The second chapter! Woo! (even if it's been months and I've started more new stories whoops) Welcome back! I hope you sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
DISCLAIMER: I own Hinari, and possible plot changes. Nothing else though...
Warning(s): Hinari being far more manipulative than originally intended but oh well, my continued issue with choppy writing, and the unintentional shoddy teaching of Shogi.
She approached the older girl, (cautiously, carefully,) with as much confidence as she could muster, "W-Why are you standing in the dark alone? I... I think that's a bit dangerous..." Hinari trailed off, curious.
"O-Oh, I suppose it is, right?" She laughed nervously, yet her tense form was eerily similar to a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Hinari saw that it seemed to be the perfect chance to introduce herself.
"I'm Uzumaki Hinari, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, dattebaze!"
"Uzumaki..? Y-YOU'RE ONE OF LORD SEVENTH'S HONORED DAUGHTERS!?"
Hinari's smile tightened, yet she (somehow) successfully kept a pleasant look on her face.
"Yeah, that's me. Could you keep your voice down though? It's not exactly something I want broadcast..."
"S-Sorry! I was just c-caught off guard, that's all, ehehehe...! I've seen y-your brother though, Boruto-kun."
"So, what's your name?"
"A-Ah, I'm Kakei Sumire. What brings you here, Uzumaki-san?"
"None of that, please. You can call me your savior!... or just Hinari, I suppose..." She pouted, acting her (physical) age for once.
Sumire smiled gently at that, offering a hand to presumably lead her to a safer, brighter area.
She took it.
Never bite the hand that feeds, right?
Hinari just has to wrap that hand around her little finger, and if that could stop the purple-haired girl from hurting her family, (and the village,) than who's to say she knew?
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"Aunt Sakura! I missed you!" Hinari said excitedly, burrowing her way into the older woman's arms.
"Ah, Hinari-chan! You've grown so much since I last saw you! I still remember when I delivered you and Himawari! Oh, Naruto was so nervous, and Boruto was only a toddler at the time!" Uchiha-Haruno Sakura, famous medic and one of the legendary Team Seven generations. Also, one of my precious people.
"Mama, you're going off topic again." Uchiha Sarada. The person I had shipped my brother with most Before, now that whole thing's slightly awkward cause I actually know them.
Still think it would be pretty cute though.
"Ah, you're always so helpful Sarada-chan!"
The mother-daughter duo was ignored for Uzumaki Naruto and Hinari seeing a familiar friend with a blue handkerchief tied above a green flak jacket.
"Konohamaru! Come over here!"
He looked up, seemingly distracted by something before Naruto called out to him.
"Naruto-niichan!? It's been awhile!" He grinned, the odd look on his face gone for the moment.
"Ko-nii!" She cheered, mentally comparing his child self to what she saw now.
"Hina! C'mere, you!" She ran and jumped for one of her famous tackle hugs.
"Oof!"
"Hima-chan! We should keep playing tag with Ko-nii too!"
"Nah Hina-chan, I think you should say something to the person who just arrived... Shikadai, right?" The physically older twin grinned, as the younger of the girls puffed her cheeks out in equal parts of frustration and embarrassment.
"Really Hime- I mean Hima? I already see him at my Shogi lessons though! Do you know how much he makes fun of me?" Hinari groaned. "What if he makes fun of me here, too? Hima... I don't think I could take it..." She reached up towards the sky dramatically, falling somehow in slow motion.
"Pfft."
A mark of irritation made its way to Hinari's face.
"I swear, if that's who I think it is..."
"Oh, that Shrimp is here too." She opened her eyes to find Nara Shikadai standing above her looking at her passively.
"For the last time, my name Hinari!"
"Whatever, Shrimp."
"Oh shut up, Pineapple."
As they continued bickering, Himawari whispered to her mother, "Their insults are food! Why would anyone get upset by being called food? Then they're literary calling you a snack, right? Snacks are good."
Hinata softly chuckled at her daughter's antics, and examined the boy near her youngest.
