Strength Chapter 4, a naruto fanfic

Uni is a giant piece of poo. For one class, I have nine assignments. Nine! Ugh, this isn't okay. I'm considering changing to an update once a week, as it doesn't look like my other story will be posted any time soon. What do you all think?

Infinite thank yous to those who reviewed, I give you love and chocolates and all things yummy.

MadameBeast
Tamani
WarFlower
KaOrU HiMuRa24
guest
xJustxAnotherxGirlx
Witchy Bitch
KiunoNamu
Guest – Take that up with Narutopedia. Luckily I've made her 3 years younger instead of her canon age :)

Chapter 4

The archives resembled a vast library, with files, small and large, being held in cabinets ordered by name and date. A lone man, with wrinkles creasing his skin and glasses perched on a long nose sat at a desk, writing something on a piece of parchment.

"Uh, excuse me?" Hinata said quietly in an effort to garner his attention. The man stuck up a finger in a silent gesture asking her to wait, and continued writing. Hinata bounced quietly on the balls of her feet, trying to not let her mind think of the time. She had gotten lost a few times, and hence had only forty-five minutes remaining before she was due to start teaching again.

What felt like aeons, but was probably only moments later, the old man raised his eyes in curiosity to Hinata, a silent question emanating from them.

"I um… I was wondering if it was p-possible," she stuttered, feeling her face heating up in slight humiliation. Damn this cursed stutter, she thought. "C-could I look at the birth and d-death records from fourteen years ag-go?" She closed her eyes, annoyance with herself winning out. She had barely stuttered in weeks, and yet here she was, her nerves raking themselves through her body, displaying themselves in their most patronising form: her stammer.

But the man just smiled kindly and nodded his head. "Anyone in particular you're looking for, miss?" he asked, his voice wheezy in old age.

Hinata nodded, taking a slow breath to compose herself. "A woman by the name of Hyuuga Hana, and if possible, someone else by the n-name of Hyuuga H-Hinari." She cursed her stutter quietly as the old man stood and wandered into the depths of the archives.

Hinata's eyes didn't leave the clock for the full fifteen minutes it took for the old man to return, and he handed her two small files with a kind smile.

Hinata thanked him, then sank down onto a nearby metal bench. Slowly, her hand quaking, Hinata opened the file that had her mother's name labelled in bold script.

There was a photo, and Hinata recognised her instantly from the old photos that her father sometimes kept dotted around the house.

It was without a doubt her mother.

Her eyes slowly perused over the rest of the information.

Name: Hyuuga, Hana
Sex: Female
Cause of Death: Cardiac Arrest during Childbirth
Time and Date of Death: April 3rd, 17:26pm
Age: Twenty-six
Family: No Information
Duration of Sunagakure Residency: Four Months
Occupation: Medic

Shuddering, Hinata closed the file, a tear squeezing itself from the corner of her eye. Gently, she placed it next to her and picked up the file labelled Hyuuga, Hinari. Her heart was beating a tattoo against her ribcage, but still, with great trepidation, Hinata opened up the file.

There was a photo there too, of a baby. It was tiny, the photo probably taken soon after it was born. It was wrapped in a pink blanket, with two small hands balled into fists beside her face. Her cheeks were still discoloured, and the barest fuzz of midnight black hair licked her scalp. The barest chink of white peeked out from underneath her closed eyelids. Hinata felt a deep sense of loss, staring at the child. She had had a sister, another sister, for just a moment. Hinata's eyes looked down at the details.

Name: Hyuuga, Hinari
Sex: Female
Cause of Death: Premature birth
Date and Time of Birth: April 3rd, 17:20pm
Date and Time of Death: April 4th, 7:41am
Age: 14 hours
Family: Mother: Hyuuga, Hana; Father: Unknown
Weight: Two pounds, one ounce

Hinata felt like she was going to be sick. She couldn't take her eyes off the photo of the small child. Questions were swarming through her head, but one was screaming the loudest.

What did the file mean by 'Father: Unknown'? Surely it should say 'Hyuuga Hiashi'!

Hinata couldn't make sense of it, and managed to close the file before standing on shaking legs. She glanced at the clock and (if possible) paled further. Her class was due to start in five minutes!

She raced back to the desk where the old man sat, and he looked at her kindly.

"I hope you found the files informative?" he said, taking them back with gnarled fingers.

Hinata nodded, feeling she might be sick if she opened her mouth, and raced away, up to her classroom.

Everyone was already seated by the time she arrived.

"S-sorry," she panted, peeling her sweaty hair away from her forehead. She walked to her desk and got the files out. "So today, we'll be looking at different breaks and fractures that can happen to our bones," she said mindlessly, and turned to the board.

