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Chapter Nine
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Hinata
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The Finale
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xxxvii. Survivors
"So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard
Every lesson forms a new scar
They never thought you'd make it this far
But turn around (turn around), oh they've surrounded you"
-Eyes Open, Taylor Swift, Hunger Games OST
"This is what I am mostly afraid of. That I would blaming everyone who saved me for doing what they did. I wish I was the one who died but then again, I guess I have no right to."
-Hyuuga Hinata
And then there are five.
The morbidity of the phrase alone reminds Hinata that in these Games, nobody ever survives, that in the end they are all a matter of irrelevant statistics and nothing but numbers. Kumogakure tributes are known mostly for singing this song, slashing and pushing, making sure they live longer than most unfortunates did. They used to be the twenty-four fattened pigs offered by each of the vanquished districts and now, a few more are about to be slaughtered before the eyes of many, out to be devoured by the eyes of those who are just greedy.
And then there were five.
The clock ticks down to the most awaited finale. Sponsor gifts has now gone down to the infrequent, seeing that even a matchstick would cost millions now. Most likely, the betting would be everybody's current tasks. Easy money for most, even in the districts. Her father mostly reaps most of the profit, always the man with a good eye for a winner.
She wonders whether he would bet on her.
"That boy… he is a survivor."
Probably not.
But she is on the top five, like Neji had once been. By now, reporters would be interviewing the families, asking them one more time what made these tributes tick and whether its in the Capitol's best interest to spare them until the final showdown, where skill finally matters and cunning would save you.
Until there was only one remaining, named victor and be everybody's favorite.
Hinata has seen it happen several times. An extravagant home in the victor's village, instant popularity, mentoring kids for the next year's Games, your loved ones dying for some unknown reasons, you selling your body to save the person you think you love.
But then again, nobody ever lives.
Oh, Sasuke.
And then there are none.
The Hunger Games is death, whether you survive it or not, whether you win or you lose. What is survival anyway but an illusion crafted by victors who thought they could fool everyone with a mask? Sasuke had been pretty good at hiding behind glamour and wealth until he kissed her, until he buried himself inside her, until he made love with her. How he was torn on what is inevitable in any case, where he regrets that he is not the one who died instead.
Whether Hinata lives or not, she would be killed softly… softly… softly…anyway.
But Sasuke had always been the stubborn one, always wanting to keep away what is bound to happen in any case, because he said he would not let anyone be taken from him ever again and he only has her.
But Hinata is already taken, devoured by the wolves that are her fate. Forever, she would be like Sasuke who is the Capitol's and she would never be Sasuke's because the moment, she was born in this world, she is doomed to always be one of the oppressed.
And Naruto, day by day, being eaten by the infection from that vile virus that she knew is in every Capitol-issued blade. If you were so much as scratched, then you are no good. Even if you survive, you would die anyway. That is why she knows being a healer in these Games is futile. That is why she knows from the first moment that she realized what she has done, that she is useless. That is why her father slapped her hard that day in the Justice Building.
You would be killed softly… softly… softly.
And the whole world would see it.
And Sasuke would see it.
And Hanabi…
She does not know when to break the news.
It is a wonder she lasted these long.
But then, others did not in her place.
Haku…
Three o'clock. Eighteenth day. The sun shining proudly away from the horizon. The girl from Suna perishes. Thunderstorms rumbling. Team Konoha taking shelter in the caves again, wrapped in each other's warmth. No other information as the anthem concludes. And then there were four. Naruto wonders why.
A parachute falls as Hinata kisses his questions away. His grin is so heartbreaking, so stupidly happy, as if he thinks she likes it too… but doesn't she? Sasuke is watching. Sasuke does not like this… Naruto kisses her and his smile… oh god, his smile. Sasuke never smiles like that. She never let Sasuke kiss her either.
"Don't think about it, yeah Hinata?" Naruto murmurs, nose digging through her hair. He breathes deeply and she is reminded around that time earlier when he whispered on her ear ever oh so softly that damn it Hinata. This feels so true. This is no longer an act. Do you believe we have a chance? A question to which she does not even have an answer to. "I won't think about it."
