After parting with Team 10, he strolled alone. While wondering where to kill time, a figure soundlessly appeared beside him.
"Crap!"
Mamoru hopped back half a step, then saw the sunglasses-and-high-collar Konoha fashion icon—undefeated Shino.
"Hmm…"
Mamoru rubbed his chin, he considered himself one of the village's style benchmarks too.
He asked, "How'd you find me? Bugs again?"
Shino dipped his head, his shades flashing in the sunset. "We've time before assembly, let's meet up with Hinata."
His lower face was hidden by the collar, eyes shielded by dark glass and no hint of expression leaked through.
"Let's roll." Mamoru agreed.
The two walked the crowded street, chatting idly.
Soon they stood before the Hyuga Main Family gates.
Mamoru craned at the plaque carved with "Hyuga" and snorted, "Calligraphy's so neat it looks like a three-year-old traced it stroke by stroke."
"Ahem…" Shino coughed.
"This is the Hyuga Main House, maybe tone it down."
Mamoru smiled, hands behind his head, swaggering across the threshold. A vast courtyard opened, a towering tree in the corner casting wide shade. Plain as it seemed, the scale and the three-sided two-storey mansion screamed noble wealth.
The moment he stepped in, a crisp "smack-smack" rang out. Beneath the tree, a small figure drilled seriously, fists pounding a rope-wrapped post with surprising force.
To Mamoru, her movements were quick and graceful, yet still carried a touch of childish awkwardness. He narrowed his eyes and already knew who she was—Hinata's little sister, Hanabi.
The arrival of Mamoru and Shino clearly interrupted the girl's focused training. Hanabi snapped out of her stance, her clear white eyes turning toward the two uninvited guests.
Once she recognized Mamoru, her gaze pinned him like a needle, and her crisp voice rang out with undisguised anger. "So it's you, rude jerk!"
Evidently his last "visit" had left a deep impression. She'd been pinned motionless to the ground by his Limitless and afterward thoroughly teased.
"You still remember me?" Mamoru lifted a brow, a hint of playfulness in his tone.
"How could I forget?" Hanabi's face was tight, the corners of her lips curving in a cold arc. "That fake smile of yours is disgusting."
"…"
Mamoru's steps froze and his eyes widened, his whole face stiffening, momentarily speechless.
Shino's lips twitched as he fought back laughter.
Just then, a maid in a traditional apron-kimono hurried over. She'd clearly been watching Hanabi's training, and the two visitors hadn't escaped her notice.
She stopped in front of Mamoru and Shino, bowed gracefully, and spoke in a gentle voice, "My apologies. Hanabi-sama is still young. If she has been rude, please forgive her."
"No problem. Kids say the darndest things." Mamoru waved generously, but his eyes unabashedly fixed on the maid.
Wow! A beauty!
A Hyuga maid with Byakugan? Nice.
"You're here to see Hinata-sama?" Natsu confirmed softly.
Shino gave a silent nod.
"Please wait a moment, I'll inform Hinata-sama." She bowed again, and before leaving shot the Uchiha boy a rather odd look.
What kind of gaze was that? Utterly improper.
"Nice." Mamoru murmured, eyes following the maid's graceful retreat, nodding with slight sleaziness.
"What're you staring at, lecher!" A childish voice shouted beside him.
Mamoru snapped out of it and looked down at the fuming Hanabi. "Brat, do you even know what 'lecher' means? Stop spouting nonsense."
"What did you say?" Hanabi bristled at his dismissive tone. "I haven't settled the score from last time! Dare to spar with me?"
"Shoo, shoo…" Mamoru waved as if shooing a kitten. "I'm not playing with kids."
"I'm not a kid anymore!" Hanabi straightened her tiny frame, trying to look more grown-up.
Mamoru looked her over again and let out a clear, contemptuous chuckle.
"What are you laughing at?" Feeling belittled, Hanabi grew angrier.
"If you want to play ninja games, go find your sister." Mamoru replied lazily, his perfunctory tone obvious.
"Looking down on me!" Hanabi's small fists clenched.
"That's right, I look down on you. What can you do?" Mamoru bent down, bringing his face close to hers, his grin openly provocative.
"I'll make you regret it!"
Hanabi's fury exploded. Veins bulged around her eyes, Byakugan flared, and she assumed the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist opening stance, her body brimming with fighting spirit.
"Mamoru, she's still a child. Enough." Silent Shino finally placed a hand on Mamoru's shoulder.
Mamoru straightened and shrugged indifferently. "Fine."
Seeing his complete lack of concern, Hanabi's last thread of reason snapped. "Jerk! Drop dead!"
Before the words faded, she shot toward him like lightning, palm strikes slicing the air.
Mamoru tapped the ground lightly and stepped back, casually avoiding. "Hey, I didn't throw the first punch."
Shino shook his head resignedly, apparently used to the scene.
"Well then, until your sister shows up, I'll play ninja games with you."
Once steadied, Mamoru's dark eyes were suddenly tinged with a mysterious, deep blue.
"Darn it! Take this!"
Hanabi darted forward again, her palm aiming straight at his face. Yet the instant her hand was about to touch him, the figure vanished. Startled, she sensed Mamoru's presence behind, spun, and struck, only for him to vanish again, reappearing a meter away at leisure.
"Why can't I hit you?"
Refusing to give up, Hanabi kept charging from every angle, but Mamoru always slipped away at the last second, reappearing in some relaxed posture just beyond her reach.
"Why can't I land a hit?!"
After repeated misses, Hanabi shouted in frustration, her face flushed red with anger and urgency.
"Don't rush. Try harder, maybe next time you'll graze my sleeve." Mamoru's hands stayed in his pockets, his tone as if commenting on someone else's performance.
The calmer he acted, the more Hanabi gnashed her teeth, her attacks growing wilder.
"Mamoru, Shino. Sorry to keep you waiting."
Just then, Hinata hurried out from the entrance, voice apologetic.
Mamoru glanced over.
"Opening!"
Hanabi's eyes flashed and she sprang like a nimble leopard, seizing the fleeting chance.
"Not a chance."
Mamoru finished the sentence casually, right hand flicking upward from his pocket.
Before her second step touched the ground, an irresistible force seized Hanabi and yanked her upward. With a short scream, she was flung into the air, the world spinning until only blue sky and tumbling rooftops filled her sight.
"Hanabi!" Hinata shouted, face full of worry.
Still airborne and bewildered, Hanabi landed in a warm embrace, wrapped in a fresh, unfamiliar scent.
"Dazed?"
Mamoru looked down at the stunned little girl in his arms, grinning triumphantly. He bent and gently set the still-dazed Hanabi on the ground.
"Hanabi, are you okay?" Hinata rushed over, knelt, and checked her sister with concerned hands on her shoulders.
At her sister's familiar voice, Hanabi finally came to her senses and whispered, "I-I'm fine."
"Was the ninja game fun?" Mamoru asked cheerfully.
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Hanabi's face, but she huffed and stubbornly turned away, refusing to concede.
Though Hinata trusted Mamoru not to hurt her, she only exhaled in relief after seeing Hanabi unharmed, patting her chest lightly.
"It's almost time, we should go." Shino glanced at the sky and reminded them.
"Mm." Hinata nodded quickly.
"No rush, being on time earns no prize." Mamoru remained unhurried.
As the trio turned to leave, the small but defiant voice behind declared, "I'll beat you for sure."
Without stopping, Mamoru merely glanced back lazily and drawled, "Do your best, then."