"Beyond Hearts and Minds"
I do not own Naruto. I do not own Potamos. I do not own any great quantity of money or property. I'm a STUDENT; that's why I'm poor, okay?
"Quotations"
'Thoughts'
(( Flashback ))
Chapter 36: Second Escape
A light breeze traveled through an open window. Leaning out of it slightly, Hinata breathed in the scent of the spring air. The wind was biting yet clean in its lingering chill.
Hinata stood in the large gathering room of the Hyuuga mansion. Only used for clan discussions, it was pale-colored and rigidly symmetric. A vase of flowers occasionally adorned it at the corner the room, but that was rare. The only thing grand about the place was its impossible size.
Hinata did not know why, but she had an inkling that there was something important about this room. It had been nothing yesterday. But as she walked by it, earlier in the morning, the Priestess felt a mysterious atmosphere about it. Several emotions came to her mind, as if they had laced the air of the room like dust. Anxiety, Hinata recognized. But also hope for warmth.
Hinata contemplated the sunset for a minute or so, before her white eyes closed in dreamlike longing. 'I wonder how Naruto-kun is doing on the mission.' Her cheeks glowed a healthy pink. She rested her chin in her folded arms, and closed her eyes, daydreaming.
Her sweet fantasies were interrupted by a low voice.
"Hinata?"
Hiashi stood at the open doorway. Like a cat caught stealing, Hinata pulled herself off the window panel, and faced her father. Judging from the dimmed sunlight in the room, and how refreshed yet stiff she felt, she must have fallen asleep against the window just now. "Otou-sama, good evening." Her torso making an awkward bow.
Hiashi looked uncomfortable, as if he had not expected anybody else to be in the room. "What are you doing here?"
"I tried doing a bit of dusting..." Hinata swallowed as the feather-duster rolled against her thigh, clean and unused. 'How could I fall asleep like that?' she mentally berated herself.
In truth, Hinata had not slept well the previous night. She had been worrying about Hiashi, about why he had fidgeted during their meeting yesterday. A normal person would have seen the same old, stoic Hyuuga patriarch, but Hinata's eyes had detected the distress in her father. It was there, even now.
"I see," Hiashi grunted. "Thank you." It was pretty obvious that he did not care how Hinata cared for the house. Everyone in the family was required to chip in anyway.
There was a silence. After a moment, Hinata slowly raised her head. Her pale eyes glanced upward. What she saw made her soul freeze.
Her father's frame was towering, bathed in the red glow of the sunset. His hand reached over towards Hinata. She felt two fingers touch the her forehead, past some straying bangs. Hiashi's hands were damp with perspiration.
She did not know what to make of this. This was the first time in several years that Hiashi made any physical contact with her.
"Forgive me, Hinata."
Hiashi paused, reading the sudden bewilderment in Hinata's pale eyes. It soon disappeared from her face, however. He watched her eyelids slowly droop.
Hiashi's fingertips glowed with chakra. The Byakugan spread around his cheeks, making webs of pulsing nervousness.
Hiashi tightened his lips. For a moment, he shut his eyes. He did not want to do this. But it was for the safety of the clan. At the very least, he wanted to do this himself. It would be better than leaving the duty to his uncle Kugi, who had more than once administered the cursed seal in a fit of clumsiness, giving the victim more than the necessary pain. If Hinata were to take it, Hiashi at least wanted her to receive it as comfortably as possible...
"Do it quickly, Otou-sama."
Hiashi's eyes shot open. He was surprised to see Hinata holding a face of calm. He had partially expected her to be frozen in fear. But now she sat stoically before him.
"You already knew about the elders' discussion?" Hiashi asked.
"Yes." Hinata gave a clear, spoken answer, for nodding would have meant shrugging away her father's glowing hand. "I briefly saw you and the elders speaking in the warehouse. Although I could not hear..." Hinata's voice trailed off.
She had done it: confessed to eavesdropping. Hinata closed her eyes once more, waiting for impact. If her father was going to react through a harsher administration of the cursed seal, the very least she could do now was to remain in absolute silence for the remaining period. She did not have to mention Hanabi's involvement.
