Title: Dead Stars
Summary: Onyx eyes meet emerald. "You will obey me, I am your father!" "And I am your daughter, the one you've always hated."
Disclaimer: I own a lot of things, Naruto is not one of them
Note: This is inspired by the latest manga chapters. Not much of a spoiler, but just read it with a mindset that the Uchiha clan is very much hated.
She did not cry.
She wanted to, but no.
Haruno Hinode does not cry.
Haruno Hinode will not cry, especially in front of this man.
oOo
It was a long time since Uzumaki Naruto found himself alone. Ironically, these were moments he used to resent. Now, he held on to these rare moments when he can reflect on everything…
He was not surprised, however, when he heard steady footsteps. Being Hokage was harder than what he imagined as a child, and extra responsibilities included being sought after by the villagers any time, especially with the war going on.
But he immediately tensed as he recognized the chakra.
"Hi-chan? What are you doing here?"
They look so much alike, he couldn't stop staring blankly at her. She inherited her strawberry blonde tresses, the porcelain pale skin, her determined emerald eyes…
"Naruto-ji-chan…" She breathed deeply. "I want to become a ninja."
He didn't know how to act. He made a promise, and he keeps his promises no matter what. But the same gaze that made him strong enough to make an oath was the same one daring him to break it.
"Hi-chan." He sighed.
"Please!!!" She was begging now. "Why couldn't I become a ninja?!!!"
Breathing deeply, he countered. "Why do you want to be a ninja so badly?"
"Okasan was a good ninja. She healed everyone. She fought for everyone. She protected everyone. I want to be strong like her. I want to be her!!!"
And that was the problem. They were so much alike already. For her to be in the war…with her ancestry… Naruto cannot lose her again.
oOo
It had to be an illusion.
His sharingan blazed. It was no illusion.
He never thought he would see her again. But there she was.
A split second, a blink, and she disappeared again.
oOo
"You're hiding something." She accused.
Naruto grinned at his daughter. "What makes you say that?"
"Hinode-chan would make a great ninja, but you turn her down with no plausible reason whatsoever."
"She is a civilian. What makes you think she can be a good shinobi?"
"She's not trained in the ways of a ninja, but she is well trained."
Naruto dropped the scroll he was reading, his eyes looked panicked. "What? How can she be trained?"
"I saw her on a race, she was fast and she did well in obstacle races. She jumps high, she has good coordination. She has fast reflexes and is very smart. She's better than the chuunins."
Composing himself, Naruto replied. "I'm hokage, let me judge if a person is competent or not to be a ninja."
"Exactly, you are hiding something. You taught me that any one can do anything as long as they believe. But you, you refuse to believe in her. Why is it?"
"If she becomes a ninja, she will die." It was a sure thing.
"Everyone dies, Papa. But you can't keep her from what she is meant to be."
As she left him at his office, Naruto pondered how a 12 year old could be so damn perspective.
oOo
She had dreamt of this moment for so long. This was the goal she strived to achieve.
After so many years, they finally meet.
He was her dream. But she was born into tragedy, and she has already chosen her ending.
oOo
He tried to be blind so many times. She was as stubborn as her parents, and she got herself into as much trouble as she could. No, it's not like was searching for trouble. The whole world was in trouble. Hinode just happened to be in places were the most serious incidents occurred.
And every time, she proved she could handle herself.
It was not only Her he sees. He saw Him in her too. And it was becoming too dangerous.
"She should have been killed from the beginning."
Naruto glared at the speaker. "That is not our way."
"Her blood is a curse. You saw her! She's like that murderer. Her eyes!"
"That's enough!!!" The council member trembled at the authority in Naruto's voice. "Anyway, contain any information on the affair. No one must know what happened."
He left for the hospital immediately and outside her door, Ino stood waiting for him.
"How could you stand being near her?" The blonde asked. "Every time I see her, I see the reason why my best friend died."
"Because…" Naruto opened the door and saw the girl sleeping. "She is the person Sakura wanted to live."
oOo
He remembered her.
He remembered the girl staring with awe at intricate toy.
He remembered the woman who gazed with tired yet loving eyes.
He remembered the woman, her emerald eyes hidden forever closed eyelids.
He remembered the girl, her emerald eyes crying, bawling out her weakness.
He remembered how his eyes bled, and the girl's eyes drooping.
Scarlet receded to onyx, meeting half close emerald.