But of course there is only one logical hypothesis on whatever really transpired. She remembers the boy from Yumegakure as an intimidating giant, painted face contorted into a perpetual scowl during the announcement of the scores while wielding a lethal looking axe in the training room. The number ten revolves below his photo with Deidara's commentary about the Land of Dreams getting lucky for once a prophetic enticement to any sponsor. They have not won any Games since… forever. And then the Suna girl dies.
And then there were four.
And then Naruto and Hinata are the only pair qualified for the new rule.
Naruto thinks aloud that they are quite the survivors, having lasted this long. Hinata does not think so but she answers by kissing him enthusiastically because she realizes she likes how he tastes like home, unlike Sasuke who smells too perfect, feels too perfect, makes her feel undeserving, filthy even.
But Naruto is hers and hers in this ordeal alone.
Does that make her selfish?
She does not know why she does that.
Sasuke is watching.
Perhaps she wants him to feel the pain when he told her that she is going home, that she would be victor, that she would be an Uchiha too. The pain to know that twenty-three other people would die in order for her to live and that Sasuke has to kiss more men and women for him to see her again.
She wants him to see what he has done.
Selfish indeed.
Both of them.
Why can't he just allow her to pass on?
And why is she not allowing herself?
She would never know why she ran away.
Survivors.
She wants to see him again and in her hands, she feels the tingle of the blood she took to get closer to that dream and Hinata cannot help but think that perhaps Naruto would be one of them soon, his heart broken and his body dying softly.. softly… softly… because Hinata cannot do anything about it, like he is saying she once did.
You saved me once.
She cannot save anyone now.
"We would be victors, Naruto-kun right?" The question is hesitant, doubtful. No one could blame her, she knows. But the words hold the hope she does not feel. The Capitol said they could but then again, the guy from Yumegakure scored a ten and the other one would be coming for them soon. "We actually have a chance."
Sasuke said she is a bad liar.
But why does she know that now as she failed to express the truth, the world would believe it?
A secret makes a woman, woman?
And she is suddenly a woman now?
The words make Naruto smile and he kisses her and the hardened look in his eyes tells her that in all the act they have been pulling off, Naruto knows all along and that with a start, she wonders how could Naruto could see so easily through her.
"Yes, we would be victors." He tells her and that is when she ponders what victory means to him exactly. Is it winning the Hunger Games?
Or a much larger war than that?
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xxxviii. Actor
"The tricky thing
Is yesterday we were just children
Playing soldiers
Just pretending
Dreaming dreams with happy endings"
-Eyes Open, Taylor Swift,
"So I died? But I have my legacy to survive what I chose not to. Save her, guys. I just got us an ambassador."
-Uzumaki Naruto's letter to the Shinobi Alliance
Who is being fooled?
Real or not real?
Naruto's grin is as bright as ever but behind it lurks the reality of how the world made him to be, the irises of his blue eyes darker than ever as he stares at her when he thinks she does not know. But Hyuuga got eyes in the back of their heads, thanks to the freak called genetics and she realizes that there is more to Naruto than everyone, even her thinks there is.
People show their true side when people's back are turned against them.
And Naruto has been lying all along.
To the world, to her or even to himself— Hinata cannot really tell.
And what is worse is that, Hinata understands.
He thinks she does not see when he winces and walks with a limp as he treads just behind her in the canopy of the forest. His leg is getting worse but no, Naruto would never tell the world that. He thinks she does not hear him sigh when she momentarily freezes during their kisses. He knows that she still is hesitant but no, he does not want to tell the world—or himself—that. He thinks he is not so obvious when he forgets to be explicit that he loves her because Hinata can see that every move and affection is calculated. The world is meant to think they are star-crossed lovers and she is meant to think so too.
But Naruto has long since realized that it has become an act for both of them, a dance to survive, which in itself is a lie.
But then Naruto is the type to say that he would never give up.
That he would never go back on his word.
That this is way of life.
He is lying to himself then.
For what is the way of life in a game of death?
Liar.
And Hinata knows that because she is too.
Real or not real?
Who is being fooled?
Haku fooled everyone but then he got killed in the end.
Is that what happens when you tell the truth?
What truth lies in these kisses anyway?