Hiashi's fingers twitched, making a brief rake through his daughter's hair. "Your intuition was always good." His high impression of her now slowly turned to anger. "Why are you giving in so willingly?"
"For our family's safety." Hinata kept a serene face, her eyes still closed in peaceful resign. "It's true that I fear the cursed seal, Otou-sama," she said, "but I fear more the possible destruction of my family members, because of my inadequacy. In the case I am captured by other shinobi, and they find out the Byakugan's secrets, the clan's destruction would be my fault."
Hiashi felt his teeth grind. Humility and filial piety were ideals that any traditional family emphasized. Hinata was surely the perfect epitome of those virtues. But she held them not because of a sense of duty or honor. She held them out of pure love for her relatives. Even if they did little to return it. They felt fear towards her, as a liability on the clan. They had some care for her as a member of their extended family, but it was meager compared to that distrust.
The patriarch's face tightened. Why was she taking it, with so much love? She had been taught only endurance, to bite down on any hardship that came her way. But to take the final step, the cursed seal, with so much love, was different. Hinata had learned that from something else.
"Please, Otou-sama," Hinata said. "Quickly."
Naruto stepped past the Konoha gates. A chill crawled up his skin. He felt something wrong in the air.
"What are you doing Naruto?" Tenten called, standing at the next street corner along with Lee and Sasuke. "You're slow!"
"Oh, sorry!" The blond hurried towards the group, continuing their way to the Hokage's office. Naruto felt uneasy. Now and then, when he returned from a mission and Hinata was still in town, she would come out to welcome him back. It was not exactly obsession on her part; she practiced her Byakugan almost daily, so it was not difficult for her to spot him.
Naruto shrugged her absence off. It was not like she was obliged to welcome him back from every single mission of his; Hinata had her own obligations. Maybe she had taken a mission herself while he was gone.
Naruto halted in his steps. It was a full moon tonight. There were several blurs on the rooftops in the northwestern direction.
His blue eyes glanced upward. 'This feeling...' The blond ninja stood there for a while, studying the men. Naruto's stature froze. The shinobi on the rooftops had all one characteristic: they were all Hyuuga.
"Naruto," Sasuke muttered, a dark tint in his voice, "Let's go."
Naruto gave a curt nod. The two instilled chakra in their legs, and sprinted towards the Hyuuga mansion.
Naruto felt a pebble give way under his sandal. He simply grit his teeth, and stuck his other foot in the right direction. As he twisted his torso slightly to keep himself in balance, he briefly saw the apprehensive look on Sasuke's face. "Easy, Sasuke. You look like bloody murder."
Sasuke, meanwhile, was almost shaking. The quietness of the streets, the horrific déjà vu, the innocent face of Hyuuga Hinata, all jumbled together in a bloody mess in his head. The possibility of strife within the Hyuuga was very possible. He just hoped it was nowhere near what had happened a decade ago.
The two slowed down as they reached the gates. Naruto stared at the vacant area. 'No guards?' He swallowed, and gave one glance to Sasuke, who nodded. The two walked slowly through the gate.
Sasuke's black eyes rolled over the mansion. "The west wing," he muttered to Naruto.
Naruto huffed. "Right."
Naruto did then something which no other ninja would ever consider as a good strategy: he ran straight into the hallways, directly to the shouji-doors made of wooden lattice and rice paper, and opened them. Inside the room sat a group of Hyuuga, who did not look at all pleased that an outsider intruded upon their discussion.
An exasperated Sasuke only watched from the ground, refraining from putting his dirty sandals on the open hallway that encircled the mansion. At least Naruto had enough manners to kick off his shoes before planting his feet into the house. 'But what if we need to run?' the Uchiha thought to himself.
At the sight of the Kyuubi's vessel, one of the elders roared. "What is the meaning of this? What are the guards doing?"
Neji refrained from rolling his eyes; telling the truth was sharp enough. "They probably went off to help find Hinata-sama."
