Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to Guest, 120, QueenP19, faridaa, shyprincess82, ssspooky (please don't worry, your English is great!), and sailorangelmoon1 for all your encouraging reviews! I read every single one of them eagerly and often. Also thanks to those who have added this story to their favorite and follow lists - I appreciate your support so much, too!
Author's Note:Okay, I was so excited about this chapter that I just couldn't help myself. I felt that if I didn't go ahead and update, I was going to burst! And yes, I realize this comes only a couple weeks after I said not to expect an early update again, but at the time, I didn't realize my own impatience would get the better of me... Plus, the person for whom I wrote this as a birthday fic has been having a really hard week, and I'm hoping this early update will help put the smile back on her face. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this (super-long!) chapter!
*~Chapter XIII~*
~Konoha~
Matsuri closed the lid of her mistress's last trunk and smiled. "There you go, milady. All packed and ready to go."
Hinata turned from where she'd busied herself assembling a small overnight bag she would use so she wouldn't have to keep opening her trunk every time she needed something while on the road. "Thank you, Matsuri. Are you ready to g-go yet?"
Her maid's eyes slid tellingly toward the doorway, then back to Hinata. "Almost," she said. Then, reluctantly, she admitted, "I began packing before retiring last night, milady, but I'm afraid the events of the night kept me from returning to the duty when I got out of bed."
"This morning has b-been - unusual," Hinata agreed. "I c-can handle everything else here, Matsuri. G-Go pack your own b-bag. I want you to have plenty of time so you d-don't accidentally leave something you n-need here."
Looking relieved, Matsuri bobbed a quick curtsy and headed for the door. "Thank you, milady!" she called over her shoulder as she left.
Letting out her breath, Hinata tucked a brush into her bag and then chewed her lower lip thoughtfully as she tried to come up with anything she might be missing. Matsuri had taken care of the trunk, but since she'd taken it upon herself to pack her own overnight bag, Hinata wanted to make sure she did as satisfactory a job as her maid had done.
At last deciding it was as packed as it could possibly be, Hinata shut the clasp on the (big surprise, brown) bag Matsuri had supplied her and shrugged out of her robe. Her riding clothes were already lying on the bed, and it didn't take her long to change out of her pajamas. Sitting down at her dressing table, Hinata quickly wound her long hair into a braid and secured it. They would be on the road for a long time, and she hoped the simple hairstyle would hold the entire time. She didn't want to have to call Matsuri in and distract her from her own packing again to do something different.
Left with nothing to do, Hinata looked at the clock sitting on her bedside table. It was only nine-thirty, and Gaara had mentioned at the usual group's rushed breakfast they would be leaving at ten. That left Hinata with a half-hour in which to find something to occupy herself.
I suppose I could go ahead and find a servant to carry my trunk down for me, she decided. Since it's already packed, it can be loaded now and not cause a delay later.
Happy she'd found something constructive to do, Hinata slid her feet into soft-soled slippers and then left her suite. Since she didn't plan to be gone long, she didn't bother Matsuri by telling her where she was going, since she knew her maid would insist on running the errand herself.
As usual, no servants were in the vicinity of their master's and mistress's rooms. Hinata turned the corner and descended the staircase, knowing more people would be around on the next floor down. From what she'd been able to deduce, Gaara highly valued his privacy and space, and thus ordered the servants not to come to the hall with his and Hinata's rooms unless it was crucial. Matsuri took care of cleaning Hinata's suite, and presumably there was a male servant who came up occasionally to clean Gaara's. Today, obviously, was not cleaning day.
To her surprise, there were no servants in sight when she got to the bottom of the stairs. Sighing, Hinata lingered at the foot of the staircase as she debated whether to keep searching or just give up and return to her suite. I'll search the next hall over, she finally decided. If there are none there, I'll leave it alone and return to my room to wait.
Keeping her strides quick but quiet, Hinata moved toward the corner which led to Itachi and Temari's rooms, then Kankuro's, then several empty ones, then the staircase down to the next floor. As she was turning the corner, she got the briefest glimpse of a shaft of light shining through a partially-open door before a raised voice sent her spinning back around the corner to press her back against the wall.
"You can't!"
Hinata froze, plastered up against the wall so tightly she wondered if she'd sink into it, afraid to move even to retreat. She knew eavesdropping was wrong, but she couldn't help overhearing Itachi and Temari's conversation from just around the corner.
"I can't believe you talked to Gaara without me. You can't go after him alone, Itachi!" Temari repeated in a loud, tense tone, her voice wavering slightly at the end.
