Chapter 15 - Budding romance and Hattori Sayuri

The next day, Shinjo arrived in the flower field early, finding noone there. Hiding his disappointment, he moved on, found a sweet spot among the flowers and laid down.

...

After an unknown period of time, the sound of footsteps was heard. Kanae appeared in the flower field. Looking at the colorful scene, she smiled and headed into the field to relax. But soon her feet came to a halt, enamored by the beautiful scene infront of her.

Infront, laid a handsome boy, his hair sprawled among the yellow flowers, wind scurrying the petals onto him. He slept there peacefully under the shades of the flowers, a blue butterfly seated on his nose, gently flapping it's wings. More flying around him, bees buzzing about and small birds resting on his torso, drinking the flower nectar to their heart's content.

She stood there, her heart palpitating, her maiden heart wanting to shout like a horny fan, while also reluctant to disturb the harmony. Instead of excitement, her mood calmed down, a sense of peace washed over her. She approached carefully and gently sat down at the back of his head. She looked as his eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks, gently fluttering occasionally. The fair face, with a slight reddish glow was radiating with youth.

She leaned over, her black hair cascading down her sides like waterfall, shrouding the youth in a shadow and her gaze remained fixated, as if in a trance.

.....

At some time, Shinjo's eyes fluttered open. Looking at the beauty overhead, he was stunned. His breathing hitched at the sudden invasion of his privacy. His pupils dilated slightly, as he took in their ambiguous positions and at the realization, his heart skipped a beat.

He looked at the beauty whose face was was mere inches away from his, her eyes out of focus and her lips parted open glittered in a pinkish hue. As her breathe lingered softly on his face, he felt butterflies in his stomach. A wonderful feeling he had never felt before. He had the sudden urge to caress the soft skin that was within his hand's reach.

Afraid to disturb the scene, he stopped himself and just...

stared, enraptured and engrossed, bewitched and beguiled.

Time seemed to slow down. The buzzing of the bees faded, butterflies flew in symphony to the glittering scene frozen in time. The world seemed to have brightened a notch. The caress of the gentle wind, playing the orchestra of first love.

.....

December, 25 AV

Hattori patriarch residence

From inside the closed door, a heartrending scream of a woman could be heard. The patriarch was walking around anxiously in the hallway. The trio of elders were sitting on the porch, that opened to the courtyard in the middle of the residence, trying and failing to the calm the anxious father down.

The usuyal dignified, Hattori Hanzo was fidgetting, scratching his beard, worry and panic marring his wrinkled face. As if it was not a delivery of a baby, instead the torturing wait for the casualty report from war.

Shinjo was sqauting near the artificial pond, his hands gently stirring the still water, while his focus was on the dark haired maiden who was sitting with her grandfather. After that day, it was as though everything in the world had lost its significance. Only she mattered, as if his whole world had suddenly found its axis and revolved around her.

Kanae and Tsuki were sitting together, worry all over their faces as they heard their matriarch's painful scream. The boys, Souji and Shin were messing with a dung beetle in the courtyard, Daisuke having gone out on a mission. A hush had fallen over the courtyard and the only sound being the anguished cry of the woman.

Suddenly, the woman stopped screaming and a loud cry of a baby was heard, brightening the whole courtyard and the faces of the adults. The girls darted inside the makeshift delivery room and the rest followed.

In there, Shinjo saw his mother, a lot paler than before, looking at a shrivelled baby wrapped in a fat blanket. Kaemon rushed towards his wife, asking in concern,

"Dear, are you alright? Doctor, is everything good? No complications at all?"

Hana's face melted at her husband's concern, despite the newborn baby still in her hands. Only after the assurance of the doctor, he kissed her on her forehead and slowly and carefully touched the baby with his fingers. He felt like the king of world at the moment.

"She is so beautiful." Kaemon uttered softly, eyes glistening in slight unshed tears, as he looked at his baby girl.

Shinjo looked at his father, then at the baby, then back at his father.

"She is ugly." He deadpanned and blurted out.

Hanzo, jumping behind the boy smacked the back of his head and said comically, "Brat, what do you know? She is the most precious thing in the world." With that, he bypassed his son and snatched the bundle of flesh from him and cradled her in his arms. One would have never thouht the once feared shinigami would become a henpecked grandfather.

