Chapter 6: A Long Weekend
The spacious Hyuuga compound felt empty as usual when Hinata entered it. Sometimes, Hinata wasn't completely sure if there was anyone inside when she got home, only to realize that there were servants and other members bustling about, if only silently. Hinata decided to first inform her father that she was back home. She made her way to her father's office, dreading the necessary interaction with him. Upon arrival at his heavy oaken doors, Hinata gave a quiet rapping knock. Her father soon gruffly answered. "Yes?"
"I just wanted to let you know that I am home, Father."
"Good. We will have dinner in a little while, and then after that you will be training with me and Hanabi. Please be prepared tonight. And try not to disappoint me." With those words, Hinata felt nearly all of the self-confidence and happiness that she had built up over her day spent with Naruto dissipate and be replaced with embarrassment.
"Yes, Father." Hinata turned away from the doors that had never opened, and walked off to find her sister.
It took Hinata a little while to find Hanabi. After checking Hanabi's room, Hinata decided to check the library and kitchen. Not finding the new heiress there, Hinata knew that the only other place that Hanabi could be was the dojo. Not wanting to enter the dojo before she absolutely had to, Hinata waited a bit before finally going to speak to her younger sister.
Hanabi was indeed inside the dojo, but Hinata knew that she would have to wait a while to have her attention. The younger girl was in the process of obliterating some wooden dummies with her Gentle Fist. Hinata watched her younger sister's strong, firm movements. Although still lacking some of the delicacy required by the Gentle Fist technique, Hanabi made up for delicacy with sheer force. Taking a seat, Hinata patiently waited for Hanabi to finish her training.
Hinata watched as her sister moved with such self-assurance and accuracy. There was no hesitation in her movements. Although Hanabi was six years her junior, Hinata had to agree that she was outmatched when it came to her sister. Besides that, however, Hinata found it extremely difficult to even consider striking her sister, and this made it difficult to win a fight when they were pitted against each other. There was a tinge of envy and admiration that Hinata felt for Hanabi's confident style. Hinata felt that she could only ever wish to someday be so sure of herself.
It was a while before Hanabi realized that her older sister was sitting and observing. Although Hanabi loved her sister, it frustrated her that Hinata was never willing to give it her all when it came to battling. She sometimes found her overly shy sister a nuisance despite caring for her deeply. Deciding that she would certainly get a work out later as well, Hanabi decided to take a break and see what it was that her sister wanted. As she unwrapped the bandages protecting her knuckles, Hanabi walked over to Hinata.
"Hello, Sister. What brings you into the dojo this early?" Hinata smiled at Hanabi happily.
"I just wanted to come talk to you. I rarely ever run into you, and it has been a while since we last spoke."
"I have little to tell you, Hinata. All I've been doing is training, and occasionally, I get to go see my friends." Hanabi's cold, reserved demeanor always shocked Hinata. For such a young child, she was shockingly calm and poised. The way she acted was almost bizarre, and definitely was a rare occurrence in someone so young. It saddened Hinata when her efforts to engage her younger sister fell flat.
"Well, hopefully you and I will be able to make some time to go out together, or train together when both of us have time. I know that you're busy, but you should have some time to have a little bit of fun." Hanabi observed Hinata in the same cold, calculating way that her father used to look at her when he did look at her. Hinata felt herself shrink under the gaze. Suddenly, she deeply regretted her suggestion and was embarrassed by it. Finally, Hanabi spoke.
"I think you and I have a very different view on what fun is, Sister." With that, Hanabi turned around, and made her way out of the dojo, leaving Hinata a little more heartbroken.
Naruto returned from his duties late at night. He slipped into his bed, and was about ready to knock out when Kurama began to once again torment him. Horrible flashes of terrible nightmares flitted within his head, disturbing his peace. Naruto felt himself slowly becoming enraged.
"Why are you doing this?! Why can't you just leave me alone?! I know! I know what this life is going to be like! You don't have to remind me every moment of my life!" He thrashed about in his bed trying to remove the horrible visions. He searched his mind for any moment of happiness strong enough to force the terrors out of his mind. Without thinking about it, he reached for the most recent happy memory he could find. Clearly in his mind, he began to replay his day with Hinata as best as he could recall. Kurama bristled at Naruto's success in evicting his visions of torment so quickly.
You know that within a couple of decades she and your other friends might be gone, and you won't have anything left to keep you sane. Having had the fun taken from his game of torment, Kurama receded his reach back into his cage. Naruto turned onto his side and pulled the covers up to his chin.
"Maybe. But at least for now everyone's still around. I won't worry about losing them until that time comes. For now, they're happy. And I know that at least one of my friends really cares." As he fell asleep, Naruto heard a disapproving noise come from Kurama, but soon all he knew was darkness.