At Neji's words, Naruto turned his face towards Hiashi. Common sense would have dictated to him that he was stupid, barging into the Hyuuga mansion without so much as grace, and furthermore looking at its patriarch directly in the eye. But sense was lost on Naruto as of now. "Hinata's gone?" Instead of worry, there was something of anger in his voice. His blue eyes glared at Hiashi. "What did you do to her?"
Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed as he watched from the ground. Naruto was committing a major breach of etiquette, not only looking at one's elder in the face, but also hinting an accusation.
One of the branch members sneered at the blond-haired chuunin. "What business do you have, barging into the mansion as such?"
"Keep quiet," Hiashi ordered. "Naruto has a right to know."
At this statement, the roomful of Hyuuga stared at Hiashi. So did Naruto. For a moment, Hiashi appeared extremely weary. Was he really that old?
Hiashi breathed. "I put a cursed seal on Hinata late this afternoon."
Any sympathy that Naruto had held for Hiashi vanished at that point.
"By dinnertime, she was gone from the mansion," the Hyuuga patriarch said in a resigned manner. "Nobody has seen her in the village since then."
Naruto looked around at the silent Hyuuga, sitting together at the same-leveled table, supposedly as equals. But the seating arrangement was exactly the same. The head at the end of the room, with corresponding rankings down to the door. It was always the same. Everybody in this family looked the same, almost clones. Did they think the same way as well? Well, at least Neji tried to escape his fate...
"Naruto, you're making a stir," Neji said, grimness hanging about him. "I suggest you leave."
...That was what Naruto had thought, anyway.
The blond shinobi was shaking at the fists. Sasuke, listening from around the corner of the house, was seriously concerned that Naruto was going to say something stupid, like that their family was a bunch of morons, or that they were too inbred, or some other insult. Naruto would say the truth, in any case, but it would still be hard truth, laced with immature words. 'Just shut up, Naruto,' Sasuke prayed, knowing full well Naruto probably would not listen to him even he did speak it out, 'Insulting the Hyuuga clan will not help us.'
"You guys... need serious help." Naruto's head was down, his teeth exposed. "There's got to be a better way than this, taking care of a clan." He suddenly pointed at Neji, his eyes angry. "You! I thought you had decided to protect Hinata, after bullying her over the inter-branch political crap!"
Neji's pale eyes creased. "Naruto," he stated in a warning tone. Why was the boy bringing up age-old embarrassments?
Naruto turned to Hiashi. "And YOU! I might not be in any position to know, but isn't it a parent's duty to protect their children?" His voice was half-rage, and half-crying. "Instead of physically going out there to search for Hinata, you have a cozy emergency meeting in the house?"
Another voice came in. "Please, Naruto, do not speak that way to Hiashi-sama. It is my fault."
Naruto looked up. He saw Hinata's great-uncle, Kugi, hunched over the table.
A haggard sigh escaped the old man. "I was the one who pushed the girl to see Hiashi-sama," Kugi said. "I did not think she would immediately take the offer. Usually things like the cursed seal are met with some resistance, so I thought that once she heard it, we could talk it over with her as a family first."
"Some family." Naruto snorted, turning away. He paused for a moment. He then spun his head back to Kugi. "Wait, what did you say Hinata did?"
"Hinata accepted to have her forehead sealed, willingly and without resistance." Hiashi folded his arms, letting the sleeves of his kimono hide his hands completely. "The only thing that is troubling us now, technically, is that she is nowhere to be found."
"Then why are you sitting here?" Naruto's voice ended with a roar. 'This family is so goddamn systematic! Meetings, meetings, meetings, and nothing actually done!'
Not wanting to further mess up his reputation to his potential in-laws (Iruka had lectured him to at least think about asking them for Hinata's hand), Naruto walked out of the room. Well, it was more like he stomped.
The blond ninja swung his heels over the edge of the outside hallway, and hastily tied the sandals back on his feet. By the time he strode past the gates of the Hyuuga estate, Naruto's back was as straight and rigid as a wooden board.
