I am sorry that it took me so late to update but it is here now.

I know it kinda sucks so forgive me. It's a pretty dialogue heavy chappy (so don't hate me), and I didn't really proofread, so let me know if my mistakes are too plentiful to bear.

Hopefully you like this chapter.

~Kurenai Cakes

Chapter 6: Aftermath

With Neji

He caught up with Hanabi easily, once he realized where she was going.

Home.

She'd returned to the one place that was attempting to destroy her and her family, their family. She returned to the source of her pain, her heartache.

"Home is where the heart is, apparently" He smiled ruefully at the morbid thought. He followed her as she ran all of the way back to Hinata's bedroom, where she's been sleeping for the past couple of days. But instead of going into the room, Hanabi stopped at the door. Her legs began to shake and she fell to her knees.

"Why does it have to be this way?" she whispered, her hands wrapping haphazardly around her torso. It's a position similar to the one he found Hinata in earlier. They were alike, those two.

"Why?" Hanabi wailed, looking up from the floor to him. Pale blue clashed with pale blue. And he couldn't help but slide to the floor with her. He has no answer. He didn't know. All he knew was that he'd lost his father in similar way. Hizashi sacrificed himself for Hiashi. Hinata was sacrificing herself for Hanabi.

"Why does this family always require a bloody sacrifice?" he thinks. He slides closer to her, wrapping his arms around her.

…

With Shikamaru

After leaving Naruto alone in the road, Shikamaru, with Ai in tow, ended up listlessly walking until he was at the Akimichi compound.

.

Choji held a bag of chips in his hand; he wasn't eating though. His face was drawn in a frown.

"She's Ai's godmother. She her family, our family. Why did she do this?"

Choji didn't know the true reason for Hinata giving her headband back. Shikamaru did, but it wasn't his secret to tell. But it hurt to see his friend so distraught. His chest clenched in an unpleasant way.

And yet his chest clenched even more as he thought about her. What must be going through her mind right now after facing Naruto like that?

Hinata

…

Walking Through the Village

With Kiba, Akamaru and Shino

Kiba, Akamaru and Shino had just gotten back from a mission with Kakashi and Sakura. The team seven members had run ahead to meet the Hokage. The mission was a bust before it even got started. They were chunin now, so why were they sent to chase a cat in the forest? It was a quick mission, a pointless one that didn't call for much work, but it was a complete waste of time. And he wanted to tell the Hokage just that.

"That was bullshit!" Kiba cried out as they walked further into town. They were headed to the Hokage's office and he was going to tell her just what he said.

"Normally would put my feelings into such harsh words, but my sentiments exactly." Shino answered. "But you should probably calm down unless you want to leave the office with missing teeth."

Akamaru gave a whine of agreement his wet nose nuzzling Kiba's hand. Kiba let his anger calm so he could leave with his teeth intact. (The Hokage had a strong right hook.) But both his and Shino's silence gave way to something else...Konoha was positively buzzing.

A chorus of "did you see what happened?"

"Did you hear what happened earlier?"

"The girl yelled at Naruto"

"She left with another boy."

"And then a younger girl came up."

"I heard that the younger one slapped the older one"

"...said that they were Hyugas."

"Have you ever heard of such a thing?! The Hyugas out in public let alone causing such a scene."

"Better yet, I heard that the girls are the Head's daughters"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I heard that one of them was named Hinata. Not too many women in our village named that."

"Positively scandalous."

"What do you think they are fighting about?"

...

With Kiba

The words. Normally, words wouldn't hold much stock. The grapevine of Konoha held a lot of inconsequential gossip. But today, today was different. The names Hyuga and Hinata got them interested. Hyuga pride dictated that she make herself as invisible as possible, or at least that's what he thought.

"Shino~" he begins to speak, only to be cut off with a succinct-

"I know." Shino answered, his voice clipped as usual, but Kiba knew, he just knew, that there was more to those two words-especially when the bespeckled, coat-wearing boy changed direction. At first, he was unsure of where his friend and teammate was leading him, but the familiarity of their surroundings told him exactly where they were going.

"Why are we going to Kurenai's" Kiba questions.

"Where else would she go?"

Kiba couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend's clipped answer, but his ire quickly dissipated. It was Shino after all.

Akamaru barked and took off, actions which Kiba understood as Hinata's scent lead to Kurenai's house.

...

With Hinata

After meeting with the elders, Hinata ventures back into town, intending to speak to her team before the grapevine gossip or anyone else who knew got in the way. She'd gone to both Kiba's and Shino's houses only to find that they had been sent on a mission with Sakura and Kakashi. It hurt knowing that she'd have to be replaced, but it didn't sting any less when she thought about how Kakashi had been there when she had given her headband back, so she didn't know if he'd tell before they got back or if she'd still have a chance to. But Hinata couldn't dwell on it now. If she did, she'd curl into a ball and never move again. With them gone though, the only person Hinata had to tell was Kurenai.