In the morning, Hinata woke up sore and bruised. Most of her soreness came from her exertion of physical effort when she trained with Naruto. The bruising came from her training with her sister and father. Slipping out of bed, she stretched out her aching muscles and bones and proceeded with her morning routine. Going over to her wardrobe, she picked out her clothes for the day and grabbed a towel with which to shower with. Upon entering the shower, Hinata felt her tense muscles relax comfortably. The last part of her routine was the hardest part. Wearing only her undergarments, Hinata headed to one of the drawers in her room and grabbed for one of the man similarly labeled jars of ointment. After some testing, the blue-haired girl had come up with an ointment of low potency that could erase the color of bruising from her body. Hinata had come up with a stronger ointment that could completely erase the color and feeling of bruising, but that one smelled strongly of herbal medicine, and Hinata did not want people to realize how often she had to use medicinal remedies. For her particular situation she had come up with a mild vanilla scented ointment that had a scent that lingered only on her skin and could only be smelled when one was very, very close to her. For this reason, she usually reached for that particular ointment on the days that her bruising was very bad and could not be hidden by her clothes.
On this particular morning, Hinata found that her face was particularly black and blue. Most of the strikes to her face had been from her father, who cared very little of where his vicious attacks landed. Hanabi had been more careful about where her strikes landed, but she was still rather savagely bruised. Taking a good measure of the ointment, Hinata rubbed it into her face and watched as the ugly discolorations cleared away and revealed her usual glimmering pale skin. While she had the ointment out, she also took the liberty of clearing up the discoloration on her arms, legs, and stomach. Soon, her skin was restored, and it looked as though nothing had ever been there. Satisfied with the outcome, Hinata finished dressing before exiting her room. Once outside, she was met by a servant who let her know that her father would like to have breakfast with the family. Hinata curiously followed the made.
For a moment, fear spiked her body, as she realized that he may have found out about how much time her and Naruto had been spending together. Hoping that that wasn't the case, Hinata steeled herself before entering the dining room. Inside, Hanabi and Neji were already sitting at the table. Her father had not yet arrived. Hurriedly taking a seat, Hinata looked at Neji questioningly. In the slightest change of his expression, he told her that he didn't know what was happening. Although the food was set out, no one could touch it until Hiashi arrived. A couple of minutes ticked by in silence. When the door popped open, Hinata and Neji jumped although Hanabi remained unaffected. Hiashi entered, and Hinata wasn't certain if it was all in her mind, but she felt as though the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Hiashi regally took his seat.
"Hinata, you did better than usual yesterday. You still have much improvement to accomplish, however." Before he said anything else, Hiashi took a bite of food and everyone else began to eat as well. A few minutes of silence later, Hiashi once again spoke.
"I wanted to let you know that I will be leaving on another business trip tomorrow. This time, I will also be taking Hanabi with me." Hinata nearly dropped her chopsticks, and looked worriedly between her father and sister.
"Hanabi is the heiress now. Isn't it risky to take her out of the village when she is still so young?" Hiashi turned his cold eyes to Hinata.
"Hanabi hasn't been registered as a ninja yet, so she should be relatively unknown to most other ninja. As far as kidnappings go, she will have me and several other members there to protect her. She is also very capable of taking care of herself." With an air of finality, Hiashi expressed his sentiments. A moment later, his tone changed.
"I'd like to ask that you not question my reasoning, Hinata. You forget that I am your father. And, you should put more faith in your sister. She has expressed more talent than you yourself have." Hinata was frozen, her eyes staring, open wide. Finally, she took a breath and recovered, bowing her head in embarrassment. With that single statement, her father had torn apart what was left of the self-confidence that she had formed from spending time with Naruto, and she realized how long the weekend was going to be.
Naruto lay in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking. He didn't have to meet up with his teammates until after lunch time, and he had slept in to indulge himself. His thoughts strayed over everything, but always gravitated back to the spirits that had passed the night before. Amongst them had been an aged warrior who had battled through many struggles and conflicts and years. Although he had lived a long successful life, Naruto watched as towards the end, the once powerful man struggled and strained for every breath that he took. When he finally passed, Naruto was there to greet him. The old man stared at Naruto with no fear in his eyes.
"I guess my time has come, huh?" Naruto looked at the man curiously.
"Your time? Why do you speak of this so simply? Aren't you surprised?"
"Surprised? Hah. When you get old like me, you can feel it coming. Everyone has their fate to fulfill. I don't care to fight fate. That can get you into trouble." Naruto stayed silent for a moment before speaking.
"You get one final wish. What would you like?" The old man shrugged.
"I've done everything I've wanted to. I tried to live with no regrets. I'm proud to say I have very few. I'd just like to pass on now." With that, Naruto helped him along on his journey, and then the blonde young man moved on to the next soul.
Now thinking about it, Naruto found what the old man had said very strange. 'He was so certain that fate is something you can't change. Can that really be the way it is? Is fate really something so powerful? If that's the case…has this been my fate since the beginning?' Naruto glared up at the ceiling with sudden anger. He couldn't understand why this had to be his fate. Hadn't he already suffered enough? 'What did I do?' Naruto covered his eyes with one tan, muscular arm and listened to his heart beating.
