Black Light (Naruto)

Chapter 25

Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter! 

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Silence. 

Utter, unnerving silence.

That's all that surrounded the clearing, although Hikaru very clearly heard the beating of his heart resounding in his chest. He flicked his tanto as Haku's head rolled to the ground with a wet thump, the mask slowly slipping off.

He turned cold eyes towards the genin, and slowly put the seal back on, minimizing his chakra once more. He leapt back into the trees, his KI fading, not caring about how the battle went. 

His mind was a chaos of oh god what did I just do and pure, blank apathy. 

A part of him told him that Haku was just another dead body. Another part of him insisted, that at one point, Haku had been a friend. 

His feet landed solidly on the bark, although he barely felt it. It was like he was floating, the world around him seemingly unreal, his bones aching but he couldn't sense it whatsoever. 

Silence. 

Hikaru sighed, his hands shaking as he cleaned off his red tanto, choosing to pretend like that wasn't someone that had been much, much friendlier at one point. He chose to pretend like it wasn't another one of his friends killed.

He was used to it anyway.

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Hikaru landed next to Kakashi silently on the roof, sensing for any awake genin. It was the first night in Tazuna's household, and Hikaru somewhat knew that Kakashi wouldn't be able too sleep. 

"Maa, maa, Hikaru-san, you can take off your mask." Kakashi said silently, flipping a page in his orange book. 

"I'm technically on duty." Hikaru said, although he let his henge fade, his hair going back to a brilliant crimson red. "Report?" 

"Zabuza escaped with the hunter-nin's body." Kakashi's voice was soft in the dark night. "After that we headed here. I assume you scouted the area?"

"Hai." Hikaru responded, although his hands shook briefly at the mention of Haku, but he crushed it down inside of him. 

It was worth it. 

If it meant that Sakura could live, it was more than worth it. 

"Hm. Well, you can probably go sleep- I told Tsunami-san that there was a guard the genin aren't allowed to know about, and she set up an extra bed roll." Kakashi responded breezily. "I'll wake you up when my shift ends."

Hikaru didn't know that he was tired until his body relaxed slightly, his muscles aching and his mind actually wanting to sleep in an unfamiliar place. But he would take what he could get. 

"I think I'll do that. One below us?" Hikaru asked, recieving a short nod from Kakashi, who was still pretending to be focused on his book. "Okay. Goodnight, Kakashi."

"Night, Hikaru-san."

Hikaru swung down and into the open window, seeing a bedroll that was very obviously not Kakashi's- it looked well worn and Hikaru's own looked majorly unused. He sighed softly, laying on top of it although the wind from the window was making him shiver slightly. 

He closed his eyes. 

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After being woken up - and almost attacking Kakashi had the jonin not thought to introduce himself first- with nightmares fresh in his mind, Hikaru left for the rooftop. It was about midnight, and fog was heavy in the air. It wasn't laced with chakra, so Hikaru had no concern for it.