Itachi's voice, when he responded, was its usual soft, practical self. "You are needed elsewhere, Temari, and you know it."
"I'm needed at your side! You are my husband." Rapid, thudding footsteps made Hinata think her sister-in-law was pacing - or, more accurately, stomping - around the main room of the Uchiha suite. "You're being ridiculous. Always putting yourself in danger, at risk, and leaving me behind..." She was silent for only a moment before letting out a very unladylike snort.
The footsteps ceased suddenly, and silence reigned for a moment before Itachi spoke again. "Things are more dangerous now than they've ever been. Lady Hinata needs you with her."
"Gaara is perfectly capable of taking care of her." Now Temari sounded almost petulant, though her voice was oddly muffled.
"I know. But I'm not so much talking about physical presence, and you know that." Itachi sounded ever-so-slightly amused.
"But after what happened, how can I go to Konoha and act like everything is normal?" This time Temari's voice was very nearly a snarl. "I can't act normal, not when I hate them all for what they did, what they thought, and what they still think."
Hinata felt her eyes widen as she pressed herself back against the wall. She knew tensions between Suna and Konoha were high, of course, but surely that wasn't the only cause of Temari's hostility. Her attitude toward her new sister-in-law had cooled somewhat over Hinata's time in Suna, but she still remembered Temari's obvious hatred and fury upon her arrival. She'd explained a lot of things earlier, but not why she was so angry with those in Konoha...
"I know you don't want to go, and I understand your reasons." Itachi's voice lowered, turned huskier as he spoke. "But Temari, I need to know you'll be there. Even with all the dangers, you'll be safer there than with me."
"That's why I need to be with you. I'm not belittling you, or your strength, but how can you possibly hope to face him alone and come out the victor?" Suddenly Temari sounded uncharactaristically hopeless, and so very tired.
"I've got to do this myself. For both of us. And I promise you, I will come back alive. Besides, I don't think it's a very good idea if I go back to Konoha, though I do hope you'll carry a message for me?"
Temari had quite obviously accepted her defeat when she replied. "All right, I give up. For now." A pause, then, "What kind of message?"
Feeling like she'd overheard far more than she'd meant to, and definitely more than she should have, Hinata turned and crept back to her room before she could hear Itachi's reply. Even as she explained to Matsuri about her (apparently pointless) errand, her mind spun with a whole new set of questions.
Why was Temari so angry at the people of Konoha? What message did Itachi want her to carry for him? Where was he going, all by himself? And, perhaps most importantly, whom was he going to fight?
By the time the beautifully ornate wooden gates into the village of Konoha appeared like a dazzling mirage before Hinata's sleep-deprived eyes three long days later, she was convinced she was going to die from exhaustion.
"Finally." Temari's mutter perfectly summed up what her sister-in-law was thinking, but had no energy to voice.
As they neared the open gates, Hinata had to fight back the intense desire to urge her grey mare into a gallop until she'd passed under the arch and was, once again, on her home soil. The past day or so, they'd been riding through forests and small outlying towns peeking out from among the trees, and each hoofbeat bringing her closer to Konoha - to home - made her all the more anxious to get there.
Now that she was this close - close enough to see the leaf symbol carved on the arch, to smell the food in the market district, to hear the chatter (indistinct though it was) of the villagers - she couldn't wait to be a part of things once more.
A fresh burst of energy rose up inside her like a blooming flower. Straightening her slightly slumped posture, Hinata slanted her gaze to her left, where Gaara rode atop a stallion almost as red as his hair. Even though the group from Suna had been riding practically nonstop for three days straight, Kaen was still as spirited and ready to run as he had been when they left Suna. "We are almost there," she whispered. She knew it was obvious, but she couldn't resist saying something, anything, in hopes to gain a response from him.
For the entire duration of their travels, Gaara had said only a handful of things to her. He'd even gone so far as to send Temari to wake her after the group snatched a few hours' sleep before continuing their journey. It was like he thought the less he saw of her, the fewer times he spoke to her, the better.
A frisson of uncertainty went up Hinata's spine. Was he still so serious about getting an annulment? She hoped not, but couldn't be sure.
On Hinata's other side, Temari critically studied the high walls looming ever closer. "Not as impressive as Suna," she remarked at last, "but I must admit they look every bit as big as I remember from my childhood."