'How is she the most precious?' Shinji muttered, his eyes inadvertently drifting to the girl standing on the other side of the bed and looking at his sister. Her every curve of lips, every roll of eyes, every furrow of her brows seemed ro etch themselves in his memories, never leaving him a moment of respite. He averted his eyes, his adam's apple rolled down and his heart beating erratically.

"What's her name, Kaa-chan?"

"Sayuri, her name is Hattori Sayuri." Hana muttered with love and affection as she looked at her daughter. Turned to her son and gently said,

"You're a big brother now, Shin-chan. You have to take care of your sister at all time. Keep her from harms and treat her well."

Shinjo nodded vigorously and patted his chest "Umm..hmm.. Don't worry, Kaa-chan, I will protect her with my life."

.....

Tobirama had come along with Sarutobi Sasuke, Hyuga patriarch, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi patriarchs and lastly Uchiha Kagami, to convey their congratulations to the Hattori Patriarch, the next day.

Uchiha clan didn't have a clan leader yet, and was governed by a council of elders. So as a representative and a disciple of the second hokage, Kagami came along. Not to mention, Hattori Shinjo was one of the pupil he was in charge of.

After a buffet and a short meeting in the hall, they all left, leaving behind plenty of gifts.

At night.

It was the time of celebration. The hattori clan welcomed another member, a cute addition, Hattori Sayuri. Everyone gathered, left everything aside and enjoyed the feast and booze.

The young mingled with the young, drinking sàke occasionally and reminiscing. Kaemon sat among his contemporaries, his face almost split into two. The oldmen, Hanzo and trio of elders sat together, laughing uproariously, drinking booze as if their life depened on it. They were the only old generation remaining in the family, so they didn't give two shits and drank to oblivion. Children ran about laughing and screaming, eating whatever they could get their hands on, their joy knew no bound.

Firecrackers painted the night sky in colorful lights. During the warring states, they would live in the dark, both due to the nature of their job and possible ambush from their enemies. They lived in seclusion most of the time. Whenever did they have such courage to celebrate openly? This was a novel experience for the old and young, all the same.

Shinjo sat on the porch of his courtyard eating a rice cake and cradling his baby sister in a bundle of clothes, muttering sweet nothings to the wide-eyed infant. Her eyes full of curiosity gawked at the fireshow.

Her mother silently came out of the room. She was a senju after all. She recovered completely within the same day. Her face morphed into a small smile as she looked at interaction between the brother and sister, her own blood. With eyes full of love, she sat down next to them and watched the fireshow together.

.....

It had been a few days since his sister was born.

Shinjo had come to the konoha central market to buy some baby products. While browsing through the market leisurely, he saw a pendant, a blue jade stone in the shape of an octahedron, 2 inches long and 1/4th of an inch wide, looking slender and enchanting. It was on display on one of the shelf. It was hooked to a black colored metal chain, clearly of high quality. In the sunlight, the pendant was gleeming.

"Mister, how much is this pendant?" He asked the shopkeeper.

"Why, if it isn't ninja-sama. For you, I will give a discount, totalling only 5000 ryo." The shopkeeper replied with a cunning smile, palms rubbing each other.

"Wrap it up." Shinjo who was already thinking about giving it to Kanae as a gift, was completely oblivious to the fact that he was being ripped off.

Her birthday was coming up on December 30th and he wanted to give it to her and maybe try holding her hand. He blushed at the thought and quickened his pace.

It was said that if you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

Just as he was leaving the shop, 10 meters ahead in the crowd, he saw her. Despite the crowd and she being partially hidden, he still recognised her at a glance. His body felt full till the throat. His steps became lighter and face glowed. Avoiding the crowd in a trance, he reached in front of her.

Kanae, busy talking to her teammates, an Uchiha and a Hyuga stopped and look to the front, when she saw her teammates staring ahead.

There, she saw the boy of her dreams. Caught off guard, her face flushed with blood, she stood straight, puffing up her budding chest, slid her bangs behind her ears and turned her face to the side. Trying her best to show her best version of herself to the boy she loved.

Then she looked at his hands, holding a luxurious dark wooden box, which he hid in a hurry.