Occasionally, it still surprised him when he heard his heart beating because he could hardly believe that he was still alive when he felt so empty. The roller coaster of emotions was taxing and confusing. At times, he was flying high, and felt confidence that things would soon be getting better. There were also the instances when he felt a deep seeded sadness that he could not escape. He hated that he couldn't stabilize and control his feelings.
Unable to fall back asleep once again, Naruto worked his way into sitting up and then stretched. Ready to exit his bed, he steadied himself to take on the day. He could already tell that it was going to be one of the days that were particularly difficult to cope with. After a hot shower, he blundered into the kitchen and began to heat water for his instant ramen. As he did, he recalled Hinata's inquiry as to why he never ventured in making his own ramen. Although he had told her that it was because he didn't feel that he was talented enough, the true issue was not talent. No one had ever taken the time to teach him how to make anything. In fact, the only people that had ever been to his apartment were his teammates and teachers when they were searching for him.
The high whistling sound of the hot water kettle snapped Naruto out of his thoughts. He began to feel better as he poured water into his instant soup and began his least favorite part of preparing ramen. He always hated those three minutes that he had to wait before he could begin eating. I think three minutes is the least of your worries, boy. You're going to be around for a lot longer than that.
Kurama's jeering voice caught Naruto off guard. The truth and venom behind the cruel words made Naruto want to scream. He missed the days when Kurama had been deep inside of him, and rarely came out to speak to him. At least then he felt as though he had some privacy within his own mind. Not wanting to give Kurama the satisfaction of a reply, Naruto lifted his cup and went to sit on his ratty couch. Naruto's thoughts soon strayed to his time spent with Hinata the day before. Their time together had been very pleasant for Naruto, with no interruptions from Kurama. Kurama's silence had been strange, but Naruto hadn't felt like questioning it when he was enjoying the unusual treat.
'Why were you leaving me alone yesterday, Kurama?' Naruto took a bite of the noodles and the hot noodles made Naruto breath in and out loudly in an attempt to cool the burning in his mouth.
I stayed quiet mostly because she's not stupid. Plus she's a Hyuuga clan member. She'd know if you were distracted, and if she looked into your chakra systems too closely she'd know why. There is little you can hide from the Byakugan. Naruto nodded in understanding as he took another searing bite. She's not stupid, but you are. Why do you insist on burning yourself? Why not just wait a couple of minutes.
'Ramen is something you enjoy. Not something that you wait for.' The Kyuubi didn't reply to Naruto's thought, but Naruto thought that he could perhaps sense some of Kurama's mirth as he receded into his cage.
Naruto had almost completely finished his soup when he heard a pounding on his door. Although he was only dressed in his boxers, he didn't really feel like taking the effort to finish dressing before answering the door, so he went straight to open the thin door. The bright light burned his eyes for a moment, but when his eyesight cleared, he could see Sakura standing there. Sakura had not been expecting to see Naruto half naked, so surprise was her first reaction, but while Naruto's eyes adjusted, she managed to regain control of her facial features and instead settled on a look of mild irritation.
"You're not even dressed yet?!" At that reaction from Sakura, Naruto almost wanted to just close the door and be done with the situation, but he still cared for his pink haired teammate deeply, and elected to be patient.
"Of course not, Sakura-chan. Training isn't until 2. I wanted to enjoy my time off when I could." Sakura crossed her arms, not satisfied with his answer.
"Time off? We have time off every other day!" Naruto sighed.
"Well I've been training on our days off." Sakura didn't say anything, but she bristled. She knew that she and Sai weren't training with him. Was he training alone? Sakura didn't care to think about it at the moment. She decided not to push Naruto on the subject any longer.
"Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch with me." Naruto looked at Sakura, shocked. After all of her refusing to even hang out with him in the past now she wanted to grab lunch with him before training. Naruto didn't know whether or not he should be worried. He wondered after what she might want to tell him. In getting lost in his thoughts he had forgotten to actually answer, and Sakura began to wilt. "If you didn't want to go, you could have just said so." The embarrassment in Sakura's voice instantly made him feel bad.
"No. I really do want to go. Just give me some time so that I can get ready. It will only be a sec." Sakura felt relief food over her as Naruto shut the door. For a moment she had sincerely feared that Naruto was going to say no to her invitation. She wasn't certain if she would be able to stand the humiliation. Moments later, Naruto opened the door once more, fully dressed, a bright smile on his face.
"Alright, where do you feel like going?"
"How about we get some ramen? I haven't been out to Ichiraku in a while." Naruto nodded his agreement.
"I was there yesterday, but I could always go for more!" He laughed loudly and Sakura smiled.
"It's always been a pretty serious addiction for you hasn't it?" She laughed aloud.
"I could probably have it for every meal and still not get tired of it." Sakura just smiled at his enthusiasm and shook her head. With that, they were on their way.
Well, there you are. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I will keep trying to write quickly, at least until my other responsibilities catch up with me. When I start school writing will be difficult. Hopefully I will be able to get far ahead by then, but I still have a lot planned. Thank you very much for reading. I hope that you will bear with me. Thank you to all of those who read and reviewed, and to those who have followed and favorited the story. I am very grateful.