"I am telling you that nothing peculiar happened except what I had told you." Kakashi tried to explain himself.
Her eyebrow still remained raised.
"Hatake Kakashi, you were in the same room alone during the midst of night. May I also add that she is sixteen years old and is of no relations to you?" the senior councilwoman spoke in a stern tone.
"Elder Koharu, she would have been assassinated if I had been absent."
"Why were you even with her?" the Godaime questioned with utter curiosity.
"…" even he had forgotten how he ended up at Shiromi Miya's door.
He knew that Naruto had made him promise to look after Miya during his absence, and see to it to the best of his abilities that she was not mistreated. He just stopped by to see how the young girl was coping with her new surroundings, but then that sight he had witnessed of her made him think irrationally. Although he was not the same in her presence, but he hadn't done anything inappropriate or out of line. It took control to resist the tempting urge of animalistic lust, but in the end he prevailed.
"We should discuss on issues more significant. Please tell us everything you know of the attack." The Elder Homura interrupted.
"The attacker was doubtlessly from Konoha. She would require twenty-four hour surveillance and protection. There is a threat posed against her in her own home."
…
"You were right. I am in danger." Miya confessed to the fluctuating woman before her.
"There is no need to be alarmed any longer, you are safe." Her mellow voice tried to soothe Miya's anxiety, but Miya knew wisely not to trust her.
"At what cost? Seducing my boyfriend's sensei into staying the night?" Miya felt disgusted with herself after recalling last night.
Her hand gently lifted Miya's chin for her to meet her eyes.
"Nothing happened…you did what you needed to survive." She spoke the truth as nothing really did happen except Hatake Kakashi's words of comfort from a safe distance.
"Nothing happened because he is an honorable man. If he had not been, then worse!" the young girl raged.
"Shh." She hushed Miya from alerting the whole hospital, "What could be a fate worse than death?"
"Your fate- " a sharp pain rang through Miya's body before she could properly finish her sentence.
"I saved your life yesterday, and to think that you'd be grateful." Her tone was harsh as the pressure amplified in Miya's skull.
"…" a weak voice whimpered.
The beauty looked into Miya's teary eyes with her cold ones. The intensity of their eye contact was chilling knowing that deep down Miya knew this woman was something else rather than a fabrication of her psyche. She may appear to be beautiful, but she was deadly in her own ways nonetheless.
"You are nothing but a mere husk of a body to carry out my will and that of my own predecessor. You think you're exceptional and one of a kind…that was just how foolishly I thought of myself once. Miya, you will suffer just as I did if you do not heed my warnings. There are unseen forces in this world which decides upon your fate. You cannot go against it, as I had once before, fate will not allow it." There was certain woe and despair in her expression.
"You are delusional." Miya managed to force out despite the aching accelerating its path within her body.
"We are not the only ones; there was another prior to you and before me. She suffered for she went against what fate had planned for her. She was raped and her mentality broken all because she chose to love a man she was not destined to. Her children were damned even before birth and their descendants entrusted onto a path of animosity and desolation. Because of her selfish decision of free will, she had condemned mankind to an endless cycle of hatred."
Again with the whole succession dispute…
"I had brought upon the extinction of the Senju and, if you continue, then the Uzumaki clan. Our poor choices are the cause of the annihilation of our loved ones."
Was she hinting that Naruto was going to die?
"Miya, you need to stop resisting."
With those final words, she had vanished from sight along with the release of the pain.
…
The colour black gloomed the surroundings as the atmosphere mourned for the loss of someone greatly important.
The sky was grim and the scenery insensible.
She observed at the burial ceremony from afar.
He was gone…too soon, far too soon.
His lifeless body lacked his usual radiance and warmth as it lay there stilly.
All was silent except for the occasional autumn breeze coolly whipping the air as it blew bitterly. Her white veil danced a sorrowing dance in the wind and occasionally revealing the bottom her tear stained face. Her scarlet lips pursed together in an attempt to refrain herself from crying out hysterics of anguish. A sensation of hopelessness pressured deep within her as the sight became almost unbearable.
"No…" she whimpered feebly to discourage the upcoming breakdown.
It was too late…the emotions overran her like a prodigious rainfall.
This couldn't be…she never wanted this to happen, at least not like this.
"Bring him back. I'll keep my promise and start anew elsewhere, but please just bring him back." She sobbed desperately to the celestial woman beside her.
"I swear that I will listen to everything you command of me…just bring him back." She wept on.
However, the beauty beside her only shook her head slowly and refused to look at her sorrowful state.
She should have listened to her since the beginning, then nothing ill fortuned may have come across his bright life. She had brought this cruel fate upon the men she loved. She should have listened, then she would have been the only one suffering and she would have spared all of these tormented souls before her.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye. Can't you at least reverse time and allow me this luxury?" she begged, but it was hopeless as the woman held no legitimate power but only the will to.
She was not even allowed at his funeral…his family forbid her presence. They argued well on how she was a bad omen and therefore might prevent his departed soul's entry into the heavens. She understood their meaning; it would cause greater scandal if their intimate affair was disclosed to the public by her formal attendance.
"At least he is free from all those burdening obligations." She tried to be optimistic, but only to be more pessimistic about life.
They were lowering his body now…
There his wife stood proudly beside the coffin with their children…while she was shunned.
