My father in the hospital has increased anxieties. I'm gonna finish this story one way or another, so here comes the latest.
Long story short, forgive me for keeping you all waiting. I'm on a roll with "Honeymoon in Cambodia", which is coming along just as smoothly. :) Review when you're done!
Chapter Seven
Heroes in the Making
Oh, this man...this man is her father.
There he stood, across the small but plentiful silver-blue stream that penetrated the earth and broke through the vast garden. He was striking but also intimidating: his hair was long and dark as the woods, streaked with silver, though his face appeared younger than he was. His eyes were the same as Hinata's. He was clad in a simple neutral robe in layers to dark brown beneath.
And behind him appeared a young girl with her brunette hair chopped to around her ears, matching eyes in addition, but she was in a shade of orange to match the fruit. Though she didn't look particularly happy at seeing the visitors in their domain. "Father, what if they give away our location should we let them go?"
"Hush, Hanabi," the man ordered, frowning at her from the corner of his eye, before returning it to the trio who stood up. "Forgive my youngest daughter; she can be feisty around newcomers, but it's been ages since we had encounters with your kind above."
Kakashi cleared his throat, straightening himself and dusting off his vest even though there was nothing on it. "Yes, well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance...sir. But who exactly...oh, never mind." His eye widened slightly. "You're not only Hinata's family, but you're like these ones." He gestured to the small beings who gathered around the group, some going up to their princess who stepped away and made way to embrace her father and sister. "Only you are far more evolved," he finished, and this earned a slight furrow of the brows from Hinata's father.
"You are right about that information, but as to how, we don't discuss it with the outside world. I believe my daughter must have mentioned it." Actually, not the part with forbidding to let the world know, Naruto thought with a swallow as he still couldn't get over the little ones around him and Kakashi...nor could he get over the fact she was a somewhat princess. Royalty if not the same as humans, which made him a little overwhelmed now, but he swore to not let that change everything.
"Not at all; just the scant information that Kakashi here knows," Naruto had to say. "But are you all the only ones here?" Not counting the dead wife and brother of this man, of course - and didn't Hinata say she had a cousin who died trying to protect her from Orochimaru's dragons? Which she told us on the way to the protective cottage, since before was not much time.
The father nodded. "Yes, there are only three of us left. Thanks to certain creature tricksters," he spat, making Naruto wince as he thought of Kurama, glad the fox wasn't here. "My wife and my brother remain burdens I bear alone, no matter if time has healed the wounds. These girls -" He put one arm around sweet Hinata's waist, the other around the feisty Hanabi's. "- are all I have left besides these people we protect." He nodded at the now-cheering redheaded fair folk. Then he laughed, clearing his throat.
"Forgive me for my lack of manners. I am Lord Hiashi, and I gathered you are Kakashi -" He turned to the soldier who bowed his head as affirmative. "- and you are?" he asked of Naruto who gave his name proudly. "Ah, yes...Naruto. Jiraiya's assistant and son of Minato and Kushina."
...someone else knew Ma and Pa, and that means he knows about...!
"And that means I will offer you my gratitude and any reward you ask for, after rescuing and returning my daughter to us," Hiashi finished, much to his daughter's embarrassment. He leaned down to press a kiss to her temple before averting to the pouting Hanabi, chuckling and petting her head to assure her she was still his other angel. The affectionate display touched Naruto's heart, making him think about the absence of parents who gave him that, but old man Jiraiya was close to that.
And back to Hiashi saying he'd been the hero, which was only HALF true. "Actually, sir, your daughter came to me first, then we helped this man -" he added with a jerk of his head towards Kakashi. "- so we all worked together. That's the truth; I'm not taking all the credit."
The man chuckled. "A noble pair you young men make, as well as being the first visitors we have had who were not deceptive and hostile - not like those devils who masqueraded as my wife and brother," he seethed before softening again. "And so is the inhuman guest we have and had to keep safe, should those flying demons come again." His eyes shimmered knowingly, directed at Naruto who knew exactly what - who - he was talking about.
"Lord Hiashi...you're talking about Tonton."
"Your pig, indeed. As a matter of fact, Hanabi, why don't you go get the girl and bring her?" Hiashi asked his younger daughter who begrudgingly agreed and turned to trudge off in the opposite direction which was one of several tunnels within these depths. You could hear the water dripping in sweet patterns.
I can't believe it...Tonton DID reach the pond, except she didn't get across. She ended up here; she's been safe, as I thought, and with these people. How can I repay them?
Kakashi chuckled. "Well, looks like my hunch that your pig would make it alive ended on a high note. I wouldn't be surprised if Jiraiya would be proud of you for all of this."