Kurenai's Apartment

With Kurenai

The crimson-eyed woman can't believe her ears. She prided herself on being connected to her students. They were her family, her daughter's family. She knew about their lives, understood them, and loved them as if they were her own.

So imagine her surprise when the Hokage called her in.

Flashback

"Yes, Milady?" Kurenai couldn't help but question. They Hokage summoned her without her team. She couldn't help but think that she was in sort of trouble, though she knew for a fact she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Hinata gave me her headband back two days ago."

Brown and crimson clashed as Kurenai searched her superior's eyes for any sign of facetiousness. What she found chilled her to the bone. The brown eyes of her leader showed no humor, only tiredness and truth.

Kurenai, of course acted accordingly. Leaning of the desk, she placed both of her hands palm down, making a loud sound. "What!"

"I take it you didn't know that she planned to do this." This wasn't a question, but Kurenai still got defensive. Hinata was her student, damn it.

"Of course not." Kurenai spat out only to pause a moment later, letting the information that her student had made such a life changing decision without hinting at any reason for it. "This isn't like her"

"Of course it isn't Kurenai. And you know that I cannot let one of my best kunoichi and medic-nin just leave abruptly. And the council isn't too keen on it either. They want to arrest her on suspected treason."

"Treason?"

"The last time someone gave their headband back was-"

"Sasuke Uchiha, I know mam. But you said that Hinata gave her headband back directly to you. Those circumstance tare totally different. Hinata would never defect from Konoha. She is nothing like Sasuke."

"I know that; you know that; the council doesn't. The council members assume they are just being cautious. And without any reason for this act, they automatically assume treason." Tsunade paused, taking a sip from her sake cup. After putting the cup down, the blonde lifts her left hand to rub her temples "In their eyes, why else would a Hyuga heir relinquish their headband, the very glory the Hyuga thrives upon"

End Flashback

…

After leaving the Hokage, Kurenai finds herself at home. Ai is with Shikamaru today as she'd gone training the day before and she would've gone today if the Hokage had not summoned her. Just when she is about to shower—she knows that Shikamaru would soon bring Ai to her, and she wants to find Hinata before he does—there's a knock at her door.

Opening the door leads her to find the one person she so desperately needs to speak to.

…

As mentioned before, Kurenai prided herself on being connected to her students. They were her family, her daughter's family… knew about their lives, understood them…

But this she hadn't seen coming.

"I'm sorry sensei, but being a ninja won't be possible with the seal. I would probably be dead or blind by the end of the procedure." Hinata explains, the blunette's head hangs low. "Please forgive me." The last part as whispered, barely a true sentence if one went by the volume alone.

Kurenai sits and absorbs the information for a few seconds. Hyuga Clan. Seal. Death. Blind. Please forgive me.

Kurenai doesn't speak back. She just pulls Hinata in the most bone-crushing-est hugs she could manage. And another dam breaks, tears spill, overflow eagerly and Hinata blubbers about not being able to tell Kiba and Shino because they were a mission, being forced to get married and having to spend her last days of freedom, and possibly her life, being a stranger's wife.

There's another knock on the door. And Kurenai untangled herself from Hinata long enough to go and answer it and find the two people and she didn't want to see right now.

Kiba's eyes stared at her, wide and pretty much unseeing, giving away that he and Shino were no doubt eavesdropping on her and Hinata's conversation. Shino's glasses were shaded, but the way they glinted in the light told her that he was looking straight at her.

"How much did you hear?" Kurenai question, forgoing asking if they'd been eavesdropping. Hands were clenched

Akamaru whined a little, his furry head slightly inclined to the space behind Kurenai.

"All of it." Shino replies, his usually monotone voice filled with ice.

Kiba didn't even answer, his eyes sweeping past Kurenai to the couch where Hinata, who was so lost in her despair had curled in on herself and oblivious to her teammates' presence. Akamaru just whined.

"Come in," Kurenai says as she steps out of the doorway, letting them in. Each boy and the dog trail in, all of them headed toward the couch. Shino sat down first and Hinata buried her head into his neck, a sideways hug of sorts. Kiba sat down on the other side of her, leaning down to lay his head on her shoulder.

She whines, incoherent mumblings of how she has something to tell the both of them.

"We know; we heard," Kiba says, his voice low and soft, an unusual tone for him. It's an attempt to placate her, but Hinata only cries harder. So he tries again, "We'll figure out something."

"There's nothing you can do." She sniffed. "It was an o-official clan decree. B-but I have another duty fulfill too. I'm s-supposed to m-married within the year, and getting the se-seal not too long after."

