The Messenger – Chapter Three

Gaara sighed as Hinata left, sitting on the windowsill watching her back. He was frustrated at himself for trying to be humorous. He didn't even know how to be funny! He walked to his stereo and shuffled the old cassette tapes around, looking for a specific classical tune. The tape itself was dusty and about to fall to pieces. Someone had ripped half of the label off of the tape. It was probably him, considering that the tape he was looking for was a composition by his father, the last Kazekage. He opened the slot and placed the tape in. The familiar clunk of the play button as he pushed it down soothed his newfound frustration.

"Ah..." he moaned, sinking back into his red leather chair in the corner of his living room and closing his eyes. He let the piano's soft melody envelope his body and mind. As the violin entered the song with a roaring crescendo, he saw the peaceful face that had graced his presence for the past two nights. Gaara frowned and opened and closed his eyes again. All he could think about was her face. Her raven black hair, her rice paper pale skin, and of course, her milky white eyes that hypnotized him with every glance. He rose from the maroon chair and walked to his kitchen. The cabinet was empty, except for a lone jar of queso that he had been wary about eating until right now. He was too hungry to care. Also, food would occupy him and his thoughts.

***

Hinata walked up to the front gate to look up to a sleeping Genma, one who was supposedly on watch duty. He snorted into his sleep and waved his hand a bit.

Hinata assumed that meant she could enter the gate.

Walking into the village, she spotted Kakashi and Sakura stumbling out of a bar together. In the back of her head she remembered that Rock Lee and Sakura were supposed to be together. She neared the couple and didn't bother to ask questions she might not want to know the answer to.

Kakashi spotted Hinata next to them and shot her a look that was part sympathy and something that was undecipherable. Sakura clung to Kakashi's shoulder giggling quietly, not noticing Hinata until Kakashi gave Sakura a look that made Sakura be quiet all together.

Hinata walked away, smiling to herself. She wondered if her mother was still awake as she wanted to tell her about the latest installment in her mission.

Finally reaching the Hyuuga Manor gates, Hinata opened the door to the manor to hear quiet weeping. She crept through the parlor to find her mother in a heap on the kitchen floor. She rushed over, comforting her mother by finding her face in the lump that was her body and looking at her eyes.

"What happened, mother?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Hiashi, he, he was-" her mother blubbered.

Hinata froze. Hiashi was her father. The only reason her mother could be so traumatized is if he-

"Papa!" She suddenly wailed, tears now freely flowing down her face. She remembered him when she was about five years old, pulling her legs into place to teach her the classic Hyuuga stance, and him tapping her on the shoulder every time she got out of place. She remembered that when she passed the Academy Exam, and passed through the line with her certificate, he gave her his headband, a sign of true pride.

However, she also remembered that whenever Neji was in the courtyard training, he would look wistfully at him. Once, she had eavesdropped during a Hyuuga branch meeting, and heard that after Neji's father died, her father wanted to take him as his son. Obviously, the rest of the clan said no, as Neji was a second branch Hyuuga. She remembered him being extremely angry, and slamming the table in protest.

Hinata cried out in pain, realizing that what her father really wanted was her cousin, and that he was never really proud of her. She ran to her bedroom and slammed the door. Hinata sat at the foot of her bed, her head in her hands. In seconds, they were covered in tears. A lantern turned on outside of Neji's room across the courtyard. A door opened and Hinata heard quiet voices.

"Poor Hinata. She doesn't even know that Hiashi was murdered by that heartless Uchiha Sasuke." A voice said with malice outside of her open window. Hinata stopped her tears for a moment to listen.

"The scum is already on the run. Of course, Naruto is defending him, saying that Hinabi-sama was provoking Sasuke and that he attacked Sasuke on fake grounds!" Her cousin explained. A stab of grief hit Hinata. Naruto still had a soft spot in her heart, but to have him linked to her father pained her in a way that was indescribable.

"I saw him exchanging intel with an Akatsuki. I know it." Neji told the person next to him. "It doesn't matter any matter now. He's a fugitive now, and he deserves to die."

Hinata's eye poured more tears. Could any of what Neji said possibly be true? Or anything Naruto said, for that matter?

Hinata didn't care at the moment. All she knew was that her father was dead.

A/N:

For the sake of the story, Hiashi taught Hinata when she was young, Not Kurenai.