Coming from Temari, that was a compliment. Hinata smiled as the group reined to a halt before the small guard shack just to the left of the gates. "I must admit, the walls into K-Konoha are q-quite impressive. B-But wait until you see what's b-beyond them. I p-promise you won't b-be d-disappointed."
Temari looked distinctly doubtful, but to her credit she said nothing. Instead, she rested her folded hands on the pommel of her saddle and kept her gaze resolutely forward, her chin tilted upwards slightly at a regal angle.
Hinata sighed quietly and turned away from her sister-in-law, instead focusing on the cheerful guards who had always manned the gate every time she'd been past. Kotetsu grinned, one hand reaching up to ruffle his spiky dark hair, as the more reserved Izumo smiled politely and offered a bow, studying the group with the eye not hidden behind his hair.
"Welcome to Konoha!" Kotetsu called cheerfully. "And welcome back, Lady Hinata." He quickly bowed, as if realizing his former oversight. Izumo's not-so-subtle slap across the back of his head might have had something to do with it, but no one chose to comment on the matter.
"We have come for Lord Hyuuga's funeral," Gaara stated. He seemed unimpressed by the guards themselves and particularly unamused by their antics. "I believe we are expected?"
Izumo nodded, quickly glancing down at the clipboard he held in his left hand. "Yes, milord," he replied respectfully. "Lady Tsunade and her party arrived early yesterday afternoon and informed us Lady Hinata would be returning with her husband and sister-in-law for the funeral." His visible solemn dark eye shifted toward Hinata, and he bowed again. "My condolences on your loss, milady. He will be missed very much."
Hinata chose not to comment on the matter, unsure if Izumo was simply mouthing platitudes or if his words were genuine. "Thank you," she murmured.
Before anything else could be said, a pale boy with ink-black hair and eyes seemed to materialize out of thin air next to Kotetsu. His coloring was made all the more dramatic by his dark grey clothing, and Hinata got the startling impression that he looked rather like a painting come to life. His ebony eyes shifted quickly from Gaara, to Hinata, to Temari, before settling on the Konoha native. "I am Sai," he said, flashing a brief but obviously false smile. "I am here to escort all of you to the Hyuuga estate."
Kotetsu rolled his eyes toward the newcomer, his expression swiftly morphing from cheerful to irritated. "Stop doing that," he muttered. "That creepy thing you do from out of the shadows is just - well-"
"-Creepy," Izumo finished. He made a mark on his clipboard, then bowed again. "Once again, welcome to Konoha. Despite the circumstances, I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay."
Temari muttered something which sounded suspiciously like, "Highly doubtful," but no one besides Hinata seemed to hear her. The group on horseback behind the three nobles once more stirred to life as Sai mounted a black mare with one white stocking and reined her around to lead the way.
As the group started forward, Hinata heard a quick, whispered conversation pass between Izumo and Kotetsu.
"Did you see the symbol on the blonde's back?" Kotetsu sounded positively incredulous.
"Yeah. I wonder what she's doing wearing the Uchiha clan crest?" Izumo sounded uneasy. "Doesn't she know that could get her in big, big trouble in this village?"
"In this village, and with one particular person. I hope she knows what she's doing." Kotetsu's response was the last Hinata heard as the group from Suna moved out of earshot of the two guards.
Nervously, Hinata glanced over at Temari. The blonde had nailed her glare on the back of Sai's head, and her jaw was taut with obvious anger. Sanraizu skittishly pranced sideways for a few steps, responding to the tension her mistress's white-knuckled grip on the reins relayed to her.
"Temari." Gaara's voice was low but firm. "You knew this would happen when you chose to wear your husband's crest instead of that of the Sabaku. Let it go." He did not look past Hinata toward his sister, keeping his sharp green eyes focused on where Sai was leading them.
"I'm proud to wear Itachi's clan crest," Temari hissed back. "And if those jerks don't-"
"Temari!" This time Gaara did shoot her a quick, angry look. "Now is not the time."
Seeming upset, Temari reined in Sanraizu and fell in behind her brother and sister-in-law.
"I admit I was slightly c-concerned when I saw her choice in wardrobe this morning," Hinata admitted softly to Gaara.
Her husband nodded once, curtly. "As was I. But once Temari gets something set in her head, there's no talking her out of it." His expression softened slightly. "And I suppose I can't really blame her. She wants to support Itachi in every possible way she can, and even if I don't always approve of her methods, I do admire her for her - tenacity."