Kurenai Yuhi has been many things in her life. She's been a baby, a child, a friend, a ninja, a sensei, and now, a mother. But as she looked at her students, who now fallen asleep—okay, Shino was probably awake if the constant readjustment of glasses hinted anything —she realized Ai wasn't her only child. And she would be damned if she let one of her children get hurt.

With that in mind, Kurenai left her home. Forgoing the pleasantries of walking, she ran all of the way to the Hyuga compound. She didn't stop at the gate. She ran straight into his office.

He was sitting at his desk. A stack of papers sit in front of him. A pen in hand. To her, he just looks nonchalant and calm. As if Hinata's life wasn't at stake.

"You son of a bitch!" She couldn't help but scream at the bane of Hinata's existence. The guards, who followed her into the office reached for her only for Hiashi to wave his hand. The guards left soon after.

"Hello Miss Yuhi," he replies, his voice even. He looks up. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

He was a worthless, horrible father. Hinata's life was at stake! "What kind of father are you?"

"You heard?" His voice is just so monotone. And it boiled her blood.

"Of course, I heard! Why are you condemning her with the seal when you know damn well that it could kill her?"

"It was not my choice for things to end up like this. My daughters mean the world to me Kurenai. "

"Then fix it!"

"I can't. I can't Kurenai. Hinata made this decision and we all have to live with the consequences."

Whipping out a kunai, Kurenai jumped onto the desk. She placed the blade at his throat. "Fix it!"

"I can't" he choked out. His eyes glistened with hopelessness. And she decided, she hated that look on his face. Better yet, she hated his face. He was the Clan Head, a father. How could he be so weak?

"You are worthless!" With that, Kurenai took her hand and punched him in the face.

…

The Yamanaka Clan Compound

Ino Yamanaka's Family House

With Ino and Sakura

"What do you mean she just gave it back?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked, her forehead pensive.

"She walked into the Hokage's office and just gave it back." Ino explained.

"What the hell is she thinking? What is she doing?" Sakura yelled, rising from her chair and leaning across the table into her best friend's face. This was Hinata they were talking about. Hinata, the meek little mouse of the Konoha 9. This wasn't like her. She didn't do things like this.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Ino retorted as she leaned back from the pink haired fireball who stared at her. "I don't know, Sakura. I waited for her to come out, but she just ran. I was going to go after her, but she was just too fast. I lost her."

"What happens now? You don't just give it back."

"I don't know."

…

Later That Evening

In the Hokage's office

With Hiashi

He sits in her office. She intimidating but he can be too. "I'm glad I got that black eye healed too." Kurenai Yuhi delivered a good right hook. He respected her a little bit more after that hit. But it dwindled when he was summoned to the Hokage' office.

Kurenai tattled. As if the Hokage could help them. Even The All Powerful Lady had her own limitations too.

"Why didn't you come to me?" the blonde woman screeches, her brown eyes flaming with anger.

"You as well as I know why I didn't come to you my Lady." He retorts.

"Does your Clan's pride outweigh the wellbeing of your daughter?" It was easy to let her think that, but at the same time it hurt that that would be her first conclusion. His daughters were his world. This wasn't his choice. It was hers

"You and I both know that's not true Tsunade. I have my reasons for not coming to you." He pauses, his pale eyes blue icy, "Don't speak as if you have the audacity to judge me."

"Mind your manners Lord Hyuga lest you want me to hit you. What was your reasoning behind allowing that decree be placed? You're the clan head. You should have the power to overrule it." Tsunade snapped.

"You know nothing of my family's inner workings," he answers. He unconsciously brings his left hand to the back of his neck to rub the raised skin beneath his fingers. "Puppet strings" He thinks. His vision clouds over, sadness gripping at his heart. Even with the power of being a clan leader, he still had to be subservient to them.

"She's a child. Your child. One with a future ahead of her. Why make her throw it away with a loveless marriage and a seal that could cause her death!" Tsunade continues. And he wholeheartedly agrees.

"Those are sentiments exactly, My Lady. But Hinata chose this willingly. " Hiashi replies, a faint smile on his face.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Hinata is my daughter, essentially a princess"

"So there is a method to you madness"

"Hinata has power even without being my successor. A lot of men want. Power is something that many men desire and kill for." Hiashi's smile grew wider. "Not to mention, she's beautiful—"

"The suitors will flock" Tsunade added.

"And buy us time" he finished.

Okay. That's it. I know it's not much, but I really wanted to give you a chapter. Tell me what you think. Let me know if something doesn't make sense (It's late and I'm a bit delusional.) and I'll edit it. If you don't like it, I'll rewrite it.

Thanks for reviewing, favoriting and putting this story on your alerts list.

Most of all thanks for reading

~Kurenai Cakes