Sasuke blew a stray hair out of his face. It was sticking to his skin, thanks to the perspiration that the recent conversation brought. Sasuke was amazed that his rival had walked out of that house without using a vulgarity.
Naruto suddenly halted in his tracks. He turned to Sasuke, who followed him. "Do you think that old man Kugi was possessed?"
Sasuke immediately dismissed the possibility. "No." He flipped his blue-and-silver omamori in a hand. "This didn't react at all when we approached the Hyuuga grounds. No strange chakra, no wards."
"Why didn't they have guards?" asked Naruto.
"They don't need them," said Sasuke.
"Oh, right. Byakugan." Naruto looked back. "They don't need guards at the front gate, except to greet people." He sighed in annoyance. "They're only there to uphold the image of their house security."
"Image is everything with clans," Sasuke said.
The anger in Naruto's face finally drained away. He could not stand it anymore. "I'll start searching the north end of the village," he said, his voice beginning to turn hollow. "Sasuke, you go inform Tsunade-no-baachan, if she doesn't know yet."
Sasuke gave a nod, before raising half of a Tiger-In to his lips. His form vanished in a whirl of leaves.
(( A tiny voice piped up through the wind. "Okaa-sama!"
A woman with short, blue hair turned to the source of the voice. She knelt down. "Hinata-chan." She outstretched her arms, catching her three-year-old daughter. She lifted the small girl up. "You know such polite language already?"
Hinata giggled. "Okaa-sama! Okaa-sama!" she chirped, only repeating what the elders had taught her.
The woman gave a tired smile. "Are formalities all you learn?" She stroked the girl's hair, earning another shriek of laughter. ))
Hinata woke up with a start. 'Mother?' She felt something cold, yet fuzzy and comfortable around her skin. The scent of clean earth wafted around her nose.
The Priestess slowly got up. She saw that her bed was of fine moss, and perks of grass. 'How did I get here?' She carefully looked around. 'The last thing I remember was Otou-sama putting his hand on my head to give the seal...'
Hinata sat still. It slowly dawned on her, that she did not remember at all the process of receiving the cursed seal. Neither did she remember how she ended up in this odd grove. The trees around her were nothing native to Konoha.
She put a hand to her temple. There was a bandage wound around her forehead. Her eyes closed in resignation. Hinata curled her knees to her chest. She wanted to cry. 'Well, it's not too bad to have on,' some part of her thought stubbornly. It was only a cooling sensation around her eyelids. Her forehead itself did not burn, as she had presumed was a usual symptom following the administration of the cursed seal. 'Still...'
Hinata shivered, and rubbed her shoulders. 'How long have I been asleep?' She hastily set her legs on the ground, and stood up — only to flop back down on the mossy carpet, dizzy. Getting up so quickly had caused the blood to rush up into her brain. As she lay there, Hinata felt a cool breeze touch her skin, airing through the bandages around her forehead.
Now that she thought about it, Hinata did not feel like getting up. Not so soon. It had been a long time while she had felt peace like this. She hardly ever had time to contemplate and enjoy such a warm landscape. She studied her surroundings: the trees here were thinner than the species around Konoha. Their branches swayed in the wind with graceful flexibility; Hinata was reminded of seaweed growing in the ocean.
Unfortunately, humans could not live on air alone. Not even the Priestess of Souls.
A growl of hunger emitted from Hinata's stomach. She sat up, a pink tint to her cheeks. The meeting with her father had been in the evening, before she could even have dinner. Now it looked like it was noon. She had to find food. Hinata slowly pulled herself up. Satisfied that both of her legs were working, she walked towards the closest thing to a grocery store for all shinobi: a forest.
As Hinata walked in, she noticed that it was a lot brighter than the forests surrounding Konoha. More sunlight. That could have meant a greater variety of vegetation.
A few spots of red appeared in front of Hinata. Berries. She began to reach for the perfectly round fruits, when her fingers stopped. The berries looked very much like the edible rose hips — so sour, that even its tea was a citric knife through the tongue, but it was still edible. But there also existed a poisonous variety of berries that looked similar.
