Hanging from my Family Tree




“I don't think we should do this...” Hikaru whispered.

“What are you talking about?  Aren't you supposed to be learning how to pick a lock?” Raiden asked as he sat crouched by the lock door, attempting to break in.

Hikaru sighed.  “Well, for one thing, what we're doing is definitely against the law, and I'm probably going to demoted from ANBU...”

Raiden snickered and waved his friend's worries away.  “You'll be fine.  Besides, I'm here.” He winked at the Kobiru before turning his attention back on the hairpin that he was using to jimmy the lock.

“That's what I'm worried about...” he mumbled.

“Hey!  Don't you have any faith in me?” He pouted, his back still turned on his friend.

Hikaru nodded, “Oh I have faith alright.  I know we're going to get in, get what you were looking for, and also get caught.  This usually happens.”

Raiden stopped and turned to look at him.  “I am hurt.”

“Am I wrong?” Hikaru cocked an eyebrow at him.

The blue haired man didn't say anything.  Instead, he simply turned back around and concentrated on the lock.  “Aren't you supposed to be on look out?” He questioned, changing the subject.

“I thought I was watching you pick the lock?”

“Be on look out!” He ordered in a hush tone.  If they got caught, the Mikokage would surely have their heads.

Hikaru rubbed his temples.  “I'm gonna get kicked out of being an ANBU I just know it...” he muttered as he peered around the corner, checking both staircases for anyone.  “We're still good.” He reported after a few minutes of scouting.

Raiden was leaning up against the wall, idly staring at his fingers.  He looked up when Hikaru returned.  “Good,” he smirked and opened the door with a turn of the knob, “because we're in.”

“Oh Kami...” Hikaru breathed and followed his blue haired friend.

Once inside, the duo were both a bit weary to turn on the lights—afraid someone would see—and so they carefully felt their way through the thousands of files.  What they were looking for would be hard to find in the dark, but what choice did they have?

“Wait!” Raiden nearly shouted and stopped in his tracks, causing the ANBU to bump into him.

“What the hell?!” Hikaru yelled back.  “Warn me when you stop!”

“Sorry,” he scratched the back of his head.  “I just remembered something...” Hikaru waited.  “Well, I have some matches on me.”

Giving the blue haired man a glare in the dark, he realized that didn't work.  “I don't want to know why you had matches...just use them...”

“You got it, boss.” He stuck his tongue out and struck the match, lighting the room up somewhat.

Hikaru glanced at the door, the fear of someone finding them starting to get to him.  After all, the duo was in the Mikokage after hours.  Being apart of the ANBU Hikaru was able to get access inside after Raiden repeatedly begged him to do so.  The lightning user had been talking to the Kobiru about his family, something rare and out of character but he'd been doing a lot of that lately.  Raiden had confessed to him that he was apart of the Yuki family—something Hikaru had never been aware of—but what was strangest of all was that he hadn't even confronted the Yukis yet.  Instead, his friend had come up with this dangerous plan to sneak into the archives and look the family up.  He said it avoided the awkwardness that would come with sitting down with parents who abandoned him.

“I don't know, Raiden...I think we should go...” Hikaru said once Raiden found the filing cabinet that held the Y's.

Raiden yanked the drawer open and shook his head.  “No way, man.  We've made it this far.  Besides, if you weren't an ANBU you would've done this.  Don't tell me you've forgotten our nickname?”

The Kobiru sighed and smiled.  They hadn't been called the “Destructive Duo” in a while.  In fact, it felt as if it had been a life time ago.  “You are such a bad influence...” he sighed and walked over to where his friend was crouched down, looking through file after file with a lit match in his hands.

After a few minutes of searching, Hikaru was the one that had found the file.  Raiden greedily snatched it up and saw written in beautiful black letters: Yuki.  His heart started to beat out of his chest as he simply held it in his hands.  Now that he had it, he was unsure if he should open it.

“What are you doing?” Hikaru asked.

“I...think this is worse...” Raiden muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing...” he handed the match to his friend as he started to open it.  “Now, let's see what's inside.” Opening up the file, he saw how cluttered it was.  There were documents that stretched decades old.  Reading the numbers were boring, though, so he didn't really pay attention.  He'd sat there for a while, looking through paper after paper, until a very familiar family name popped up.  “No. Way.” Raiden gasped.

Finally, after sitting there forever, Hikaru's ears perked up at hearing his friend's gasp.  “What?”

Raiden's jaw dropped in astonishment.  “You know how Hade treats everyone like family right?”

“Yeah?” The Kobiru didn't know why he brought up his older brother's hospitality.

“Well...” Raiden showed the piece of paper he'd seen to the boy.  Hikaru, too, had the same reaction—his jaw dropped and he nearly fell over.  “I guess Hade owes me some birthday presents.” He smirked.

There in bold letters were two names on a marriage license.  The man's wasn't important but it was the woman's which had surprised both boys.  The first name was smudged but the last name looked untouched by any hands.  It read: Kobiru.

“Well, on behalf of the clan, welcome to the family.” Hikaru chuckled.  Raiden had already received his welcome years ago.

“I wonder what else is in here...” Raiden mumbled as he rifled through the file some more.  He took an extra interest in marriages, considering the results they'd already presented.  They had to relight another match since researching was providing difficult for them, as well as boring.  Hikaru had started to doze off, leaning against a cabinet.  “OH MY KAMI!” This time, Raiden completely neglected to keep his voice quiet and shouted out his surprise—waking the half asleep man next to him.

