I was in my room and busy sorting my stuff into storage scrolls. What an amazing invention, not as great as just having a pocket dimension to use, but at my current power level, that was impossible.
So storage scrolls it was, and they were still great; you could store truly massive amounts of things in the high-quality ones. In particular, you could seal scrolls inside other scrolls, which meant an enormous amount of items could be carried at once.
And I did have a large number of items prepared.
"Yuki!?" my mother asked from the other room.
"Yes, Mom?"
"Are you still preparing your equipment for your mission?" she asked.
"Yes, Mom!"
"That's not like you to do this stuff this late. Normally, you have your stuff prepared long in advance. Have you been spending too much time with Hiashi and your friends?" She asked with a slightly teasing tone.
I shook my head with a wry smile on my lips. "You know I have been given many missions recently, so I'm low on prepared scrolls, plus this is an important mission, so I need to fully prepare for it."
I could hear her scuff all the way from the living room. "Far too many missions, they are running you ragged, so many years now, and you still haven't given me any grandkids, even your father is getting impatient, not that he will say it, stubborn old man."
"Should I tell him you called him that?" I yelled back
"Ha! Go ahead, what is he going to do about it? Leaving for months at a time like this?" she said, sounding quite unhappy.
It was always like this when he was gone. My mother's irritation wasn't really about him being away—it was about being left behind to worry. She hated the silence more than the arguments.
"You know," she called again, her voice carrying through the paper-thin walls, "couldn't you just forget to take the medicine once? With how often I hear rumors about the noble clan heir being caught being intimate with his fiancée, my daughter, it wouldn't take a week before you were pregnant, that way they couldn't send you on more missions."
I almost dropped the brush I was holding.
"Mom!"
"What? Don't you Mom me. You think I don't know how these things work? I was your age once too."
I rubbed my temples before shaking my head. What was the point of getting angry now? What was done was done, and admittedly, I had tried hard to be noticed while together with Hiashi. "Just please tell me you haven't been watching."
"Oh, please," she laughed. "I might not be a Kunoichi, but I am still Hyūga and still have the Byakugan. Naturally, I have watched you two go at it; how else would I be able to rest easy? If you couldn't handle him, I would have to teach you, but my girl is truly the best."
I suddenly felt a little of the same embarrassment Hiashi felt whenever his father let us know he was very much aware of why he was behind on his work, and what he had been working on instead.
I groaned out loudly enough to know she heard me, and decided to continue to pack my things. This mission was indeed special and very important. More than ever, I needed to be fully ready for everything.
Once everything was packed in the scrolls, and scrolls in other scrolls, I finally looked around the room, checking if I had forgotten anything. After looking through the stuff still here, I nodded, satisfied that everything I needed and had planned on packing was packed.
Finally, I left the room and entered the living room where my mother was sitting reading a book. "Mom, I likely won't spend much time before leaving for the mission, going to see Hiashi now, and discuss this mission."
"Sure, sure, you discuss away." She waved me off, used to me doing this, I was, after all, an adult. "You're going to discuss this with your back on his desk? Or leaned over it? Or maybe discuss it outside? Next to some poor guard that has to ignore you?" she teased, causing me to leave in a hurry.
The trip over to Hiashi's office didn't take long; the guards barely spared me a glance at this point. They were familiar with me coming and going as I pleased, and often calling someone to clean up after I left, including cleaning the path I walked back home.
"Father, I don't like it, this mission, it's too reckless. The team is a mess too, it's no good, we shouldn't accept it." I heard Hiashi's voice come from inside the office as I neared it.
"I understand what you are saying, Hiashi, but there is nothing the clan can do that it hasn't already been done. This is a wartime S-rank mission; only I can resist the summon. I already had to fight hard to keep you out of the team." Lord Tatsuo's voice answered Hiashi's.
"Excuse me," I said, knocking on the door and entering.
Both men turned as I stepped inside. Hiashi's eyes widened slightly — whether from relief or annoyance, I wasn't sure — but he quickly folded his arms across his chest. Lord Tatsuo, as always, seemed unreadable, his gaze heavy but calm.
"Ah, Yuki-chan, we were just talking about you." Lord Tatsuo said.
Neither of us had a chance to respond before he started walking out, head held high and back as straight as a spear. "You can speak with Hiashi, he is quite worried about you, maybe even try to reassure him, just clear the desk before you do." He said as he closed the doors behind him.
Both Hiashi and I felt blinking in a mix of shock and confusion at his quick retreat. I could only imagine how long they had been discussing this for him to be that eager to leave.
"Damn, he really just did that huh." I couldn't help but mutter.
Hiashi nodded along, "Yeah, he sure did."
