"Burp~"
Aoba, who had originally planned to take Uchiha Hikari for one last meal of Ichiraku Ramen to wrap things up, suddenly heard a burp that sounded like it had slipped out uncontrollably.
He curiously looked in the direction the sound came from.
What he saw was Uchiha Hikari pulling the zipper of her down jacket all the way up, hiding half her face, leaving only her slightly reddened ears exposed.
But judging from her faintly bulging cheeks, she was clearly still eating.
"If you can't eat anymore, don't force yourself."
Aoba couldn't help laughing. After eating nonstop all the way, she really should be full by now.
Still, looking at it this way, Uchiha Hikari's appetite was already considered large, but she wasn't a bottomless pit like Hinata.
It was still within a normal range.
"Delicious."
Uchiha Hikari's answer was simple and direct.
"If it's delicious, then we'll come eat it again tomorrow."
Aoba smiled and took the snacks from her hands, "Eating too much at once isn't good for your body."
Uchiha Hikari looked at them a bit longingly, but didn't say anything, since it was all bought with his money.
She could only ask hesitantly, "Will you have time tomorrow?"
Aoba thought about it. Right now, the affairs of the Land of Fire were being handled by Tsunade on his behalf. If he skipped work again tomorrow, he would probably get eaten whole by Tsunade that night.
"I probably won't. But after we get back, I'll introduce you to a few friends around your age. You can come out and play with them tomorrow."
"..."
Uchiha Hikari pressed her lips together and didn't answer.
Even though they had only spent half a day together, she could already tell that Aoba was a good person.
He bought her pretty clothes and treated her to so much good food.
As for having ulterior motives.
She had no money, no power, couldn't beat him, and had nothing at all. What could he possibly be after?
So in Uchiha Hikari's eyes now, Aoba was simply a really good person.
'Then the people living together with Aoba should also all be good people, right?'
———
"You jerk, you actually brought another woman home again?"
However, the moment Aoba brought her back, the first one they faced was Yugito, bristling and hissing.
Uchiha Hikari instantly went on guard as well.
She wanted to reach for a kunai, but suddenly realized she had changed clothes, and everything she had been carrying was taken away by Aoba.
That left her feeling a bit at a loss.
Because she felt a very strong hostility coming from this woman who looked a bit like a feral kitten.
This was clearly someone who wanted to eat cream pies.
"Aoba-sama is already the daimyo now. Bringing more women home is perfectly normal. Yugito, you're being way too petty," Kin had almost made it a reflex to jab at Yugito.
That hadn't changed even with them fighting side by side heart to heart every night.
But their coordination was still extremely good.
Aoba felt that maybe he could have Samui teach the two of them some special techniques for using the Guillotine Drop of Absolute Lightning, to improve their relationship a bit.
Although Yugito should know it too, when it came to creativity, she definitely wasn't as sharp-minded as Samui.
"Hmph! I'm too lazy to waste words with you, you boob maid. You don't deserve to hear this either. Yugao, if you don't start managing this scumbag, sooner or later this Senju compound won't even have enough space just for all the women this scumbag brings back!"
Yugito didn't know how to argue back, so she could only turn to the other decision-maker of the household, Uzuki Yugao, for help.
Kurotsuchi and Fu, who were eating popcorn on the sidelines, 'Why does it feel like this has something to do with us too?'
Uzuki Yugao also looked a bit helpless. She glanced at the guarded-looking Uchiha Hikari and felt that this girl probably had her own story too.
After all, Aoba wouldn't just casually bring a girl home.
"Aoba, you should introduce her to us first."
Seeing this, Aoba went along with it and began introducing Uchiha Hikari's identity to everyone.
When they first heard that she came from the Uchiha clan of several hundred years ago, everyone showed expressions of extreme shock.
But after listening to Aoba's embellished account of her miserable life, they all fell silent.
Locked up in a prison every day, holding soldier pills in her hands, not a drop of oil in the food.
With no family left, freedom lost, tears turning into bitter water day after day.
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at Uchiha Hikari with complicated expressions.
But Uchiha Hikari herself was a bit confused, 'Have I ever told Aoba any of this?'
'And how could I possibly cry, let alone cry every day.'
But while she was confused, Fu, with her bold and outgoing personality, had already rushed over with tears streaming down her face and hugged her.
"Hikari-chan, sob! sob! sob!, don't worry, from now on, no one here will ever bully you!"
Uchiha Hikari was startled by being hugged so suddenly, and why was this person calling her Hikari-chan so familiarly.
She instinctively pushed the other girl away and then hid behind Aoba.
To her, aside from Aoba, everyone else here was a stranger.
Her power was still sealed. Right now, the only one she could rely on was Aoba.
Fu, who had been pushed away, blinked blankly.
Aoba wanted to laugh a bit and patiently explained to Uchiha Hikari.
"Fu has a pretty outgoing personality. And when she was young, she was also treated as a weapon of war by her village for a while, so she feels your situation very deeply."
Hearing this, Uchiha Hikari's eyes moved slightly as she looked in surprise at the wheat-colored girl in front of her, who had already put on a sunny smile again.
'This girl actually has experiences like that too?'
'And even so, she can still smile like this?'
This time, Fu didn't lose control like before, and she didn't mind being pushed away either. She smiled and extended her hand again.
"Hi, Hikari-chan, my name is Fu. Can we be friends?"
Being treated as a weapon by the village and being guarded against by the villagers was almost a shared childhood experience for all jinchuriki.
It was just that Fu was born with this kind of personality, and with Shibuki taking over as village chief and caring for her, her situation changed.
But Uchiha Hikari had lived in darkness for more than ten years in the past, then been sealed away for several hundred years, before finally meeting Aoba, someone willing to show her kindness.
So Fu genuinely felt sorry for Uchiha Hikari.
"..."
Uchiha Hikari hesitated. She could naturally feel that the other person had no ill intent toward her at all, but friends... After hesitating, she still reached out and held the hand that was offered to her.
"My name is Uchiha Hikari, but could you not call me Chan—"
"That's great, Hikari-chan. This should be your first time in Konoha, right? I'll take you around Konoha tomorrow and have lots of fun."
Uchiha Hikari originally wanted to correct how she was being addressed, but Fu happily interrupted her.
But when she heard the other girl mention going out together tomorrow.
"Um, I don't have any money," Uchiha Hikari said a bit embarrassedly.
"It's fine, I'll treat you!"
Fu puffed out her chest like a big sister and patted it so hard it resounded loudly.
Who knows if it would even grow any bigger in the future.
Anyway, Uchiha Hikari integrated into this big family very quickly.
Even Yugito, though she still looked like she couldn't be bothered, clearly no longer had hostility in her eyes.
And when Temari and Karin, who had been outside teaching Sakura and Ino plenty of "new" knowledge, found out about Uchiha Hikari's past experiences, they felt nothing but heartache as well.
Uzumaki Kasui was practically treating Uchiha Hikari like her own daughter.
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