole bunch of twists and turns for the hardheaded bastards of the Hyuga clan to handle, you were surprised the elders didn't have a heart attack and die, too.
It was a brief talk you had with Neji that you'd seen him more stressed than he'd ever been in his life. No doubt in charge of picking up slack, identifying fallen Hyuga members and having to sit through rants and yells from the elders that he didn't deserve the title of clan head. No doubt Hinata would have his back through that, though. If what you heard was right, a Neji was actually chosen to lead the Hyuga during the war to begin with.
Neji wasn't the type to ask for favors and lots of help—but you had the feeling he was just about ready to get on his hands and knees to beg you to agree with his request had you not agreed the moment he brought it up. To remove the curse mark of everyone else in the branch family.
You were glad to do that favor for him—you had trained years to do it for even one person, after all. Nejis suffering had been one of the biggest motivations in your life, to free him from it. So to help the rest of his Hyuga family out that had been the same victims of the main branches horrible deeds was something you'd eagerly do.
The look on his face was one of relief after. There was a lot on his shoulders, and you managed to ease up some of that tension through a nod alone. To him, you were a great person—even if you didn't believe that.
Because, you found that Sasuke was possibly a better person that you. A wild thought, but the fact that he decided to willingly spend time in prison while you actively did anything to avoid it spoke volumes. He had dictated enough things in your life through coincidence, though—it was better to let him do what he wanted while you did another.
Kakashi got you a place to stay, you couldn't say it was better than your last apartment—it was pretty much the same. You wondered where Naruto would live from then on—the two of you were neighbors. Shisui decided it'd be better to not mooch off of you now that he was living and breathing, and opted to get an apartment next to yours. He'd love to go back to the Uchiha compound, but it had not only been destroyed by Pain—but it would be too different for Shisui to even consider it his old home.
You had quite a few talks with the Sixth Hokage. It wasn't like you were immediately let off the hook—but to be on the same level of security as Orochimaru was an insult. The search party for your sister had actually come back successful. You remembered burying her, so there had to be some sort of sensory ninja there.
Your DNA was a match. Which stumped everyone—if she was a real person, why was there zero record of her? It started the theory that there could possibly be more [Lastname]s out there, but seeing as every single village was now in accordance and peace, it was shot down quickly.
After an account from you, and digging through anything they could find—they deemed it was a good thing you had delt with her. Dying over a thousand times and managing to take her down felt like a miracle. And had she joined Pain in his assault, they figured the entire village would've been wiped out. And then some with the Sand village since that was her home place.
You wanted to say something; maybe something like, 'she wasn't a bad kid,' or, 'she wouldn't have done that much', but you had to come to terms that you didn't know your baby sister as well as you hoped you did.
It took a long time for things to settle from the war—which was when Neji actually managed to set up some sort of time for you to actually come and go through with his request. You found the compound to be a lot different through atmosphere alone. Everytime you and/or your teammates would come to visit, there had always been that lingering feeling of suffering and dread, but it was surprisingly peaceful. There were a few eyes on you when you came to visit, a few playful kids had actually come up to ask you if you were [Firstname]. Someone had to be talking quite a bit about you.
To see those kids with curse marks was a sad sight. Of course you knew what it was capable of, you'd seen it at least once more. But to see them so happy despite it, you knew that the Hyuga was in for great change.
There was no better ending for the Hyuga clan than this one. With the necessary sacrifice of an old hag.
Being emotionally stunted, Neji struggled with the words to thank you—but he eventually got it out with a bow. Sure, he was the head of the Hyuga clan now—but he'd always be Neji to you. Your sort of assholeish, arrogant, but underhandedly loving teammate.
Lee often dragged you to go visit your Sensei with him. Not that you had any real complaints about it. It was strange to watch your Sensei go from charred black to healthy. Tsunades and Sakuras healing really was out of this world—the only medic ability you had was getting possessed by some ghost.
Of course, to hear that your lively energetic Sensei that you'd looked up to since you were a child and looked at as a father was going to be permanently crippled was a blow to your teams slowly lifted spirits. He was always active, always working out, always in action—but all of a sudden, he couldn't be? You wished you could help in a way.
But of course, Guy Sensei was Guy Sensei. Even now when his students were grown and young adults, he managed to cheer you all up by proving he'd still be active until the day he dropped by walking around the room on his hands.
Some things never changed...
What did change, though, was the amount of money you had. When you said you'd be visiting the sand village months after the war ended, Shisui decided to tag along. 'Like old times', he said. He wouldn't be wrong, you supposed. The night you met was when you were paying your first visit back to the sand village.
Temari and Kankuro felt a bit awkward seeing you. The last time they'd seen you, they hadn't exactly been trusting of you. They'd said some rude things, but you didn't hold a grudge. You'd probably think the same thing had your sibling been trusting of someone who wore a terrorists uniform... Shisui managed to smooth things out with them easily. He was like a PR manager, always finding out ways to make people forgive you or have a lighter idea of you.
Gaara welcomed you with open arms,(not literally) he was always eager to have you around. His good friend from childhood—even if there was a fallout there. The two of you talked alone while Shisui was on Temari and Kankuro distracting duty. To go from scraping for dimes to being stinking rich was too fast of a change—you were pretty sure Gaara had to cushion your overdramatic fainting fall with his sand.
Your visit to the sand lasted a few weeks before you were back in the leaf village—walking in at least a million Ryo richer.
Quickly, you found out that you had no sense of money saving. You had invited all of your friends out to eat—all on you! You said. It actually surprised your teammates to see you buy so much, seeing as you were typically the stingy broke type. They weren't mad about it, though. They were happy for you, if anything.
The people around you were getting married. Fast. And so young, too! You had no idea what their deal was. You laid on your couch, staring up at the ceiling. Technically, you still were a shinobi—but being a more than millionaire during an era of peace didn't really leave you with things to do.
"Diaval, are we gonna die alone?" You asked, hands met at your stomach as you blinked idly.
'We? You mean you. It's your life, not mine!' He responded. How helpful. 'Besides, you've smooched a few people. You can't tell me you didn't like suckin' face with mister ghost lover!' He taunted.
"Shut up!" You sat up with an annoyed groan, cheeks hit. "Shisuis not even a ghost anymore, idiot. Hasn't been for like, a year now!"
'But seriously. There's a bunch of people out there willing to wait an eternity for you. I could name a few off of the top of my head...'
"Who are you kidding... You don't remember anyone's name."
'My point still stands. You're still a coward after everything if you can't even come to terms with your feelings!' Diaval yelled at you. 'And now you're makin' me talk about all this mushy stuff like some sort of prissy princess.'
"King and princess aren't too far apart." You quipped. "But I guess you're right..." You relented. It was an awkward thought, but you couldn't exactly prance around the topic of it when you were always around them.
"What should I even say, though?"
'I don't know. I know nothing about that stuff. But when Dragons are courting each other, it's common too—'
"Scratch that thought, I don't want to know." You interrupted him.
'But you literally asked me!'
"Oh, isn't that a rare occurrence."
—
SORRYYYY I was working on my haikyuu fic lol but this book is DONE!!!! omg... I'm kinda sad abt it😭a year and a few months in the working and I finally finished my first fic and it's abt a show with a bazillion episodes??? CLAP IT UP FOR ME
And the last song for this book is My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski clap clap clap thank you for tagging along with me and this book this long. writing for you guys and seeing all your supportive comments and theories and everything throughout all of it made it worth writing it all. ❤️
I hope to see you guys in future works, and the final chapters of character endings!❤️