"Ah, Shinjo-kun, what are you doing here? Here for some shopping for Sayuri-chan?" Kanae rattled off. Without waiting for his response, she introduced her teammates.

"This is Uchiha Nagito and this is Hyuga Junpachi. We just returned from our mission and came here to have lunch." Turning to her right and left, she pointed at the Uchiha kunoichi and Hyuga shinobi. They both looked at the boy infront of them, who had such an effect on their teammate, who was often calm and rational during their missions.

"This is my childhood friend, Hattori Shinjo"

"Ah pleasure meeting you, Hattori-san" Uchiha Nagito replied with a smile while the Hyuga shinobi just nodded.

"Nice to meet you." Shinjo replied off-handedly.

The uchiha wittily suggested, "Since you are here, we will leave you two to it. I have to hurry home anyway. See ya." With that, she rushed off. Hyuga Junpachi nodded and left too.

"Kanae-chan, do you want to grab a lunch together?" Shinjo, thankful for their cooperation, smiled and suggested.

"Okay, shall we go to the Akimichi BBQ?"

"No, let's have some street food. They are the best in this market."

A 7 years old boy and a 9 years old girl left side by side, off to their involuntary date, a radiant smile playing on both their lips.

.....

Two children stood at BBQ stall, with a pork skewers in each hand. While blowing on the skewers, Shinjo chattered on about his recent A level mission.

"So when the guy took a step out, *Baam I sprinted and slit his throat. Then *Baam the charms exploded, I jumped out and shunshined at high speed. You know my speed, even the jonin wasn't my match." Shinjo gesticulated with his hands full of skewer meet, wildly infront of the girl who had a look of fascination, what she was fascinated about, only Rikkudo Senin knew.

"Then another jonin and a chunin. They managed to surround me. But I fought on. Injured the first Jonin with a kick, I was so fast, he couldn't even react. Then I created an earth wall and jammed it into the other jonin's stomach. You should have seen the look on his face. Hahaha."

"Hmm? From what I heard from Hana Obasan, you were injured in the shoulder and had to be rescued by Kagami-san" Kanae wittily remarked.

"Nandatö? She was lying. Don't you know? Kaa-chan only knows to embarrass me." Flustered, Shinjo replied forcefully.

"Hahahaha." Laughter echoed in his ears like Tinkle bell, as he turned back and his indignation turned to undisguised desire.

Probably embarrassed by the staring, Kanae cleared her throat, "Ahem, so you were saying?"

Blushing a little, Shinjo turned his face and continued,

"So what, the jonin wanted to stab me in the heart. Then the other jonin and chunin were attacking. So he managed to find a dink in my defense. But didn't I react and managed to deflect the kunai? Do you want to see my scar?" Shinjo stared expectantly. Kanae blushed, "No , maybe another time."

Shinjo eagerly nodded, making her blush even more.

"Oh you got some oil on your face. Hold on" saying that, Shinjo, all of a sudden extended his fingers to wipe her face, totally forgetting his hands were also oily. So that only spread the oil more. Kanae, caught off-guard stood rooted on the spot, her face now almost dripping blood.

Shinjo in his attempt to wipe the oil, felt how elastic her face was and in a daze, he started rubbing her cheek more and more. Kanae who let him have his way, had steam coming out of her head from overheating, when she noticed the ambiguous smile from the Cart owner.

Realizing what he was doing, Shinjo quickly took his paws back and got a tissue from the stand, "Sorry, I messed it up even more." And started wiping it again.

"Its okay" Kanae replied in a tiny tone, suddenly losing her voice.

"Ah, are you sick? Do you have a fever?" Shinjo saw her face red and totally hot at this point. He placed his now cleaned hand on her forehead and the other on his head and moving his head closer to hers to compare their temperature.

Kanae's legs weakened from the proximity. She suddenly pushed him away, shouting, "I am fine. Mou. You idiot" and ran away from there.

Shinjo followed after, shouting "aareee? Whats wrong? Kanae-chan!!!?"

The cart owner sighed in emotion, "Ah how good it is to be young!!" And tended to his own business. "Damn, the brats didn't pay. Hey get back here, you naughty brats!!" He shouted and ran after them.

.....