We stared at the closed door a moment longer before I sighed and crossed the room, sitting down on the edge of his desk. "So. Are you going to tell me why you were practically shouting at him when I walked up?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shoulders taut. "Because this mission is reckless. They're throwing together a team that doesn't fit, sending them too deep, too soon. And you—" His eyes flicked up, sharp. "You shouldn't be part of it."
I let out a sigh, because yes, he was right. This mission didn't feel right at all.
I sighed as I leaned back, kicking my legs back and forth. "Yeah, it's a strange mission, but you heard your father, this is an S-rank war mission. If I fail to show, if everyone on that list isn't there, it's straight on the missing-nin list for us."
Hiashi exhaled slowly, his jaw tight. "I don't care if it's S-rank, I don't care if they call it wartime necessity. You're being thrown into something broken, and if anything happens—" He cut himself off, shaking his head.
I leaned back on my hands, letting my legs swing off the edge of the desk. "If anything happens, I'll handle it. I always do."
His eyes narrowed, but there was a flicker of frustration and something softer underneath. "You make it sound easy."
"Doesn't mean it is," I admitted, smiling faintly. "But you and I both know there's no choice. Not unless you want me branded a missing-nin."
For a moment, silence hung heavy between us, broken only by the faint creak of the old office walls. Then Hiashi finally sighed, shoulders sagging in a rare moment of unguarded weariness.
"Just… come back, Yuki."
I gave him a little smirk, more confident than I felt. "Of course I will. Someone has to keep you from drowning in paperwork, after all."
After that, the silence was really thick and uncomfortable. So I quickly decided to end it. With a smirk, I spread my legs and changed the genjutsu a little.
Hiashi's reaction was instant; his eyes immediately zoned in on my coat, widened in shock, and his face turned bright red as he turned around so fast he would have made even Minato jealous. "Yuki! You! That!? I thought I told you, you should do that!"
I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. No matter how long we had been together, how many times I did something like this, he never got better at taking it, always entertaining me with his over-the-top reaction.
"What? What can't I Hiashi? If you don't tell me, I won't know?" I grinned widely at him as I spoke.
Hiashi has been through this many times before, and quickly turned around to face me, the veins around his eyes bulging as he activated the Byakugan, and looked at me, seeing right through the genjutsu.
"To not walk around the clan naked like that, covering yourself in a genjutsu, you do realize that for that to work, your chakra has to enter their network, right? Which limits the range it works at; if someone is outside it, they will see the truth!" he explained the facts to me as if I didn't understand them.
"They wouldn't believe their eyes," I snickered.
"They would! They would because you have done this before, and gotten caught!" He was panting, his heart hammering away in his chest as if he had been sparing intensely.
"They didn't call me out on it, so they didn't know, it was fine." I said, totally unconcerned.
"They didn't realize? Yuki, you were asked to explain the genjutsu in detail. After that, of course, they noticed what was going on. You were sitting there, in front of all the elders, wearing nothing!" he was so worked up I feared he might keel over.
I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction, even though I knew he was right. I had gotten away with it before, but that didn't mean it was a good idea to keep pushing our luck. "Fine, fine. I'll be more careful next time," I promised, though this was hardly the first time I had done that.
Hiashi took a deep breath, attempting to steady himself. "Fine, fine… It's my fault for not giving you the attention you need. I understand, just… wait, it won't be long now, I promise." His voice was pleading, asking me to be patient and trust that his words and hopes were true—that it wouldn't be long now.
I smiled at him but didn't say anything. "Since I'll be preparing for the mission, and given how critical this one is, I thought it would be important to come and say goodbye," I finally stated.
He sighed heavily. "I will be there when you leave in three days, no need to say goodbye this early."
I grinned and jumped up, stalking over to him and dismissing the genjutsu fully. Revealing my naked body, even to the non-Byakugan eye. "Hiashi, I came to say a proper farewell. You wouldn't want me to do that in front of everyone, would you?" I said as I pushed him back down into his chair.
I couldn't help but smirk as I saw the desire in Hiashi's eyes. I knew I had him, and I was going to enjoy every second of it. I reached up and slowly unbuttoned his pants, feeling the anticipation building in the room. I could see his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to keep his composure.
"Yuki, we shouldn't—" he started to protest, but I cut him off with a soft kiss on his lips. I could feel the tension in his body as I gently pushed him back into his chair, taking control of the situation.
"Shh, let me take care of you," I whispered, my breath hot against his ear. I could feel his pulse quicken as I trailed kisses down his neck, my hands slowly exploring his body. I knew he was mine to command, and I was going to make sure he knew it too.
(end of chapter)
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