The kunoichi's stomach growled in protest. Hinata mentally shut it out; she did not want to die from food poisoning just because of weak will. There just had to be something else. Hinata crossed her fingers together, hoping for the best. 'Byakugan!'
The veins spread around Hinata's cheeks. She was relieved that no pain came from using the Byakugan after her forehead was sealed.
But there were no animals in the vicinity! What kind of forest was this?
She looked around more. There was another person on the other side of the forest.
Hinata swallowed. She adjusted her vision to focus more on the person: it was an elderly lady, picking wild flowers. Young chrysanthemums, Hinata identified. Their stems and leaves were edible. Hinata could not help but think of making sukiyaki with them. Oh, but to have that sort of dish, one also needed beef...
The old woman seemed to be limping. Hinata instinctively began to walk forward. When the lady fell, dropping her basket, the kunoichi found herself running towards her.
"Oooh..." The elderly woman massaged her foot, hoping to ease it. She was tempted to shout out the next moment: a dirty yet pretty girl stepped cautiously out of a tree's shadow.
"Obaa-sama, are you alright?" Hinata offered a hand to the old woman, who accepted it. When the elderly woman gave out a pained hiss, the kunoichi realized that she had suffered a sprain in that fall. Hinata carefully guided the woman's arm around the back of her neck. The kunoichi leaned down for a moment to pick up the basket of chrysanthemums, before straightening up again with the lady. "Which way do you need to go?"
The elderly woman looked at her. To Hinata's surprise, her expression showed something of pity. "What are you doing in these parts, child?" she asked. "It's dangerous here, especially for a girl your age."
Hinata swallowed. She knew she would sound a bit silly, but here it went. "What is this place?"
"Eh?" The old lady gripped Hinata's sleeve. Hinata realized that the wrist was quaking. "You don't know where you are?" Hinata only shook her head. "Ah. You're lost, I see." She gave a sigh. "You poor thing. You are in the northern fields of the Stone Country."
Hinata almost choked. The Stone Country? And in its northern part, no less? Very few Leaf-shinobi made it here; the Hidden Stone Village made enough of a barricade.
"Where are you from?" The woman suddenly gave a mischievous grin. "Were you spirited here by a god? Are you a kamikakushi?"
Again, Hinata almost choked. "I-I... I've never experienced... I mean, I don't remember very well..."
"I was only kidding you, dear child." The woman patted Hinata's arm in gratitude. "You are such a nice young lady, accompanying me like this. My village will be visible, once we reach the top of this hill."
Hinata's pearly eyes were open with wonder as she walked upward. There was grass — miles and miles of grass — but also solid blocks of rock, coated with grass and moss. "This stone landscape is amazing," Hinata said between breaths. She had to be careful not to step into a hidden crack. "I almost feel like I'm walking over an ancient civilization."
"You are." The old woman cackled at Hinata's surprise. "Seven centuries ago, this place was a dominating city. Like all great empires, it fell."
Hinata briefly remembered the history of wars. "This... is the site of the Four Tengu?"
"The great birds themselves. Ah, I could tell you stories that my grandmother told me."
The two were just about to reach the top of the small mountain, when the lady stiffened. Hinata glanced down with concern. "Obaa-sama?" Hinata then felt herself rudely pushed away. She grabbed onto a weed-covered boulder in support.
"Run, child!" the woman pleaded, clutching onto the ground. "They're coming!" Her arm swung outwards.
Hinata looked up. Two blurs appeared before her. One of them stopped, clutching his forehead. The old woman Hinata accompanied had thrown a pebble straight between his eyes.
With a spot of dark red on his face, the bandit glared at the lame woman on the ground. He pulled a throwing knife from the folds of his coat. "You senile hag!"
There was a light thump behind him. The man only briefly glanced back, before he felt a searing pain in his gut. His form slumped against Hinata's palm. His partner was already unconscious behind her.
The woman sat, amazed at the young girl's speed. "Did you... just..."