Naruto looked up at him, grateful and fighting the blubber building up. "Y-you don't know how much it means for me to hear that, Kakashi. Thanks to you, and Hinata." He glanced back over to her when she came walking up to him, and she caught him by surprise when she threw her arms around him, taking him into a taut embrace which nearly crushed his bones - for such a tiny female! Her father unleashed a laugh and then spoke in another language to the faerie folks who tittered with excitement, then backed off to give space when their youngest princess returned disgruntled...
...and before her was a small, pink and plump inhuman figure rushing HIS way. He cried out and fell to his knees, beyond happy and shedding a few tears of joy as he held his arms out.
"Tonton!"
She oinked and squealed as her way of sobbing with him, then wasted no time licking at his face. He gladly let her do it; he really needed it and hugged her but took great care to not crush her. Hinata knelt down and picked up her skirts as she did so, reaching out and petting the sow, rubbing her back and behind her head. Tonton sighed and leaned into the touch as she continued to give her attention to Naruto, her keeper and protector. Thank the gods. Now we just have to get you back to Pervy Sage...somehow. Or back to the cottage, or let you stay here until our mission is complete.
Yes, they needed to get back up to the surface and find the cauldron; that was when the topic shifted to none other than its seeker, as it was between Hiashi and Kakashi.
"So, Kakashi, we have not been up to the surface for some time. Is the...burning and death still occurring?"
Tonton paused in her happy licks and whimpered, nuzzling into Hinata now after Naruto let her go so he could listen to the conversation as the silver-haired man answered grudgingly. "You're referring to the snake king himself. The man responsible for more than enough deaths of our own...as well as the imprisonment of me and my friends, all of whom never made it out as I have," he seethed, hands clenching into fists.
This made Hiashi narrow his eyes, and Hanabi stuck to his side while baring her teeth in a ferocious snarl. Finally, she spoke, unafraid of getting a possible lashing later on, if that was how they lived - like humans. "We stood up to that monster, and he's the reason we live below the grounds," she said angrily, looking up at her father when he held up a finger to silence her, since she said enough.
"Yes, thus we are all beneath the earth and water, protecting our way of life. But because of him, my daughter was nearly taken away just as my nephew had been."
They tried to fight him once before retreating down here to protect what's left of them. That also means they have hidden so well it's possible they have the cauldron somewhere down here... "We've seen that man," Naruto said, unable to hold back his shudder at not only the serpentine features, but those eyes which could hold you in place and then devour you when it was too late. "That's why we are..." He swallowed and hesitated with his words.
"...looking for the Dragon Cauldron."
A collective gasp arose from the crowd of fair folk who began whispering to themselves, but their master was impassive. Well, who said anything would be easy?
"The Dragon Cauldron - you realize how dangerous this will be compared to escaping Orochimaru's grasp? I had aided in concealing it very well that not even lesser evil men would find it - without our Byakugan," Hiashi said with a scowl, referring to Hinata. "I see...that's why he took you, my daughter. He needed you to seek it with your eyes, ending with something far worse when the job was done. And to destroy it will not be easy."
"But if we don't, then he will find it and wipe out all of us in the flick of a finger," Naruto insisted, glad that the man was involved in hiding it and DID know where it was, but fell inside when it wasn't in this location. "So, where is it hidden?" Hiashi shook his head, turning away; that made Naruto angry and about to say something else, but Kakashi's hand firmly rested on his shoulder.
"Lord Hiashi, we get how preposterous this is. Believe me, it would have seemed impossible to get out of those dungeons if not for your daughter and this one here, likely to waste away and doom the world now that we are involved in this. That damned relic which was responsible for the deaths of my mentor and his wife, same with Tsunade, and an innocent woman who loved Orochimaru - it has to be demolished before that snake becomes a dragon."
Hinata agreed with them. "He's right, Father. They would have been indisposed as I would have been. Naruto went to retrieve little Tonton -" She bounced the little big girl up and down in her arms, Tonton squealing a little to tell her she enjoyed it. "- and let himself be captured so she could get away. All of us are together now because of these events. If they are going, then I shall go back with them, and I might not get captured again the way I had been," she swore with that smile Naruto had grown to admire...and it caused his stomach to have the flips.
A pause before her father voiced his objections.
"I won't allow my eldest daughter to be ensnared by that serpent again, so I'll let you go with these two on your quest, on the condition that your weaponry will never be let out of sight - especially the sword of the emperor," Hiashi said when his irises flickered to the great sword Naruto remembered he still had; proudly smiling, he placed his palm on the hilt and lifted his chin high. Kakashi did the same and held up his pole-arm, the blade upwards, and bowed his head once. "And as to where the cauldron is, perilous as it may be..."