"Good thing we already know that," piped up a voice that made Hinata grind her teeth.

"And how would you already know that?" Hinata said through clenched teeth, not turning around.

"Because you already taught us this," said Nise, and Hinata could hear the smirk in her voice.

Hinata was not a violent person. In fact, to most who knew her, she was the very definition of subdued and peaceful. But she felt that, if she was allowed, she would have happily throttled Nise.

It didn't matter if she was right. All that mattered was that she was a stuck up brat, and Hinata felt the deepest sense of loathing towards the girl.

Finally, Hinata turned to face her.

It would have been so much easier to hate her if Nise was stupid, or ugly, or rude to anyone else. Instead, she was top of the class, was easily one of the most attractive girls Hinata had ever laid eyes upon, and was the most pleasant of people to everyone else in this accursed village. Even the class loved her! They viewed her easy attitude as 'cool', and she had risen to popularity very quickly.

Oh, Hinata loathed this girl.

Nise rubbed her electric blue eyes and grinned at Hinata in a way that made the girl's blood boil. It was almost like a ritual, this consistent eye rubbing, and it annoyed Hinata more than she would ever care to admit. If that was Nise's only flaw, Hinata would focus on it and drag as much hate from it as she could.

Damn pretty, smart, popular Nise and her damn eye rubbing. Kami, she hated that.

Hinata had never felt so petty, but then again she had never exactly hated anyone before either. Not even Hanabi. But her daily Nise-filled dose of humiliation was more than enough to ignite that flame.

"If you would please let me finish, Nise, you would know that we are going to be revising this and every other topic we've covered so far in preparation for the end-of-month test."

Nise narrowed her pretty eyes at Hinata, then shrugged, turning away to look at the rest of the class with an easy smile. "Do what you will," she said, smirking. "It's not like any of us really care, anyway."

There was a light smattering of snickering throughout the room, and Hinata balled up her fists in anger and humiliation. She wanted to shout something smart and witty that would make the class respect her, but dammit, why wouldn't the words come? Instead, she turned back to the board, fighting tears. The morning had been too emotional already. Hinata didn't think she could deal with a screaming match against someone who would probably (inevitably) win.

Finally, what felt like a lifetime later, the clock chimed twelve, and Hinata dismissed the class for their half-hour break. She slumped into the chair at her desk and put her head in her hands, thinking about the information she had gathered that morning, attempting to piece what she knew together.

Her mother had, according to Sunagakure's files, died when she was five years of age. She had died during childbirth, and that child had died a few hours later due to being premature. The child may or may not have been her father's. However, according to Konoha and her father, Hinata's mother had died when she was four years of age, in Konoha, and definitely not due to childbirth.

The only way Hinata could think of getting answers was by asking her father. Surely he, of all people, would know something?

Hinata pulled pen and paper out of her drawer and began drafting a letter.

Most respected father,

Hinata screwed up her forehead and crossed the line out.

Father,

Feeling the line sounded far too severe, she crossed it out too.

Hey dad!

Hinata almost laughed at the reaction that line would receive, and crossed it out.

Dearest father,

She felt that that was the best she would get, and continued.

Dearest father,

The other night I was walking through Suna's graveyard with the Kazekage Gaara-sama, and you'll never guess what I found.

Hinata blinked, and crossed the line with a shake of her head.

Dearest father,

As you are aware, I am currently working in Sunagakure for a period of six months.

She nodded. That sounded formal and pleasant and mindless enough.

Dearest father,

As you are aware, I am currently working in Sunagakure for a period of six months. During my stay here, I stumbled across something very unsettling. Can you tell me why mum was buried in Suna? And died due to childbirth?

"No, no, no," she berated herself, and crossed out those last two sentences.

Dearest father,

As you are aware, I am currently working in Sunagakure for a period of six months. During my stay here, I stumbled across something very unsettling. It was brought to my attention that my mother died in Sunagakure fourteen years ago due to childbirth. So why the hell have you

Hinata growled and crossed it out.

Dearest father,

As you are aware, I am currently working in Sunagakure for a period of six months. During my stay here, I stumbling across something very unsettling. It was brought to my attention that my mother died in Sunagakure fourteen years ago due to childbirth. As I'm sure you understand, this news is very disturbing to me, as I have always been led to believe by you, you lying

"Stop making this so personal!" she scolded herself, and continued.

Dearest father,

What the fuck, dad?

She laughed, and crossed that out too.

Dearest father,

It would be most appreciated if you could please inform me as to why mother is buried in Suna and not Konoha.

Sincerely, your very pissed off

Now she was just writing that to be stupid.