Some would call it bravery, but others might call it stupidity. The Uchiha name, at least in Konoha, was synonymous with betrayal and bloodshed. Sasuke, as the sole surviving member of his clan still living in Konoha, had managed to escape most of the rumors, but Hinata had heard whispers about him when he wasn't around. Not among their small circle of friends, naturally, but there were people nonetheless who firmly believed insanity ran through his very veins and it was only a matter of time before he, too, snapped.
Now that she'd had a chance to meet and actually get to know Itachi, though, Hinata disapproved of those whispers more than ever. She knew there was no way Itachi could have murdered his clan as staunchly as she believed Sasuke was incapable of anything similar.
The closer they got to the center of the village and the Hyuuga estate, the more Hinata became aware of the stares and whispers the group from Suna were garnering. She saw several people staring openly and whispering behind their hands, their sharp eyes following Hinata, Gaara, and Temari's passing. She wondered if they were whispering about her, Gaara, Temari, or all three. Each of them did, after all, have their own reputations or reasons for being stared at, whether in admiration, fear, or dislike.
"Oh, my." Hinata blinked, but the number of guards she spotted standing outside the closed gates of the Hyuuga estate did not decrease. At least a dozen physically guarded the gates themselves, and she saw others scattered out along the stone wall and perched in the tops of the leafy trees peeking above the iron bars capping the pale stone. "So many guards..."
"After what happened, security was quadrupled." Sai glanced over his shoulder with another smile as two guards opened the gates and the others formed ranks on either side of the group, watching intently as they passed through. "Some naturally feel the gesture was pointless, but it does more to reassure such a thing does not happen again." His sentiment was puncuated by the heavy wooden gates thudding shut behind them.
Before Hinata could come up with an appropriate response to Sai's somewhat shocking speech, the front door to the manor just ahead flew open and a white-robed figure exited at a run.
"Hinata!" Hanabi tore toward the horses, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Hinata, you've really come back!"
"Hanabi!" Even though she knew the behavior was less than appropriate, Hinata quickly reined in Kiri and slid to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gaara quickly catch the mare's flying reins as she ran to meet her sister halfway. The impact of their bodies colliding in a fierce hug knocked her back a couple of steps. "Oh, Hanabi!" She squeezed her younger sister tightly against her, relishing the fact they were together again after a surprisingly short absence which felt so much longer.
Hanabi sniffled and rubbed her teary face against Hinata's top, which had the Sabaku clan crest embroidered on the back. "Neji and Tenten promised you were coming, but I didn't know," she admitted in a shaky voice. "I didn't know if-" She stopped abruptly, pulling back as her wide eyes flashed to a point over Hinata's shoulder.
Hinata turned slightly to see Gaara standing between Kaen and Kiri, his green eyes studying his wife and sister-in-law while simultaneously giving away none of his thoughts. "You must be my wife's sister," he said when he noticed Hanabi staring at him. Sketching a slight bow, his lips twitched into a forced smile. "I am Sabaku Gaara. It is a - pleasure to meet you."
The look in Hanabi's eyes made it clear she'd heard the slight pause in Gaara's speech. Pulling away from her sister, she planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I thought for sure you wouldn't let Hinata come," she stated frankly.
"Hanabi!" Hinata nervously wrung her hands in shock, unsure whether to slap her hand over her sister's mouth or melt into an embarrassed puddle at her husband's feet.
Gaara, however, did not seem offended. "It is always difficult, losing a family member." As a servant moved forward to take the reins from him, the redhead stepped forward until he was standing next to Hinata. Though he did not touch her, Hinata could feel the strength and support radiating from her husband. "I would never refuse my wife the opportunity to say goodbye to her father." He blinked, and for a moment an entirely different expression transformed is face. Though it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, his next words convinced Hinata she had not imagined it. "I also wished for an opportunity to say farewell to the man who was able to let go of someone dear to him so I could be blessed by her, as well." His eyes flickered in Hinata's direction, suddenly filled with a cautious warmth which made the knot in her stomach ease at last.
Movement in the doorway to the house drew Hinata's attention in that direction before she had a chance to respond to Gaara's words. Tenten hurried out of the cool, shady sanctuary of the manor, crossed the distance between them, and then threw her arms around Hinata.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears. "I wish Neji and I had been here when it happened. Maybe we could have..." She trailed off.
Pulling away, Hinata kept hold of one of Tenten's hands and gave it a light squeeze. "Had you b-been here, you might have b-been targeted as well," she said softly. "It is selfish of me, b-but I'm g-glad you weren't."