What is Naruto's ulterior motive?
What will Naruto make happen in the finale?
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xxxix. Thunder
"It's a showdown (showdown) and nobody comes to save you now
But you've got something they don't
Yeah you've got something they don't
You've just gotta keep your eyes open"
-Eyes Open
"I guess you think you got it worse. I electrocuted five kids with the fucking thunder, Hinata! Do not fucking tell me I don't understand!"
-Uchiha Sasuke
She gets her answer when lightning strikes the cave.
The rocks split into two neat crevices in the rumbling impact, strategically missing them but the explosion leaving them gasping in absolute surprise. Ironically enough the skies that had been hidden by the overhang was bright, no evidence of where the wrath of Thor originated from. But before them is the burnt husk of what once was a reliable shelter, razed to the ground by the will of the devil and both know that the next one would come without warning.
A silent annihilation. A clean kill.
That was a warning.
Neji and Tenten when the avalanche came received no such thing.
"They are flushing us out." Naruto implores, pulling the stunned Hinata away from the remnants of the once majestic formation. She trips in her astonishment. He stumbles in his affliction. Behind them a series of thunder strikes boom. The earth quakes.
"Hinata!" Naruto screams as for a moment, her hand slips away from his grasp. On their feet, fissures open and the glimpse of hell opens its cavernous mouth to them. For a man whose leg is turning bluer and bluer by the minute, Naruto runs fast. Behind them, there is an unidentifiable roaring. Neither brave to look back.
After what seem like an eternity of catastrophe, they come across the clearing. The Cornucopia stands in all its glory, unharmed by everything that has happened in the arena so far. The more useless and irrelevant supplies lies strewn on the grass floor, untouched. No evidence blood left from the Opening Day but Hinata feels like she could almost smell it.
All of a sudden, the roaring, the grumble, the sound of thunder stops completely.
And the bright sun shining on their artificial sky no longer feels out of place.
The two teens could barely sigh in relief as two cannons follow.
Boom.
Boom.
Naruto stares up at the sky, knowing that after such proclamation and because, finally they are in the finale, the confirmation would come soon. The skies light up. The anthem plays. And in the montage are the two male tributes that she thought would hunt them down to their death, frozen in their youthful grace and doomed not to see adulthood ever.
Those two were dead…
Just like that…
And then there were two…
"I think they were already fighting." Naruto remarks, breathing hard and his fists clenched. His eyes are closed and his chest frantically rising up and down. He does not sound relieved. "They probably have killed each other off even before all that thunder happened. It is just a matter of luring us back again in the centre of the arena, where announcements of victory would be more, what's-the-word… poignant."
He chuckles disbelievingly, sinking to his knees on the ground. "Poignant, my ass. Woooh! We won eh?"
He sounds like he does not even believe it.
And then there were two…
Naruto sounds like he is waiting for something.
And true enough…
They look up as they hear Sasori clear his throat, the mechanic hiss of the microphone making things more dramatic than it already is. Hinata's heart is on her throat, waiting for what she realizes has always been this Games' theme.
"Attention Tributes."
Deception. Haku started it. Hinata and Naruto continued it. The Capitol will end it.
"The rule about two tributes being victors has been revoked."
In these Games, it has always been about lies.
"Only one tribute could be a victor…"
The rule revoked. The hopes crashed. Only one of them would come home and Hinata already knows why.
Only liars could hoodwink another liar.
And the Capitol has been lying all these time.
What irony!
"May the odds be ever in your favour."
And they hear the same rumble once again but this time, it sounds less threatening. The ground on right side of the clearing splits into two as a platform rises from underground, whirring loudly. On the dark metal table lie two sets of kunais, the standard weapon of any Konoha tribute and any citizen's way of warding off hostile animals in the deep woods. Hinata knows how to use it. Naruto does too, more adept than anyone could ever be.
She looks at him and sees something in his eyes that she cannot identify, is afraid to identify.
He walks towards the table. She follows. He takes a kunai and by instinct she does too.
"They flushed us out for a reason indeed." He remarks, his voice full of regret. He points the sharp tip of the weapon towards her and it glints with the menacing glow of Hades. She might have imagined it but even the wondrous poison that has killed so many tributes in the past few years quivers amidst her shaky breath "They want to end it where it started. Poignant. The final showdown."
