Chapter 59: Ch.58. Maka’s Tenacity

"I'm heading out!"

"See you later, Hii!"

Riku waved at Hii from the kitchen as he grabbed his backpack.

Hii headed out the door and started to make his way to the Academy.

He walked down his normal route until he saw the gates come into view.

As he walked towards the Academy, he noticed his classmates heading into to the gates as well.

"Hey, Hii-nii!"

Naruto ran up to Hii with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Naruto. Felling better?"

"Yeah! Nothing's gonna stop me now!"

"Good. Just make sure you're ready for Iruka-sensei's tests."

Naruto slumped over with a sad face.

"Uuuugh! I don't like his tests!"

Hii shook his head as he noticed Shizuka coming towards them.

"Morning, Shizuka-chan."

"Morning, Hii-kun. Thanks for looking after my brother the other day."

"Don't mention it. I would like him to stop eating so much ramen though. My allowance can't cover all those bowls."

Shizuka chuckled, and poked Naruto's arm.

"You'll have to pay him back someday."

"Sure! I'll definitely pay him back!"

"Why are you so loud this early, loser?"

"Haaa?!"

Sasuke came to the gate as well along with Maka. He already started fighting with Naruto as soon as they met.

"What was that?! I'll beat you soon enough!"

"Hmph! Keep dreaming."

Hii looked on with a wry smile as he watched the two fight.

'Man. Will they ever get along? Hmm?'

Hii looked over and saw Maka was looking at him.

"Good Morning, Maka-chan."

"Good Morning, Hii-kun."

The two looked at each other briefly until Shizuka clapped her hands, catching everyone's attention.

"We should probably head inside now."

"Ah! We're gonna be late!"

"No. Just you, Loser."

"Outta my way, Sasuke-chan!"

The two boys fought their way towards the door of the academy as Shizuka followed behind them while shaking her head.

"Come on, Maka! We better get inside."

"Wait a second, Hii."

'Hmm?'

Maka grabbed Hii's sleeve as she stared at him.

"........"

"Um, What's wrong?"

Maka's eyes suddenly flashed red as a single tomoe rotated in her eyes.

"Eeeh?! You have the Sharingan now?"

Hii was shocked to see she could use her Sharingan already, but he figured she'd unlock it eventually.

"....."

Maka just stared at Hii with a scrutinizing gaze before a small smile grazed her face.

"You fixed my eyes that day, didn't you?"

Hii freed his sleeve from her grasp and started to head to the academy.

"No idea what you're talking about. We should hurry up though. School's gonna start soon."

Hii quickly escaped to the classroom as soon as he could.

Maka shut off her Sharingan and quickly followed after him.

She came close to Hii's ear before they entered the classroom.

"I'm not letting you off. I will get an answer from you."

She opened the door as they both went to quickly find their seats. 

Class soon started as Iruka came into the classroom and started going over a lesson on good placements for traps in case of pursuit by an enemy ninja.

Hii was deep in thought as the class started.

'Should I tell her about what Akumu did? Telling Naruto is one thing, but Maka...'

Hii debated whether he should tell her or not, but ended up shaking his head.

'There's no rush. I'll just take things slow.'

Hii decided to just pay attention to the lesson and ignored the gaze Maka had on him every once in a while.

**********

Hii walked out of the classroom once class was over with a shadow lingering behind him.

He sighed and turned around.

"Maka-chan."

"Yes, Hii-kun?"

"Are you going to follow me all day today?"

"If I have to."

"Haaaa~."

Hii sighed as he headed out towards the gate of the Academy with Maka behind him.

 "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"If you just answer me, I can be on my way~."

Hii shook his head as he slowly knelt close to the ground.

"Hm?"

Maka looked confused as Hii steadied his stance.

"What exactly are you-"

Lightning Armor!

Hii's hair spiked suddenly as he bolted away from Maka at high speed! His dash brought up a cloud of dust as he ran!

"Kyaaa!"

The dust settled as Hii disappeared from sight.

"......"

Maka looked in the direction Hii went with puffed up cheeks.

"Maka! Where did Hii go?"

Sasuke came out of the Academy and looked around for Hii.

Naruto and Shizuka had also come out at the same time.

".....He just left, and I'm gonna go find him."

Maka turned towards the three, making Naruto and Sasuke flinch. Shizuka had a hard time keeping a straight face as she saw Maka's ticked off expression.

"Do you guys mind helping me ask Hii a question?"

"....Sure."

"I-I don't mind."

"Hehehe. W-Why not? Hehehe."

"Great. Thanks for helping. I saw him run that way."

Maka pointed down the direction Hii went, but Naruto and Sasuke's face couldn't help changing.

'Ran?'

"Hahahahaha!!"

Shizuka suddenly bursted into laughter as the four started to look for Hii.

*********

Hii was swinging his sword in the training grounds, perfecting his form.

'It looks like I'll have the stance down quicker than I thought.'

"!!!"

He suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine and looked around the area, but felt nothing nearby.

"......"

Hii stopped his training and surveyed the area with even more scrutiny.

'I remember everytime I had a shiver, Akumu would come after me. The sensation was much lighter, so it couldn't be him.'

Hii had to thank his instincts numerous times before, so he couldn't easily dismiss the sensation he felt just then.

'I should probably hide myself, just in case.'

Hii put his sword away and headed to the nearby bushes as quietly as possible.

He waited in the bush for a short while before four shadows landed in the middle of the training ground.

"Alright! Time to find him!"

"Don't be so loud, idiot."

"Hehehehe."

"I'm sure he came here. He told me about this place before."

Maka looked around as Naruto, Sasuke, and Shizuka all followed behind her.

'So she still wants that answer, huh? I don't feel like dealing with her today.'

"Spread out and search. He shouldn't have known we were coming."

"Hehehe. You never know. Hii is surprisingly tough."

"You don't have to tell me that."

Sasuke and Naruto both checked the nearby bushes and trees with Maka and Shizuka, but they couldn't find anything after a few minutes.

"Where is he?! Did he actually come here?"

"....."

Maka ignored Naruto and stared at a nearby bush.

She slowly made her way towards it, keeping her steps light.

She suddenly shot into the bush, attempting to grab something!

"Gotcha!"

Maka entered the bush, but only found leaves and a grasshopper inside.

"Hahahaha!!!"

Shizuka couldn't contain herself and started laughing hysterically.

Maka's face became bright red as she madly looked around for any clues, but found nothing.

"Tch! He's good."

"Hey! Are these his tracks?"

"Where?!"

Maka flew over to Sasuke's location and started to check the tracks he found.

"I don't think he's here anymore."

"Hooo. I haven't had a laugh like that in a while."

Naruto shook his head and started to look over in another area.

Shizuka wiped the tears forming in her eyes and also headed over to another area to check.

The four looked around the area once more, but couldn't seem to find any trace of Hii.

"He must've just went home..."

"Should we go to his house?"

"That sounds like fun! I want to go!"

"...Hmph. Whatever."

Naruto showed a great interest in going to Hii's house, and even Sasuke seemed a bit interested in going despite his nonchalant attitude.

".... Not today. It would be weird if we went to his house without him."

"Really? I don't think Hii's parents would mind!"

"No. Let's head back."

"H-hey! Wait up!"

Maka denied the visit and started to head back to the village center. Sasuke and Naruto followed after her while Shizuka lagged behind.

"I really want to spar with you one of these days, Hii. See you tomorrow."

Shizuka looked behind her with a smile as she followed after Maka, suppressing her giggles as much as possible.

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The grasshopper inside the bush slowly made its way to the edge of the bush and watched the group leave.

Once the group was quite a distance away, the grasshopper jumped out of bush and landed on the ground.

*Poof*

"That was rather close. I'll have to be careful from now on."

He undid his Transformation Jutsu and shook his head.

"I'm lucky Shizuka doesn't care too much to reveal me. Shr must be able to sense chakra or something."

Hii gave a deep sigh as he silently headed back to his house.

He'd have to find a new way to get some training in if this kept up.

**********

Hii had underestimated Maka too much. 

Maka was sitting right next to him in class instead of Sakura. 

'I didn't think she'd switch seats.'

Hii looked over to see Sakura blushing lightly as she sat next to Sasuke.

His face looked quite confused as he didn't anticipate sitting next to a different girl.

Hii didn't have the time to look over Sasuke's situation. He had his own problems to deal with right now.

"Answer me. How did you heal them?"

"I can't let you know how. Can you let me go?"

"I really can't. Do you know how crazy what you did is?"

"Is it that important?"

"The Hospital nor the Clan could do it, but you could just fix my defect?"

"I'm a medical genius. What can I say?"

"You're not telling the whole truth. Your face tightens up when you lie."

Hii turned over to Maka who was looking at him as well.

"Pay attention to Iruka-sensei, not me. We're in class."

"We both know this subject. It doesn't really matter."

"That's disrespectful to Sensei."

"I'm sure you're just going to read your anatomy book again."

"I don't read it all the time."

"Hey! Can you two pay attention please?!"

Iruka came to the two with a sigh as he broke up their conversation.

"I know you two are both on the high end of the class, but quiet down so the others can learn as well."

""Sorry, Sensei!""

Iruka nodded his head and resumed his lesson on how to successfully sneak on floorboards.

"That was your fault."

"You could just save this after class?"

"You ran last time. What makes you trustworthy now?"

"Haaa."

Hii shook his head and decided to just pay attention to the lesson. 

'It would be best to ignore her.'

Hii tried to ignore her, but Maka kept kicking his feet to get his attention.

Hii kicked back while facing forward, leading to a battle beneath the table where neither of them actually paid attention to Iruka's lesson.

He, of course, got mad at them again.

***********

Hii finally saw how persistent Maka could be.