Some of the strain in Tenten's grief-shadowed eyes eased slightly. "Thank you," she whispered. She glanced over her shoulder, then turned to address Gaara and Temari, as well, as she continued. "Neji is currently in an emergency meeting with the Hyuuga council of elders, but things should wrap up soon." Turning, she motioned toward the house with her free hand. "Please, follow me."
Hinata drank in the familiar sights and sounds (quiet though they were) of her childhood home as she, her husband, Tenten, and Temari came through the doors, leaving the servants outside with some from the Hyuuga house to bring in their luggage. The soft color schemes of the walls, so at odds with the harsh, dark colors of Suna, were like a balm to her tense soul, and she breathed out a relaxed sigh. Most of the doors leading to the outside of the manor were closed to keep out the late-afternoon sunlight and heat, but the ones inside were open to allow free range of movement from one area of the house to the rest.
Tenten glanced over her shoulder. "Hinata, your old room has been prepared for you and Lord Gaara," she said. "Lady Temari, yours is at the end of the same hall and has a lovely view of the gardens." It was obvious the usually cheerful woman was under a great deal of strain, but was making a genuine effort to play the part of polite hostess. Though Tenten was of humble birth and had been an orphan for most of her life, she handled her still relatively new role as Neji's wife with an ease Hinata, who had spent her childhood in the schoolrooms of highly respected and coveted tutors to learn the particulars of social etiquette and deportment, envied. Were she in Tenten's position, she wasn't sure she could handle herself with such calm, welcoming courtesy.
When Hinata slid open the shouji leading into her suite of rooms, she had the true sense of coming home. As if in a trance, she floated into the main room, allowing her gaze to touch fondly upon each of the items carefully arranged to be in the exact same place she'd left them when she moved to Suna. It was as if she'd never even left.
"Oh," she breathed unsteadily, halting just before the low table in the middle of the room. Pressing her hands nervously against her stomach, she took a moment just to absorb her surroundings as real before she sank down on one of the cushions and let out a shaky breath. "This is really happening, isn't it, G-Gaara?"
Her husband, who had been quietly hovering in the doorway as if unsure if he should enter, accepted her invitation and came to kneel next to her. He hesitated for a moment, one hand hovering in midair between them, before at last resting it gently upon her shoulder. "Yes," he agreed softly. "It is."
Not allowing herself to take the time to question her next instinctive movement, Hinata leaned forward to rest her head against Gaara's shoulder, hungry for the strength he could offer her. He stiffened briefly, but then relaxed as his arms lifted and wrapped around her. She closed her eyes as his hands fluttered to rest lightly and nervously against her back, letting out a long, tired sigh of relief at his acceptance. After the conversation they'd shared their last morning in Suna, she'd been uncertain about his reception to what could be construed as her overture. "Is K-Konoha anything like you remember?" She had to know. The question had been burning deeply inside her ever since they'd entered the gates.
Gaara was quiet for a moment, his warm breath caressing the hair at the crown of her head as his heart beat strongly, steadily, beneath her ear. "In some ways." His chest vibrated beneath her cheek, and she drew in a sharp breath at the stirring inside her chest at such a simple thing. "In others it is-" his fingers hesitantly moved to cradle the back of her head, splaying to wind around strands of her hair coming out of her twist "-better."
Dare she hope that meant what she thought it did? Lifting her head, she looked up at his face, her breath hitching in her throat at the look of longing on his face, of high regard in his eyes.
Despite the events prompting their visit, Hinata knew their coming to Konoha was bringing them full circle. She didn't remember all the details, but she knew their convoluted courtship had started as young children in Konoha, inside the Hyuuga manor itself. Now they'd returned as married adults, thrust together by circumstance but bound together by something far stronger.
The same magnetism she'd felt drawing her to Gaara the night she soothed his headache returned, pulling her towards him as his head tilted towards her. She felt his warm breath, scented with spicy cinnamon, wash across her lips, which instinctively parted at the sensation. Her suddenly heavy eyelids slid closed of their own accord, heightening her sense of touch at the loss of sight. Gaara's hand against the small of her back burned hotly, enticingly, through the material of her ornate jacket and the silk top she wore beneath; his fingers in her hair made her scalp prickle in anticpation; the soft tickle of the tips of his bangs against the skin of her temple as he continued to lean in elicited a delicious shiver down her spine...
Someone scratched on the still-closed door on the north side of the room.