Emerald eyes that no longer recognize him.
oOo
"Can I ask you for a favour?"
Naruto had finally conceded and allowed her to be a ninja. She never complained at any task given to her.
"What is it, Hi-chan?"
"Tell me about my father."
When Naruto didn't reply, she pressed. "You must have known him! Everyone talks about my mother, sometimes I feel like that she is still alive. But I don't know anything about my father! Nothing at all!"
"Your father…" Naruto breathed, unable to ignore the girl's rare tears. "He was an inconsiderate bastard. He had everything, and he appreciated nothing. He was a jerk." His fists clenched and he stared down at his companion. "But he was the only person who ever made your mother happy."
"Why did he leave?" She asks, after a moment's pause.
"Who knows how that bastard thinks." He replies, after a while.
And there was silence again.
"But he will come back?" There was hope and desperation in her voice.
"Of course." He replied quickly. "He will always go home." And he believed that too.
oOo
She knew her father was hated.
No one had talked about him.
She had believed that they hated him because he abandoned his family.
But then, she figured out some things.
Like how her birth certificate was hidden in the confidential section.
That she was using her mother's name. She never knew her father's.
That officially, she does not exist.
And she started asking why.
oOo
He didn't allow her to go on the mission.
Oh, he knew she was very capable. In two years, she has surpassed almost every ninja her age, and is at par with the most powerful. He knew that she could beat Him in just a few years. There was an inner drive within her. A determination that surpassed that of her parents. She was truly their daughter.
But no one must know that. He allowed her to be a ninja, but never gave her a mission that would jeopardize her identity. If people knew she existed, he had no idea what sort of bedlam would erupt.
And this was such a mission. His own daughter, Hinode's best friend, was in mortal peril.
But he should have never underestimated her stubbornness.
She left Fire Country for the first time. She saved her friend. She made the mission successful almost single-handedly.
He had never been so proud. He had never been so frightened.
oOo
He had heard about her, the Secret Ace of Konoha, the unknown who suddenly swept the shinobi world, giving both hope and fear.
He had cursed, wondering what the dobe was doing.
She shouldn't be here.
That's why he left.
oOo
They never told her anything. But she was smart, she figured things out on her own.
"My father is an S-class nukenin who brought about this war."
Her eyes were void of any emotion when she stated this. She was asking for confirmation and he nodded.
"Then I have to leave."
"No!" Naruto panicked. "What are you talking about? It's not safe for you out there! Why leave when you are safe here?" He was babbling. "Here you are protected! We will protect you! Out there, who will protect you?"
"Those people I am in danger from, they killed my mother. They tore my family apart."
"Yes." Naruto nodded, but the calm way the girl spoke scared him.
"Then you are asking the wrong question."
"Hi-chan?"
"It's not 'who will protect me from them?' It should be 'who will protect them from me?'"
And that's when Naruto realized that despite how she looked like her mother, she was truly her father's child.
oOo
She had often imagined how he looked like.
How would a man who abandoned his family look like?
How would a man her mother loved look like?
How would a nukenin who destroyed so many lives look like?
How would the man who destroyed her life look like?
And what would she feel when she saw him?
It has happened, and she still cannot answer her questions.
oOo
"Go home." Sasuke told her.
Hinode shook her head "I thought you would have figured out that we never had a home. Not in a world that refuses to accept us."
Onyx eyes meet emerald.
"You will obey me, I am your father!"
"And I am your daughter, the one you've always hated. The one you abadoned. I don't need to listen to you."
"You don't have to pay for anyone's mistakes!!!"
"But we have. And today, I will end it. What an Uchiha started, an Uchiha must end."
And Uchiha Hinode smiled, tears falling.
And the end began.
A/N: I was supposed to update my other fics, 'supposed' being the operative word. But instead this story kept popping out, and I had to write it!
This is a one-shot. It's a summary of a whole story, but since the main character is an OC, I don't know how that will work. Depending on the reaction, I might make this a multiple chapter fic. I suppose, I could have placed it on 'Moonlight Glimpses' but since the main perspectives were Naruto and Sasuke, I thought this would play out on it's own. If you've read my other fic "Turning Point' you may recognize who Naruto's daughter is. Consider this a companion fic, one of the worlds where Sakura 'died.'
Anyway, thank you for reading and please review! I would love to here what you think about this story.
~Chantrea