She followed him all the way to his favorite training ground again and decided to be his opponent on her own.

'She would actually be a good tracker.'

"How about this? If I win, you tell me the whole truth. If you win, I'll drop it. Is that fair?"

"....Sure."

Hii sighed and took his distance away from her as he prepared his stance.

Maka prepared her stance as well, watching Hii with eager eyes.

"Ready,set....."

Maka immediately started weaving seals before she finished!

"Cheater!"

Hii followed suit and weaved his own against her!

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

Water Style: Raging Torrent Jutsu!

*Boom*

The two Jutsu collided into a small explosion, creating misty steam over the  area.

Hii couldn't see Maka anymore and slowly watched his surroundings.

*Swish Swish*

Shurikens suddenly shot out of a nearby bush!

*Clang Clang Clang*

Hii blocked the shurikens and hid in another bush nearby.

The training ground became silent as the two maneuvered their way stealthly to each other.

'I don't want to use it, but it's useful here.'

Maka activated her Sharingan and slowly surveyed the area. She could see the bluish hints of Chakra from a nearby bush and grinned.

"Haaa!"

Maka leapt out and shot shurikens over to the bush.

"!!!"

Hii rolled out of the bush, dodging the shurikens as he charged towards where Maka was.

Maka charged towards Hii and started to strike at him ferociously with Taijutsu.

Hii calmly parried her moves and struck back, aiming to hit her weakpoints.

Maka dextrously dodged all of Hii's strikes and jumped back.

Hii noticed her eyes were red and frowned.

Maka smirked when she saw his expression.

"Hmph! You sure are motivated to keep your secret."

"Ugh! Can't we just drop it? I healed your eyes! I admitted it already! I just can't tell you how I did it."

Maka stomped her foot and came right up to Hii, staring straight into his eyes with frustration.

"That's the biggest problem! Why won't you tell me abou-"

"Maka!"

Hii dropped his sword and grabbed Maka's face with both hands.

Maka's face started to become redder and redder as she realized how close he was.

Hii took a deep breath and looked her straight in her eyes.

"I can't tell you how I did it, okay? I just wanted to help you get better at any cost. I found a method and I used it. I didn't tell you because I didn't want this to happen. Just....enjoy my gift, okay?"

Hii spilled everything out he wanted to say and let go of Maka's face.

'Hm?'

He noticed that Maka's face was beet red before she quickly turned around.

"I-I see. W-well, I'll let you off the hook this time then."

Maka seemed to be set on keeping her back towards him, but Hii could see her ears turning a bright shade of red.

"......"

Hii looked at Maka, circling her to get to her face.

She turned with each move he made, making Hii start to chuckle a bit.

"You know, you can be kinda cute sometimes."

"C-c-cute?!"

Hii swore he could see steam come off her face as she seemed to be panicking.

"Hey, are you actually okay?"

Hii tried to see Maka's face once more, but she quickly jumped away from him and onto a nearby tree.

"I-I'm fine! A-anyway! I have my answer, so I'll leave you alone! See you tomorrow!"

Maka quickly escaped into the trees and rushed home, leaving Hii behind with a confused expression.

'.....Well, at least that problem is solved.'

Hii scratched his head and started to swing his sword once more. He had to get some training in, at least.

**********

Hii headed back home after a bit of a short workout and found Kaya at the table.

"I'm back."

"Oh! Welcome back, Hii! Come give me a hug!"

Hii sauntered over to Kaya and hugged her, but she decided she wasn't going to let go!

He fell into her trap. Again.

"Mom?"

"I'm recharging my energy~."

Hii sighed, but let it be as he just leisurely enjoyed his Mom's embrace.

Kaya hummed a lullaby as she held her eldest son.

"Where is everyone?"

"The men are working as usual, and the kids are with Grandma."

Hii nodded his head, then decided to ask his Mom about his day.

"Hey Mom? Is it wrong to fix an injury people can't normally fix?"

"Oh?! What makes you say that?"

Hii decided to tell Kaya about what happened recently with Maka. He realized she probably have a better idea about what he shouldn't or should do.

Kaya looked at her son's face for a bit after he finished before smiling brightly.

"I see~! Do you heal her because she was hindered by it?"

"No. I think she's really strong to be able to stand up to her family and prove herself without it. I thought it wouldn't be right to just ignore it if I could help. "

"Uh-huh. Is she cute?"

Hii thinks for a bit and nods his head.

"Yeah, I think she's cute."

"Hmmm~! You said she's staying at Sasuke's house right now with Mikoto, right?"

Hii nodded his head.

"Hmmm~! Looks like I'm going to have to scout out her potential a bit."

Hii didn't know why, but looking at the serious face his mother had on  made him feel like he shouldn't have said anything to her. 

This feeling doubled over once Riku came back and smiled the same way Kaya did towards him once she learned about what happened.

Hii only had one thought watching the two whisper with a strange amount of energy

'I shouldn't have told Mom.'

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