Gaara jerked away from her so quickly Hinata was forced to drop her hand against the cushion beneath her to keep herself from tumbling face-first onto the floor. With her other (shaking) hand, she reached up to shove pins back into place from where Gaara's exploring fingers had loosened them. "C-Come in!" she called. Immediately, she cursed the unsteady note in her voice.
She was in Konoha for her father's funeral! What was she thinking, allowing herself to act so wantonly with Gaara? She should be ashamed of herself!
(But, a rebellious part of her whispered, she wasn't.)
Neji appeared in the frame of the now-open door. His gaze, far too perceptive, shot from his cousin to Gaara. "Forgive me for interrupting," he said dryly. "But I'm afraid there are a few things we must discuss without delay, Hinata."
Shoving one last wayward pin back into place, Hinata calmly smoothed the front of her long jacket and gracefully rose from her cushion. "All right." She moved across the room toward her cousin, feeling Gaara follow only a single step behind her.
Turning his head only slightly, Neji pierced Gaara with a dark look over Hinata's shoulder. "What I have to discuss with my cousin needs to be said in private," he half-growled. "The news I have to impart is to be said directly to her, and only her." His gaze turned challenging. "If Hinata wishes to tell you later, so be it. But, for now, she and I have things to discuss. Alone."
Hinata shot her husband an apologetic look over her shoulder. Gaara stood with his hands fisted at his side, his eyes narrow in a dark glower every bit as powerful as Neji's. But at her soft, quelling smile and reassuring nod, he stepped back, let out a long breath, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine," he ground out. His eyes softened even as they shifted to Hinata's face. "I will be right here when you return."
"Thank you." Offering him another smile, Hinata slid her hand into the crook of Neji's arm and allowed him to lead her away from her husband. As soon as she was certain they were out of earshot, she said softly, "Why d-did you d-do that? G-Gaara is-"
"He is part of the reason why I must speak to you," Neji interrupted. He shot her an apologetic look for his rudeness, but pressed on resolutely. "Tenten and I have been simultaneously trying to deal with the council of elders and their incessant, magpie chattering about power voids and irresponsible guardianship as we look through Uncle's things to try to find some sort of clue about what happened, and why."
Once again Hinata's breath caught in her throat, but for an entirely different reason this time. "You found something?" she whispered.
Neji ushered her into a meeting room and firmly shut the door behind him. Letting out a long, tired sigh, he briefly shut his eyes. When they opened again, Hinata saw unspeakable exhaustion in their pearly depths, as well as the tired slump of his shoulders which bespoke the weight of the Hyuuga clan's self-importantly large corner of the world he carried there. "Yes."
Hinata sank down onto one of the empty cushions lining the long, low table in the middle of the room. "What?" she whispered. It was suddenly very hard to speak past the lump in her throat.
Reaching into the sash tied around the waist of his solid white haori, Neji withdrew a thick, folded sheaf of papers she'd not noticed before. As he silently held them out toward her, Hinata noticed her father's seal pressed into the red wax holding the edges closed.
Accepting the papers with her shaking hands, Hinata ran her fingers wistfully over the seal before she flipped the heavy parchment over to see the other side. The kanji for her name - Sabaku Hinata (her married name, she noted distantly, not her maiden one) - was painted with bold strokes, midnight-black ink against bone-white paper.
Once again she turned the papers over, this time to break the seal. Unfolding the papers, she quickly counted four covered from top-to-bottom with her father's distinctive handwriting. Some distant part of her mind registered Neji's settling himself on a cushion close by even as she began to read.
Hinata,
I know I have not been the best of fathers to you. Though we have spent little significant time together in your seventeen years of life, please understand that every single one of those moments, and the hundreds of other smaller moments in between, mean more to me than you can ever imagine.
I have been a distant figure in your life, nothing more than a busy man consumed by his duties with time for little else, or so I imagine it seems to your innocent eyes. It has been difficult, removing myself from the closest sphere of influence upon you, even more so after your mother's death. Were she still here, I know she would try to discourage me from what I am doing, but a part of me is relieved Hoshi is no longer here to witness what I am doing.
Even though you know so little about me, and I in return about you, I love you. I never spoke those words to you in person, save once in the darkest part of the night as I stood over your cradle and marveled at your tiny, beautiful and infinitely important life, but I mean them no less. Our separation, though necessary, has been a very painful one for me to bear these long seventeen years.
Now, as I sit penning this letter to you even as you reside in far-away Suna, I look back at the choices I've made in my life and wonder if they were correct. I have drafted hundreds of these letters over the years, though I have not felt so fierce a need to finish one as I do tonight. I've not much time left, and I know I need to leave you something to explain why things have gone the way they have in your life.