Hinata finished for him. "We don't have it in our possession; that was what Orochimaru believed when he drove us all from the surface. And as a matter of fact, I will lead the way."
~o~
Her father objected momentarily with good reason, and he was letting her be with the boys because they worked together as one, which was better than solo. We are going to save our lands and the people and creatures in it!
What made her happy was that Naruto was protecting her when she needed it; she was doing the same for him, and they had Kakashi and Kurama.
Hinata was stronger than most thought she was, and only her family knew that - and these two strong men with her. She was glad that she was taken seriously than most women were in this day and age, and long before. So, of course she had the capability as the men, and she looked forward to fighting again, especially since they were free as birds in the sky. Naruto and his sword made the odds better...as long as he kept it close, like Father told him strictly.
But before they left, the faeries sang a song that was reserved for her family. It was the kind to strike at your heartstrings, tugging them at will and never letting you forget.
Our eyes, the moon
Our eyes pierce your soul
Dearest ones, a tale for you
The power of the eyes and soul
Our fair ones
We see the truth, we see beyond
We believe with all our might
Our eyes see the light
"My, that's a majestic anthem," Kakashi noted when it was all done, and it was sweet and amusing to see Naruto shed a few tears which he quickly wiped, embarrassed at how unmanly he thought he looked.
"Y-y-yeah, I haven't heard such beautiful music in a long time, except our own..."
After that, there was another way out of here, and it was a tunnel that led them spiraling upwards and towards a tree with a wide trunk and a door of its own that wouldn't be distinguished at first sight by the mortal eye. It was a trick clever little Hanabi came up with on her own, which Hinata would have done. It had worked so well thus far, being one of many ins and outs to the feafÅku and their guardians, besides the pond now far behind. This knowledge made Naruto whistle at the sophistication and intelligence, along with what more of the family history she told them and Kurama when they reunited and were on their way to where the Dragon Cauldron was hidden...
"They are excellent at fishing, which we learned from them, but they are content with living off the eyes and leaving the rest of the catch to us," Hinata explained, making the fox lick his lips and Naruto cringe, but Kakashi wasn't all that surprised as he lived off worst when he and his comrades lived in the wild on the field. "And they are known to play tricks, mostly for the fun of it. However...you have to be careful when befriending them, as it's worst than how human relationships and friendships decay." And it can be over the most absurd of things.
As she talked, she offered to listen to their stories again while they journeyed across the border, and it was on the other side of the forest, but that didn't mean it would be any more pleasant than Oto - though if it was any consolation, there wouldn't be any dangerous beasts like that village of the enemy, or big predators of the Forest of Death. It didn't mean it would be any safer like Konoha, she was certain.
Naruto insisted there was nothing interesting to share, but his life was typical, and it revolved around putting up with Jiraiya's antics - he had the nickname "Pervy Sage", which made her giggle hysterically and Kakashi chuckle, since he never heard a more fitting name for the old man - after he lost Tsunade, his woman who owned sweet little Tonton, and Kakashi told of how his father had also been his world since his mother died in childbirth, but then the man who sired him took his own life after being disgraced following a mission where he faced the most difficult choice of a lifetime: to choose to save either his own men or the innocent people in danger.
"He chose his friends, obviously," Kurama said when they stopped at the end of the day to pitch a campfire - under cover, of course, and beneath an abandoned cave, but when morning broke or if Kurama's sensitive ears picked something up, they were going to jump flight, so to speak. "But that meant being unable to save the ones he was tasked with. It's a shame you humans are faced with more mess than us in the animal kingdom. I know what it's like to not be able to protect everyone." He grumbled and went to curl into a ball before going to sleep and not bothering to wait up on Kakashi's disgruntled response.
"Coming from someone who lost his family to hunters, am I right?" He looked to Naruto who nodded glumly. "Thought so. Guess he and I have more in common than I thought." Kakashi reached behind to scratch the back of his neck before taking his turn to rotate the dead rabbit on the spit they set up with branches either picked up from the ground or found from up in the trees.
To kill a poor defenseless animal for food...and we have berries and fruits to pluck, which I did from home. But fruits can only do so much.
She referred to the exquisite raspberries which were like no other in the world, to her knowledge: one kind was mystical in that it started green and then morphed into the gold of the sun - and Naruto's hair. The other was also rich and unusual, starting first as the expected dark red before becoming BLACK. And the remainders saved were to be had with the cooked rabbit meat, and Kurama had his share already; they'd had two rabbits in the beginning, which was more than enough for everyone.