“What?!” Hikaru asked startled and looked toward the door, waiting for someone to burst in.

“I'm—I'm—I'm—!” He stuttered.

“You're what?” Hikaru ripped the file out of his friend's hands and saw another marriage license, though this looked older as it was written in a different style and made it hard to read.  But eventually, he was able to decipher the name the lightning user had gasped at.  “No way...” Hikaru had to contain himself from bursting out into laughter.

“There's no way this could be right!” He protested.

“Well, it's here.  In big lettering.” The Kobiru snickered.  “You're related to Nagisa~” He teased.

“How many other people am I related to?” Raiden stuck his bottom lip out in a dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, Hikaru grew curious and started to sift through the file.  In less time than it would've taken Raiden, he'd found another interesting new family member.  “Um...Raiden...?”

“What now?” He still pouted.

“Nagisa's not the only one you're related to on Kan's team.” He snickered some more.

“Oh Kami...no...” Raiden grabbed the file and stared at the newest marriage license.  It, too, was old and written in the same scripture, but the last name remained untouched.  “N-N-Nagano?!  What the hell?!  How many people am I related to?!”

“That explains your eyes.” Hikaru teased.  Raiden had always had unusual golden eyes, and after finding out where their origin came from, it explained it all.

“I—Wh—What did I ever do?!”

“Aw, come on, it ain't that bad.” Hikaru pat his friend's back.

“That boy is a tease.” Raiden hissed.  “I can't even believe that Azuna would even think about joining his fanclub!” He threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Look who's talking?” He smirked.  “I mean, me too, but I know I'm a flirt.  It's my genes after all.” He grinned.  “And apparently yours too.”

“Alright!  That's it!  I'm done!  I don't need to know anything else!” Raiden stood up quickly.

“Really?” Hikaru cocked an eyebrow.  He was still sitting and had to look up to speak to him.  “Not even, say, the name of your birth mother?”

Instantly, Raiden came back down and crouched beside the Kobiru.  “She's in there?” He asked.  It was stupid, yes, but after all that he discovered, he didn't need anymore surprises.

“Yup.  Got her name right here.” He flapped the file back and forth, indicating its whereabouts.

“Give it here!” Raiden went to grab it but accidentally knocked the Kobiru's hand, knocking the match right out of his grasp.

Both boys stared at each other as the match caught on the loose papers on the ground.  Raiden's papers.  Quickly, they got up and went in search for something to extinguish the fire that started to spread as it caught on each loose paper that Raiden had tossed about.  His family tree was literally burning away.  It would've been easier if one of the boys possessed water chakra, but no.  That wasn't the case.  Panicking, they turned on the lights and immediately they found a fire extinguisher hanging by the door.  Raiden grabbed it and called for his friend to duck out of the way.  Unfortunately for Hikaru, he hadn't heard in time and ended up getting caught in the foam with the fire.

The flames died away and Hikaru walked out of the foam—but not without a white beard and hat attached to him.  Raiden burst out laughing, forgetting about what had just caught on fire, as Hikaru cast a glare at him.

“You should see your face!” He laughed.

“And would it be similar to the one that you're wearing?” A female voice asked from behind them.

Turning around, Raiden saw the Mikokage standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her busty chest.  She didn't look please with what she saw.

“Uh...” Raiden glanced over at Hikaru, hoping for something to cross between the two.

“I'm dead...I'm so dead...” Hikaru muttered over and over again.

“Don't worry,” Raiden placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.  “I got this.”

“Alright, explain.” Eimi demanded.

“Well, you see, Mikokage-sama,” Raiden always kept it formal with Eimi.  She was the only one he was truly terrified of, though he would never outwardly show it.  “Hikaru, here, needed a lesson in how to lock pick.  Naturally, I offered my skills but I was rusty.  I needed to test my skills and I knew that the archives had excellent locks.  So, before I taught him, I needed to reassure myself.” He grinned.

Eimi's eyes didn't lessen but she did shake her head with a sigh.  “You and your silver tongue...” she mumbled.  “You two, come with me.”

“I'm...not going to be kicked out of ANBU, am I?” Hikaru asked.  Being in ANBU was his dream, Raiden would feel awful if his friend was kicked out of his dream.

Eimi shook her head.  “No but you're not getting off lightly.”

The duo moaned.

“Don't give me that.”

“But Mikokage-sama~ I need to get home to Zu-chan~” Raiden moaned.  It wasn't entirely false, considering it was late at night.

“And I need to get home before Hade-nii notices me gone~” Hikaru mimicked his friend's tone.

Eimi looked tired, stressed even, and it was proof in her actions.  “Fine...Go...but don't come back.  If I catch you guys so much as ten feet in the direction of this building, I'm putting you guys in the “private” rooms.”

Raiden inwardly gulped.  He'd been in one of those rooms.  They weren't pleasant.  In fact, he had to do paperwork for a good ten hours.

“Thanks, Mikokage-sama!” Raiden winked and ran up to her, giving her a kiss on her cheek before leaving the building.  Hikaru wasn't too far behind him.  The night had been interesting but it wasn't over.  There was still that name that only Hikaru had glanced at.