Firstly, I will address the topic of your marriage. I will admit, without qualms or shame, I do not entirely approve of your union with Gaara of the Sabaku. The agreement was forged without my knowledge or approval, and it was one I did not learn about until six months ago. My own plan to secure your protection was no longer working the way it should, and I approached Lady Tsunade to beg for her help. It was she who told me of the agreement made between Lord Sarutobi and Lord Sabaku, Gaara's father, when you were only four years old. But, even as much as it angered me, I recognized it for what it was: the very thing for which I had been so desperately searching. The chance to keep you safe.
I sent a copy of the signed agreement, along with a letter, to Gaara. Imagine my surprise when I received a very prompt response, encouraging me to send you to him as quickly as possible! I sent another letter to him, assuring him you would be in Suna within two weeks, and encouraging him to begin arranging a wedding ceremony to be performed the day after you arrived. I did not want to do it, Hinata, even though I knew it was best. How I wished I could see you happily settled here, marrying someone you knew and loved in the gardens of our estate, then settling into a home of your own and raising children meant to be the future of Konoha and the Hyuuga. But I sent you to him anyway, knowing despite his reputation, he would do what it took to assure your safety, if not your happiness.
This brings us back to now, with me writing while hoping you are settled in your new home amongst people who have welcomed you and accepted you as one of their own. I have not seen Sabaku Gaara in many years, but the child I remember him to be was, save one incident, extremely attached to you. I can only pray that same attachment has lingered over the years, and become stronger than ever. I did not take this decision lightly, but ultimately I know you will be safer in Suna than you would be here in Konoha.
Thus, I reach the next subject I must broach: your safety. The Hyuuga have many enemies, both inside the village and out of it. One such threat was taken care of several years ago with the near-complete eradication of the Uchiha clan, but others still remain. We are a clan full of secrets, in a village overflowing with the same. As my elder daughter, my heir apparent, you naturally fell into the line of sight of every enemy wishing to target this clan. In a preemptive move, I distanced myself from you, allowing everyone - even the members of my own family - to think I cared very little for you.
There are some things I wish I could address in this letter, but I have neither the space nor the time, I'm afraid. You will have to ask Neji about these, since he and his wife are the strongest of the next generation of the Hyuuga - and the bearers of our clan's most jealously guarded secrets. I am not trying to say you are weak - not at all - though I am ashamed to admit I allowed people, even you, to assume I thought you weaker than you truly are in an attempt to further protect you. Your strength lies in your gentle spirit and infinitely caring heart, my daughter, and I am proud of you for that. You have so much of your mother in you, and though at one time I had hoped you would prove to be strong in other ways, I eventually came to realize you were strong in your own, perhaps better, ways.
Even though I have made it clear I intend Neji to become the next leader of the Hyuuga, at least until Hanabi is old enough to find a better balance between her wisdom and her temper to help advise him, I also want you to become a stronger voice in how our clan is guided. We have clung to our roots for too long, I fear, and it is time for a change. Our antiquated ways, I have come to see, might prove to be the clan's downfall, and I cannot allow that to happen. You and Neji are the perfect people to bring about the needed change in our clan. I know you will be spending the majority of your time in Suna with your husband and new family, but Neji will still be looking to you to help advise him. With you, your sister, and his wife by his side, I have no doubt the Hyuuga will once more become the strong and stable right hand to the head of the village we once were - perhaps even better. I know you will face difficulties, as several in the Hyuuga are too attached to the old ways to let go of them so easily, but I know you can handle it. I have the utmost confidence in you, my daughter.
I am afraid I have no more time. I am nearing the twilight of my life, in more ways than one. By the time you read this letter, I will be gone, of that I am certain. My only uncertainty is how long it will be before you finally find out the truth of why I have treated you the way I have, why I have done to you the things I have. Perhaps it will be a week, perhaps a year. But, nonetheless, it will not be long. Your safety has always been my primary concern, but as I have grown older, I did not want you to see your father wasting away from illness, though I have unfortunately not been able to hide it from others. But I always wanted you to be able to imagine me the way I was, strong and proud (perhaps too proud), not this pitiful creature I am rapidly becoming. I shall say no more on the matter now.
Goodbye, my daughter. Remember, I love you, and I am proud of you. Those in both Suna and Konoha are the better for having you in their lives.
