Hikari; The Forgotten Otsutsuki

Chapter 21

The next day, I had decided to visit my friends at the hospital. Hitori-san had cooked us breakfast today, she felt that the responsibility should be on hers since she was the oldest woman present. Hinata gladly tagged along with her in the kitchen. Both of them seemed to get along well despite being distinct in their way--both shy in their own right. It took Hiashi-sama a while to get used to her so-called "bipolar disorder" but he didn't buy the strict monotonous facade at all, still, he played along.

Hitori-san was a shy person and she was giving out vicious aura and murderous vibes to keep people at arm's length. I could say she was struggling as she was only much calmer when it was just me and her around but she became restless whenever we were in the crowd. I had to somehow build a separate house for her.

After breakfast, the two girls were hanging out together and thus I had to go alone to the hospitals. I chuckled lightly to myself as I thought about how close those two shy girls had become. I wouldn't be so surprised if Hinata learned a few jutsu from Hitori-san. When I was arriving at the Hospital, I saw the familiar streak of pink and blonde ahead of me. I immediately shouted at Sakura and she jumped a bit before turning around.

"Hikari-kun?!" we high-fived each other. "What're you doing here so early?".

"I am visiting our friends, what else? Shall we?" I said as I gestured at the doors.

"I am surprised to see you without Hitori-chan," Ino commented and I let out a nervous chuckle.

"Ino, she is older than all of us combine, don't call her that in front of her not unless you want to face her wrath. Hitori and Hinata are hanging out together," I explained and both of them raised an eyebrow. I had to begin walking inside for our sake as we won't be getting anywhere if we just stood there outside the hospital. They had no choice but to follow me.

"Ehhhhhhh?!" Ino said and I had to laugh. Why did she found that surprising, I don't know?

"Stuff it, Ino-Pig. Hitori-san is his fiance, it made sense that she get along nicely with his sister," Sakura chided. There wasn't any hint of animosity anywhere and thus the nickname now was just a playful tease. There was a subtle difference in Sakura now, she held herself well and the fidgety self of hers was not as noticeable anymore. There must be something that had changed her during the exam and so, I was proud of her. We arrived at the first room of the day; Lee-Kun's.

Sakura was placing her lilies inside a vase by the window as I took my seat next to Lee's bed. He was still sleeping and we didn't have the heart to wake him up. I noticed that he had his hands and feet wrapped in heavy bandages and I had to feel curious about it.

"What happened to him?" I asked after a moment. I noticed that both of the girls turned sad at the question, seemingly unsure of what to say.

"I had lost to Gaara-kun in the preliminary exam, Hikari-kun," Lee suddenly said and we all jumped and immediately apologized because we interrupted his rest. "The doctors said I couldn't be a ninja anymore."

The air of depression was heavy. My Byakugan was activated and I took a detailed look at his injuries. His bones in the forearm and legs had shattered in numerous places. I bit my tongue at the extent of the injury, Gaara had shown no mercy at all. Couldn't blame him though, with his fragile state of mind and all.

"But Gai-sensei said that Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-sama will bring home the strongest medic back to Konoha and I look forward to training again," the boy said. His enthusiasm never seemed to fade despite his injuries and I couldn't feel much prouder at him. Sakura suddenly bowed at Lee. All of us shot her a puzzled look.

"Thank you, Lee-kun for your help in the Chuunin exam. If it weren't for you, and Ino's team, of course, I would be dead along with Naruto and Sasuke-kun," she said and we turned to Lee only to saw him smile widely.