Soon the dirt covered the last remains of his presence in this world and she had lost the physical sight of him forever. Unlike his wife, she bore no joyous children to remember and preserve his likeness. He was absent from her forever.
She leaned against the tree for support in her fragile state. Her white attire began to soak in the rain and weighed her down as if fate was dragging her to the pits of hell for her sins.
She wanted to die…this world offered nothing but emptiness now.
"You could still make everything right. It may be too late for your redemption, but you could prevent this sadness for the future." The woman's voice was monotone, but it held great meaning.
She looked up weakly at the figure.
"Live…you could still make amends with him."
Miya slowly opened her eyes calmly despite the tragic scene her dream bore.
She observed her surrounding, she had finally back home much credited to Hatake Kakashi's persuasion of the council. He had argued that perhaps a change of more accustomed neighbouring will aid in her recovery.
The comforting atmosphere and the cozy setting brought her certain reassurance.
She turned to her side in the bed to face the boy she loved. He was sleeping so serenely despite all that had taken place recently. She had glad for his well-deserved rest.
"You will not be the only one suffering if you continue this resistance." The woman's words of warning haunted her mind.
She observed his features closely…he had still maintained that certain boyish charms in spite of his maturity. His breath seemed laboured, but he had only been training vigorously for these past days. His frame was broader than before thus signaling his transformation into a man. His jawline had grown slightly more angular with masculine sensuality.
Please…allow this peace endure for an eternity.
"You had always protected me. Let me withstand this burden for once." She whispered softly.
What would she do if he was absent from her life? How would she cope with the bitterness? Would she even live on in a world without him?
"Let me protect you…" she breathed as she kissed his tanned cheek.
…
"So you have decided to take the offer?" The Godaime seemed oddly surprised at her sudden decision on a long lingering topic.
She nodded.
"You would leave your home and reside in another land for duration unknown?"
"Yes."
"He just came back…" the woman attempted to use her affection against her.
"Diplomatic relations are more significant." It was the most professional reply she could think of.
"We are your family. Despite whatever may have occurred in your health for these past couple of days, we will never shun you." She was speaking the truth.
"I need to make my contributions for the greater good. I had done nothing but watch from the sidelines as proud shinobi and kunoichi offer their lives in devotion to this land. I decided on my own accords for I would also like to serve my home." Part of it was true…but home was not the Land of Fire, nor was it Konoha…it was Naruto.
"Very well." The Godaime was defeated.
Miya smiled faintly at her struggled victory.
"Did you tell him yet?" it was a counter-attack in another attempt to dissuade her from her made decision.
"…" she hesitated because she had not told him of her willing departure.
"It's best to let him know…" Tsuande trailed off knowing the exact reason behind the young girl's unwillingness to disclose her plans.
…
"You did well." Her voice whispered into her ears.
Miya was silent as one distasteful word could bring upon another punishment.
"This land is cursed." Even without mention, Miya already knew judging from the past history she had both witnessed and learnt.
She packed her belonging discreetly to avoid his suspicion. She didn't need to take much except sufficient clothing for the first couple of days…and the notebook.
"Sacrificial lamb…times had not changed."
The plan was to travel to Sunagakure in an attempt to suppress the unease tension of the diplomatic relations. It was a widely known fact that the current Kazekage held immense affection towards her in the council. Konoha was weakened by the previous attacks and its devastating infiltrations thus it must be done to use her as some sort of appeasement to gain alliance.
Only a few know, but most had predicted that a war was brewing. They did not know a war against whom, but the odds were not in Konoha's favour in its insubstantial state. The elders had voted for her contribution long ago, but the only thing holding them back was Tsunade preaching for Miya's own opinion on the matter. After all, she was the sacrifice.
"Women are still objectified… still are used as leverages in political bargains, no…only the beautiful ones are."
The gift of beauty and its curse…
"He reminds me much of the Shodai Kazekage. They both carried themselves with such dignified elegance. I assume he is just as talented with the art of negotiation as mine was. So accomplished in spite of his young age…"
The Shodai Kazekage's adoration for her was also used to gain political leverage in the early stages of Konoha.
"His mother was from Konoha, but she caught the attention of a young aspiring shinobi during her visit there with her family. So as you already know the story, she married although unwillingly and bore him three children. It wasn't love, but duty."
"She still died." Gaara's mother still died a death at such a young age despite not being a kunoichi.
"She was happy when she died. Although it wasn't mutual passion, but the unwavering devotion her husband displayed was enough to satisfy her brief time in this world. She bore children…they were the fruitions of her joy. One could not ask for anything more." The mention of children seemed to trigger something within the woman as she spoke cautiously.
"Is the concept of bearing children something instilled into you as a manner of tradition, or do you truly believe in it?" Miya questioned on why child rearing was always something the woman emphasised greatly on.
"Life is too brief for love to last. With your significant other gone, then how would your love be preserved? It is through the creation of life from the formation of love that provides the lasting existence of this fleeting emotion." This is was exactly why many rumoured her to be heartless and having loved no one. Matters would have been different if she had borne children to prove her humanity.
Miya wondered deeply to herself if bearing children would be the latter phase in confirming her love for Naruto. How would their offspring even look like? Would they share the same blue eyes? God forbid them to inherit his weird fox whisker marks, but anything else from him would be gladly appreciated.