Chapter 9

"Hardships & Confessions" Pt. 2

"Train… Kagetsu…?" Questioned Hinata.

"Of course, the final choice is yours, Hinata-sama. After all, she is your child."

"Well… well of course. I think it's a great idea. But…" Hinata looked at Kagetsu's closed door. "…I'm not sure she'll be ready for a while. His death really took a lot out of her. She's barely been out of there since the funeral… hn?"

The house door suddenly opened. Sakura looked into the room, finding Hinata and Neji sitting on the couch.

"Sorry…" She said. "The door was open. You should really lock it around this time, Hinata-sama."

"Yeah, you're right… guess it slipped my mind."

"I think I should go." said Neji. "I'll wait a while… I know Kagetsu will need it. But tell Kagetsu of my intentions."

"Right…"

Sakura held the door open for Neji and closed it after he was out of the house. She took the liberty of locking it before approaching the couch.

"May I?" Sakura asked. Hinata nodded and Sakura sat down. Hinata couldn't help but notice that she was troubled, looking down at her twiddling thumbs.

"How is little Kagetsu…?" she finally spoke up.

"Not too well. She spends most of the day in her room."

"mn… well.. That's to be expected."

There was another awkward silence before Sakura spoke again.

"I… sure do miss him… both of them."

"I miss him too…"

"He was always such a knucklehead. He would always get on my nerves, but… well… as time went on… he became a good friend… a great friend. He was one of my best friends."

"nh. I would always watch him. He was a very determined shinobi."

"I remember that…. You had a crush on him then, right."

"I-it was that obvious…?!"

"About everyone knew except him."

The two women shared a small laugh before falling into another silence.

"Listen… for what it's worth… I'm… really sorry for what happened. I'm sorry… you had to find out so late… and so suddenly… I'm really sorry…. I'm…"

Sakura's voice became shaky. Hinata looked over at her, but couldn't see her face behind a curtain of pink hair.

"Sakura-chan… are you okay…?"

Sakura maid no answer. It seemed like she was shivering a bit.

"Don't tell me… are the villagers getting to you?" Hinata said, her voice raising a bit.

"No… I've grown use to them." Answered Sakura, rubbing her eyes. Her voice was steady again, but very solemn. "It's only to be expected. It took so long for the village to regain their trust in him and it was blown away in an instant. Now Sasuke's… he's gone and so is the Hokage. Who else are they suppose to blame?"

Hinata listened to her words. It made sense, but at the same time didn't. Where the villagers really that bitter? "Well… I guess." She said. "But still…."

"That day… the day that it happened…I saw something terrible. Sasuke came tumbling in. He was sweating and trembling. He looked very sick… and that's when I saw it. On his neck… it was the curse mark!"

"Curse… Mark…?"

"It… it was a mark that gave him power… a mark that he'd obtained from Orochimaru…. It was also what drove him over the edge in the first place. After I saw it, he knocked me over… and he looked down on me…" Sakura started shivering again, and her voice became unsteady. "…his eyes… I've never seen that kind of hatred in his eyes before.

"I froze up… I didn't know what to do…. Then… he… he tried to…" Sakura began to hug herself, perhaps to keep herself steady. Her hair covered her face once more. "… Sai came along and saved me… but Sasuke just got back up and killed him… I ran… I was afraid! I could barely protect my own children… if he wanted to… he could've…. Could've…"

Sakura was definitely shivering, now. Her voice started to crack and shake. It sounded like it took a lot out of her just to keep from bawling.

"Sakura-chan…"

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I didn't attend the funural… but I couldn't bring myself to…. Not out of shame… or even fear…. I couldn't come because I couldn't bring myself to hear of those that died… of Naruto….

"I could have fought back… or called for help… used some type of stupid jutsu, but I… I was petrified! And because of that… I can't help but feel responsible… and think that… maybe it was my--…"

"Don't say that!" Hinata said, coming close to yelling. Sakura stopped shivering and looked up at Hinata, surprised. Hinata was a bit taken back; this was her first real look and Sakura's face. Her eyes were about as pink as her hair, as were her cheeks. Streams of tears flowed down her face and there were deep bags under her eyes. Hinata looked away, a bit embarrassed to have spoken so loud.

Sakura gave a very weak smile and looked back down at her feet. "Hinata-sama… do you… hate me…?"

Hinata was surprised by the question.

"nn… how else am I supposed to answer that? Of course I don't… I can't. Doing so would be unfair and cruel. No one foresaw this. Many people may be blind to it for now… but Naruto-kun… he also tried his hardest to bring Sasuke back. To hate you… I would have to hate Naruto-kun… and I could never do that. Not just because I love him…"

Sakura looked back up at her friend and was lifted by a warm smile. It wasn't a forced smile, it wasn't a smile of pity, it was the smile of a comrade.

"…But also because he had a good heart, just like you did, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked back down at her feet, starting to tear up again. "You're kind Hinata-sama." She said, wiping her eyes. "Too kind…"

"I'd think it's more 'sensibility' than 'kindness.'" Hinata replied. Her eyes widened a bit, as if remembering something and she mumbled. "Oh… he's been done for a while now."

Hinata started rummaging around in the blanket that covered her front. Sakura looked a bit confused, but then gave a small gasp.

"Y… you were…? Oh! I apologize, Hinata! If I'd known I…."

"D-don't mind it!" Hinata whined, a bit of red forming around her cheeks. She hastily attempted to change the subject. "Um… do you want to see him?"

"Sure. I'd love to."

Hinata pulled the blankets back a bit to reveal a tiny, pudgy, sleeping face. The child had little hair, but was there was all a dark black.

"My…" Sakura breathed, touching the infant's soft hand. "He's beautiful!"

"Isn't he?"

"So what's his name?"

"To tell the truth I only settled on it a couple days ago. There was a specific name that Naruto-kun wanted him to have if it was a boy."

"What was it?"

…..

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"And thus brings a close to Kit: The Beginning! To all of you that took the time to read, thank you for your views and time. I will be posting the main story Kit: Sai no Kitsune next week! Til then, thanks for watching, and look forward to it! )" -BX3