Smart, so he probably wouldn't mess up from a logical standpoint, but romance was up in the air. Everyone, (including Shikamaru,) in the Rookie Nine were just glad Shikamaru stopped being an idiot before it was too late, otherwise this child wouldn't exist.
Following that line of thinking, Hinata tried to picture if one of her own children didn't exist. Could she even imagine life without Boruto, Himawari, and Hinari? Every time, there would be a missing piece. They all had to be, needed to. It just... wasn't right if they weren't.
They were her children. Her pride and joy. What world could she live in, if it didn't have all of them in it?
My little crush had actually begun from Before, though it wasn't really a crush, merely parts of jealousy and admiration. Shikadai was able to both geek out, yet mostly be calm and lazy. Very similar to myself, in those aspects.
After Shikamaru had forced Shikadai to actually try to beat him in Shogi, his determination was really cool... Actually, it had been jealously that a fictional character would be so much more motivated than me when they were part of a so-called "lazy clan." Either way, I wanted to learn how to play.
"Oi, Shikamaru! You've met my little Hina-chan, right? Well, she said that she was interested in learning Shogi! Think you can do me a favor?"
"It's gonna be a drag, but I suppose. I've never heard of an Uzumaki wanting to play Shogi though. Sounds dangerous."
Naruto laughed nervously. "Well, it's probably from my amazing wife! Hinata was always so much better at strategy and all that than me, ehehehehe... So, can you?"
"Maybe she can even play against Shikadai, if he ever puts down that weird game console."
...and that was that. Naruto heard me ask Hinata, and ended up asking Shikamaru if he could teach me.
"Well, if you are gonna play Shogi against a Nara, you can't do it on an empty stomach!"
"Thank you Temari-san, but I already ate-" "Shh!"
That was the first time I'd ever, (in this life anyway,) seen Shikamaru genuinely terrified of the possibility of Temari's wrath.
It was rather amusing.
"Ah, none of that! Being called 'Temari-san,' makes me sound old... You can call me Temari-nee, Hinari-chan!"
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"So, I could move the Silver General here?"
"No, Silver General's move diagonally and forwards one step at a time. You're thinking of the Gold General, that one can move in any direction except diagonally backwards."
"O-oh, right, I knew that..."
Shogi was hard. I had already been bad at chess, though my skills in that were certainly better then my pitiful attempt at playing Shogi.
"Everything can upgrade, right? Like a pawn to a Gold General?"
"Yeah, everything apart from the King and the Gold. Though the Rook and Bishop can move like a King when promoted."
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"Is this far enough to be promoted?"
"It's the three rows furthest away from the player, Hinari. That's five."
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"...did you just win again with only pawns and your king?"
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"Can-"
"What's this kid doing here?"
"Hey, you're barely two years older!"
Shikadai had made his (rather rude) entrance and laid on the tatami mat.
"Shikadai...! If I just heard you insult our guest, you're grounded!" Temari shouted from the kitchen, her irritation obvious from her chakra that had been coming off in waves.
(And if his suddenly much paler face made Hinari feel extremely vindictive, well, who knew?)
Temari laid blankets over them, cooing at how adorable the kids were. She then whacked Shikamaru over the head for sleeping during a lesson. Granted, the other party fell asleep too, but she was three years old, it was kind of a given.
"Oww! What was that fo-"
She whacked him again, shushing him for almost waking up the children who's youth was much more obvious when they were asleep.
By the time Naruto came to pick her up from the first lesson, everyone was asleep on the mat. It was rather adorable, so he took it upon himself to take a picture.
That was the first picture Hinari had taken with the Nara clan, and it was certainly not the last.
How could it be, when Temari had already placed claim on her as her surrogate daughter?
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Finished! Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you thought it was semi-worth it! Whoops, I just realized I'm slightly writing Shikadai similar to Usui Takumi aghh-Shameless promo, but I have another Naruto story called Here I Stand, Again if you want to check it out. It's a Rin SI, (but different from all my other SI's,) if you're interested!
~ TheAngelicPyro