Hinata immediately recognized that look. "They're not dead. I just struck several points. It will render them unconscious for several hours." She walked over, and knelt down to the woman. "How is your ankle? I hope—" Hinata's voice ended in a surprised squeak, when she suddenly felt her hands grasped tightly.
"You are familiar with acupuncture?" the elderly lady asked, excitement in her voice.
"A... little," Hinata answered weakly. She was not prepared to explain the frightening combat-style that her family used, much less that her eyes could see the innards of people. Hinata then noticed a bracelet adorning the elderly woman's wrist. It took her a little while to recognize the tiny kanji etched into the metal plate. "You're a pharmacist?"
"Yes. My husband and I run the pharmacy in our village. But we're in need of another hired hand."
Hinata's face turned crimson. She crash-landed into the Stone Country, and within an hour of waking, she was already offered a job? "But... I don't have a pharmaceutical license!"
The old woman scrutinized the nervous Hinata. There was a long pause. Then, she pointed a finger at the basket. "Those plants!" she barked. "Tell me what those are, and what they're useful for. NOW!"
Hinata squeaked at the sudden question. Her voice went on like an automatic machine. "Chrysanthemums. The stems and leaves can be cooked as a vegetable, and are high in vitamins. Its flowers are also edible, and can be dried for making a tea-like drink—" The Priestess then saw the spreading grin on the old woman's face. Hinata inwardly sweated. It only had been her instant reaction to give an answer to a sudden quiz, especially when it involved the subject of botany! She was now trapped.
"Good! You have a basic understanding of herbs." The pharmacist then did something that, again, made Hinata feel awkward. She put her hands to the ground, and bowed her head to the ground. "Could you please, just stay in our village for a few days?" The old woman looked up, her eyes pleading. This only made Hinata feel worse, having a person who was obviously her elder going down to such a humble position. And who knew that granny-eyes could be so cute? "My husband is ill, and I am the only one in the village besides him who practices acupuncture. If you could just help care for some of our patients... We will give you food and lodging in exchange!"
Hinata sighed in defeat. The poor woman looked desperate. And even if Hinata wanted to leave, she could not do so without facing a huge risk. A journey through the Stone Country was perilous in certain areas. She would have to collect data where those were, and meticulously plan a safe route of escape.
As Hinata thought about it further, she realized that she did not feel like going home anytime soon. The incident of the cursed seal made her want to hide herself a little while longer from Konoha. Hinata was not mad at her father. She just did not feel like seeing his face at the moment.
Besides, Hinata was the one who had been antsy within Konoha, all because of the possibility of youkai-demons appearing in other places. She had already cleansed the Hidden Leaf Village with one blessing. It would be unfair to use her supernatural gifts only for one village.
There was just one glitch in this thrown-together plan of Hinata. Her boyfriend.
Naruto would surely be upset. Hinata had not even left him an explanation of why she was absent from Konoha.
On the other hand, he had spent several years traveling with Jiraiya, not seeing any of his friends. Naruto was not the type to have a mental breakdown. He never gained a grudge against Sasuke for abandoning the village. Sure, Naruto had punched the Uchiha when he came back, but he only accused him of being an idiot, not a traitor. Neither did he mope, as he had proved back in his days of trying and failing to get a date with Sakura.
'I feel bad. Tsunade-sama will surely send out the message to other Konoha-nin that I'm missing. And Naruto-kun would be so worried...' Supporting the old woman, Hinata carefully walked towards the small village, which did not span even a fourth of Konoha's total area. 'But Naruto-kun would understand, I'm sure.'
"By the way," said the elderly woman, "those bandages on your head are much too tightly wound."
The pharmacist's voice broke Hinata away from her dozed state. The kunoichi realized in horror, that the well-meaning lady was already loosening the cloth. When the last piece feathered over Hinata's nose, the old woman's eyes widened in shock.
Hinata clasped her hands over her forehead, trying to keep the gauze on. "NO!"
Notes:
"kamikakushi" - means 'being hidden by a kami'. The Japanese title of the film "Spirited Away" is "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi", or 'Sen and Chihiro's Kamikakushi.'
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.