Father
Hinata allowed the last page to drift to her lap as she lifted her tear-blurred eyes to her cousin's solemn face. "Is it true?" she whispered.
The shadows beneath Neji's eyes deepened as he darted a quick look to the pieces of the letter strewn across her legs. "If the contents of that letter are anything like the contents of the one Uncle left me, then the answer is yes."
She had no idea where to start, she had so many questions to ask, but one rose above the others and demanded an immediate answer. "Father was ill?"
Neji nodded slowly, reluctantly. "It had been going on for some time. He'd successfully hidden it from everyone else for years, but eventually he could no longer keep it from the council." He bowed his head and closed his eyes, breath escaping in one long, tired sigh. "Or from me. Not long before we departed for Suna, Uncle explained the entire situation, the entire plan, to me and Tenten. I was angry at first, but eventually I saw the wisdom of what he and Lady Tsunade had come up with." His lips twisted slightly. "I still don't like it, but I do see the wisdom in it."
"G-Gaara told me Father was k-killed by an assassin. Is that true?" Hiashi had mentioned expecting to succomb to his illness in the letter, which made Hinata wonder what exactly had happened.
"It is," her cousin confirmed quietly. "In fact, best as I've been able to piece together, it happened two nights after he wrote that letter to you." He rubbed his eyes, looking more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him. She ached to say something, anything, to comfort him, to make things better somehow, but she knew there was nothing which would. So she kept silent and allowed him to continue. "There are so many suspects, and the assassin slipped in and out without leaving a trace. We have no idea who did it. We may never know who did it, though I, for one, refuse to accept such an outcome."
Carefully gathering up the pages in her lap, Hinata reorganized them and folded them before pressing them to her heart. "Father spoke of a c-clan secret, one to which only you and Tenten are p-privy. What is it?"
"He mentioned in his letter to me I'd have to tell you everything," Neji muttered. He frowned, then shook his head. "And we're not the only ones in on the secret, mind you. We just know more about it than anyone else." The corner of his lips quirked upwards suddenly, and for a brief moment amusement glowed in his eyes. "Tenten wasn't supposed to be, not at first. Uncle was very angry when he found out the extent of what I'd shared with her without permission. But, eventually, he realized the wisdom in my sharing those secrets with her, and the good it would do our clan."
Hinata was beginning to feel frustrated as well as confused. And exhausted. "What secret?"
Neji sighed again. For a moment, Hinata thought for sure he wasn't going to tell her anything, and began running through counter-arguments in her head. But before she could gather too many, he reached beneath the lapel of his haori and pulled something free.
She watched in confusion as he allowed the object - a headband, she discovered - to unfurl before he lifted it to his forehead and tied it at the back of his head. In the center of the metal plate gleaming against the dark blue fabric of the headband, the same symbol as that above the gates into the village had been carved. "What...?" Her mouth remained open though no more words escaped. A theory was beginning to form in her mind, one so fantastical and impossible she suddenly felt the urge to laugh.
But the expression on her cousin's face made it clear this was no laughing matter. Meeting her eyes squarely, with no hint of deception there or in his expression, he said matter-of-factly, "We are not figures of the distant past, nor mere characters in storybooks."
Even before Neji said the words, Hinata knew. She remembered a fanciful conversation with her sister the afternoon before she left Konoha, one she had laughed off and disregarded. And yet here was her cousin, disproving everything she'd thought she'd known about her clan, her past, and her village with four words which changed her entire life yet again.
"I am a ninja."
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes: This is one of the most important chapters in the entire story. Some of the most crucial points to the plot have either been introduced or expounded upon here. I was so, so excited about this chapter that I just couldn't help myself. I had to post it early, or I just felt like I was going to burst. (And this only a couple weeks after I said I wouldn't do this again...) Just to explain things kind of quickly: the ninja in Shadows canon aren't quite the same as they are in regular Naruto canon. While they can still run faster, jump higher, and be more observant than your average person, they don't have any extra talents, i.e. like the byakugan or the like. They are more like traditional ninja, who rely on hand-to-hand techniques and weapons to do their fighting. I just wanted to explain that ahead of time, just in case people were wondering, well, why didn't Hinata know she had the byakugan or notice it on her clansmen? or the like. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again Monday for chapter 14!
A Note on Names: I wanted to offer a quick translation for the names of the characters' horses, in case anyone was wondering. Hinata's, Kiri, means Mist; Gaara's, Kaen, means Flame; and Temari's, Sanraizu, means Sunrise. I picked the name for each based on the color of the horse.