Dearest father,

It would be most appreciated if you could please inform me as to why mother is buried in Suna and not Konoha.

Sincerely, your daughter, Hinata.

Reading through the scribble, she felt that she had a reasonable skeleton of a respectful letter. And just in time, too, as the class began to file in. Hinata sighed and, putting the draft away, began to start teaching.

The end of the day couldn't come fast enough, and Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when the last student left. She was exhausted, emotionally, mentally and physically. There was nothing she wanted more than hot food and sleep.

"Did you find anything?" said a voice from the doorway, and Hinata turned quickly to see the form of Gaara standing at the entrance to her classroom, arms folded in front of his chest.

She nodded her head, confused as to how he knew this was her classroom and why he was here in the first place. Shouldn't he be busy with Kazekage duties?

"I can't stay long," he said as he walked into the room. Hinata gave him a look, wondering if he hadn't somehow read her thoughts. "I'm supposed to be at a meeting in five minutes."

"W-why are you h-here then?" she asked, cursing her stutter, then coloured, not sure if he would take her tone as rude.

"Curiosity," he said simply, and stood in front of her desk. He was silent after that, and Hinata realised that he was waiting for her to tell him what she'd found.

"Oh, um, I looked in the, um, in the archives," she said, tripping over her words and scrambling through her drawers for the draft letter. "It was – uh – definitely her. Sh-she died in childbirth, and H-Hinari died a few hours later. She was, um, premature."

He nodded, and Hinata took that as a cue to continue. She was glad that the room was getting darker, so that he wouldn't be able to see her slowly reddening face.

"I'm going t-to write to my father and s-see if he knows anything." She practically threw her draft letter at him in her nervousness, and then wondered why she was so nervous in the first place. An exasperating end to a tiresome day, she figured.

She watched as his eyes skimmed across the letter, and swore she saw the edges of his mouth perk up on a few occasions.

"I'd suggest re-writing it before sending it," he said simply as he handed it back to her, and she nodded in agreement. "Have you been in contact with your friends since coming here?"

"Y-yes," she replied. "Sakura and Tenten and Ino send m-me a letter every week."

"Not Naruto?" she stiffened at his name and hoped Gaara didn't see it. "You've been in love with him for years, haven't you?"

"No," she snapped back, a little too aggressively. "I-I mean, things change."

He gave her a peculiar look, but didn't comment. "I'll be walking through Suna again tonight. You're welcome to join me, if you'd like," he invited, and Hinata was taken aback by the sentence.

"I, uh…" she didn't know quite how to respond, but felt it would be rude to deny an invitation from the Kazekage himself. So she nodded. "I'd like that."

He gave her a light nod before he left the room.

She had fallen asleep at her table, dinner gone cold and twisted through her hair and her final letter lying in front of her, when a knock sounded at the door. She was shocked awake and, pulling pasta out of her locks, decided that she would most definitely murder whoever had knocked.

At least, she would, if she were braver.

Well, maybe if the person was Nise she would punch her. But alas, Gaara stood there. He raised a non-existent brow and eyed the food sticking in her hair with amusement.

"I didn't intend to wake you," he said as way of an apology. Hinata swallowed a sorry and blinked the sleep from her eyes.

"I'll j-just get a jacket," she said, and darted to her room. On the way out she caught sight of her reflection – and just barely managed to grasp at tendrils of consciousness.

I can't believe I just greeted the Kazekage looking like this! she thought, fighting back tears and combing her hair with her fingers. One side had fallen victim to a cow lick, with pasta and sauce woven intermittently through the strands and over her cheek. She heard footsteps and hurriedly worked to make herself presentable. Father would kill me if he saw me looking like this.

He stopped at her doorway and she flushed. "I'm s-so sorry you c-caught me like th-this," she stammered. "I-I'm so embarrassed."

"Why?" he asked, and she nearly choked. Because half my dinner is caked on my head! "You've been working hard. You were exhausted. I should be the one apologising."

She shot him a look full of curiosity.

"I'm used to exhaustion. I forget that others experience it differently."

There it was again. That not-quite apology. A furrow appeared at the bridge of her nose just as she pulled the last of her dinner from her hair and deemed herself presentable enough to be seen in the Kazekage's presence.

"I'm r-ready now," she said quietly, and he nodded again.

He nods an awful lot, she thought, then followed him out the door.

Hey everyone. Thank you so so much to those who have left reviews on this story. Unfortunately the list of people favouriting and not reviewing is on the rise, and that makes me incredibly sad. By no means do I expect a review every chapter, but just one would really make my day. Hope you all have a great fortnight, and see you in two weeks!

- Sapphire xoxo