It was then that, in midst of the delicious meal, she saw Naruto's forlorn expression, and she knew he was thinking about Tonton whom he reunited with before parting once again, but she was going back to Jiraiya and would not be involved in this dangerous mission. That way, if their group DID encounter Orochimaru's dragons again or any of his soldiers, sweet Tonton wouldn't be forced to divulge again when she came so close.
"Don't worry, Naruto," Hinata assured him, finding it in herself to embrace him, and she loved the warm, comforting feeling, though it made him stiffen since no girl ever did this to him, which saddened her. It also angered her because of what he told her about the first girl he'd thought would like him as much as he thought HE did.
The next day, a mist was gathering when they set out again. And they had to pass through a rich bamboo and mushroom forest to come HERE.
Kurama, it turned out, had been to where they were going, and she was grateful that he knew much of the land - as well as the area which was where the cauldron was "supposedly" hidden.
Protected, really.
Her Byakugan was in action as she scoured for any dragons above or signs of life that potentially threatened them, here in this miserable marsh mocked by lush green grass which thrived with life, many parts growing so high you could see nothing beyond. The trees and brushes were gnarly and dripping with slimy excuses for leaves, dark as Hinata's own hair, and the ground was so soft and mushy that its texture and scent made your senses knot with your stomach. Poor Naruto looked like he was going to gag, and as always, Kakashi got a kick out of this for his own amusement.
"It's all that amusing to find something to laugh about, is it not?" Kurama asked, sniffing the air and not flinching like them. Which told Hinata he was used to this. In the distance, you could hear the croaking of frogs and toads in this dreary place.
"Well...welcome to the land of Kusa," Hinata said softly, wary of these surroundings.
Kakashi hummed. "It's a shame that a long time ago, this was filled with people and life, before it was abandoned for unknown reasons. It can be said that it was a place for diplomats and spies, then becoming a front between Konoha and Iwa in the last war." Which means this place was destroyed and overrun by wildlife without a care...and only a few humans could find refuge here, or are exiled.
Now they were at a cliff which overlooked the landscape, and that was when they were greeted with the sight of the place they spilled sweat and drained their bones to find.
"Oh, that place - are we here?!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes the size of mushroom heads. "It's so...small!"
By small, he meant it was tiny to the eye, and perhaps small compared to the safe cottage and his home. She had to agree, but from what her eyes could strain, there were no present human forms, except many smaller ones which happened to be frogs. And several other things which gave away obvious practices of...
A loud grunt and a fall to the knees beside Kurama who growled at him over what an old oaf he really was despite his real age and his life as a soldier earned a dark eye as well as a silent warning - and what happened next turned out to be a moment of sheer accidental: poor Kakashi ended up sliding down the cliff, taking the fox with him who landed atop him after the man ended up facedown in the dirt. Dust flew before her and Naruto's eyes.
One way to make an entrance into Kusa and right in front of the cottage of the three witches who were said to reside.
What more can be said about the Kijimuna the fair folk are based upon: "They are also known to be excellent fisherman, able to catch many fish, but then only eating one of the eyes of the fish before leaving the rest of it. The Kijimuna festival in Okinawa is named after them. Another name for the Kijimuna is "bungaya," which means roughly "Large-Headed." The Kijimuna are known to be very mischievous, playing pranks and tricking humans. One of their most well known tricks is to lie upon a person's chest, making them unable to move or breathe. This is known as "kanashibari." Even though the Kijimuna are tricksters, they have been known to make friends with humans. However, these relationships often go sour. A Kijimuna may offer to carry a human on its back as it leaps through the mountains and over the seas. The Kijimuna dislike people passing gas on their backs, however, and will immediately throw the human off, no matter where they were at the moment. The Kijimuna also hate octopuses."
As for the berries - they are raspberries in real life. The gold kind is named Fall Gold, and the other is Cumberland. Try Dutch Bulbs to see them. :P
The song "An Innocent Warrior" from Disney's Moana inspired me to bring to life that anthem of the Hyuuga. :D This is the song in the language of Tokelauan:
Ou mata e matagi
Ou loto mamaina toa
Manatu atu
Taku pelepele
Pa mai to mafanafanaga
Saolotoga tenei
Manatunatu
Ki tamafine
Maua ai te lumanai
Ki tamafine
Ou mata e matagi
English translation:
Your eyes so full of wonder
Your heart, an innocent warrior
My dearest one
There's a task for you
Let it flow over you
The freedom you feel
And your deep thoughts
Our young girl
Have you come
Our young girl
Your eyes so full of wonder
Up next: the group meets the ones who may be guarding the cauldron...