One of us has to die.
And then there will be one.
Naruto rushes forward.
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xl. One
"Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown
Everybody's watching to see the fallout
Even when you're sleeping, sleeping
Keep your ey-eyes open"
-Eyes Open
"They won this battle. But we still have a war we won't concede. Right, Naruto-kun?"
-Yuuhi Kurenai
He slices up the right side of her face, taking away her eye. Blood flows and it throbs but it does not kill her. He did not even mean to, she could tell. Hinata plunges the kunai, deep inside his chest in automatic defense. She does not even know why. Naruto spits out blood, coughs uncontrollably. She did not mean to. She did not mean to. She did not. Did not. Did not. Not.
But it kills him anyway.
Naruto slumps forward, pushing her down forcibly but he does not do what she expected him to. Hinata goes down with his dying weight, wrestled against the very man who just… did he really attack her? For now, he does not really try to bring her to the afterlife that they are destined for. Like she deserves to. Naruto caresses her cheek, kisses her lips and whispers what she never thought she would ever hear. One last time.
Thank you.
"I want you to remember me everytime you look at the mirror." He whispers hoarsely, his eyes sad and with the last of his strength, he pulls out his crystal necklace and forces it into Hinata's trembling hands. "I want you to remember me, dammit. I'm better than Sasuke. You're not a fucking Uchiha. You're a victor Hinata. You're my victor and the world will see that."
He lies on top of her and does not let her get away. Naruto's heavy frame pushes further and for a moment, she is reminded of the position she saw him with Sakura on live TV. The position Sasuke was on the last night in the Capitol with her. Except that although both know they are dying, it is not happening quite now.
"Damn. I wish we have more time. But there's no way. There is just no way. I am going to die anyway. Everyone would end up dead. Haha. But I guess I might as well go down with a bang."
His left arm rises weakly towards the sky and she sees him prop up his tremulous middle finger up in the air. He stabs it repeatedly to an empty atmosphere, gritting his teeth and the pained wince does not stop him from the series of expletives that comes from his mouth because dammit, this would be the last time. He is dying. And he always wanted to say this.
"Fuck the Capitol. Fuck this world. Fuck everyone for doing this to us!"
And because this is the finale, the cameras would not turn away.
The camera would hear what he wants to say.
He nuzzles his face towards her neck, inhales sharply and Hinata feels the telltale warmth of his blood seeping from his chest wound, where the kunai she currently is holding tightly is still very much buried. Naruto's smile is still heartbreaking and as the light slowly leaves his beautiful, blue eyes…
"Make them pay, Hinata." He whispers and she realizes that amidst her hysterical sobbing, she is the only one who can hear that. "Make sure me and Haku and the rest of those people who died for you to live would be avenged. Never go back on your word. Promise me that. Dammit, promise me that you will never be like them! Because… because…"
Hinata screams.
The hovercraft soars above, lifting Naruto's prone body up in the air but she holds tight and she too, is taken away. All is quiet. Twenty days, fourteen hours, sixteen minutes and five seconds. And Hyuuga Hinata of Konohagakure, with four kills and a broken heart is named the victor of the Seventy Fourth Hunger Games.
(TBC)
It makes me glad that the next chapter would conclude the first part and yet, you still are with me in this journey. As you can see, I am trying to illustrate on what is happening in Hinata's mind thus giving you an idea on how she would be like in err... "Catching Fire". She would be unstable and thus begins my favorite SasuHina trope where Sasuke plays shrink and does not succeed most of the time. *winks.
I really adore the reviews that came with the last chapter. I didn't expect it to be quite honest that people are still reading this fic and that I would get an overwhelming amount of support considering the subject matter. It makes me really, really happy. But enough of that, the tenth chapter would be the last installment for Part One featuring The Aftermath in Sasuke's perspective. Next, we go to the Quarter Quell Series which I would still upload Chapter 11 here to avoid confusion. Any suggestions would be welcome but from then on, SasuHina would be the game.
Please review if you have the time. Chapter 10 would be uploaded depending on the mood, which I tell you varies.
