A/N: We're almost at 400 reviews, fellas. We can do it. Aftermaths are fun, right? This one should be.
Time for chapter 23
Enjoy!
Hinata groaned and rubbed her neck as she sat up in bed. Every part of her body was in pain, particularly her head, which was throbbing with a painful rhythm. She glanced around the room she had been sleeping in and frowned. It appeared to be a hospital room, as the walls and floors were white. There was a window by the side of her bed that was covered by a curtain. After several moments of confusion, the events of her confrontation with Naruto came flooding back through her mind.
'After all of that, after giving in to that sinful seal, I still came up short. Left in the dust by you again, Naruto-kun' she thought dejectedly as she laid her head back on her pillow. Her mind then wandered back to the battle itself and the words that were exchanged.
'I'm willing to put aside my shameless affection for you and do everything in my power to put you down'
Hinata sighed and shook her head as she dissected her own words from multiple different angles and perspectives.
'Of course, just as the situation is spiralling out of control, I go and say that' she thought to herself. As she recounted the brutal war of wills, a knock came at her door. The Hyuga girl sat up and glanced over at the door.
"Come in" she called tentatively, somewhat apprehensive as to the potential possibilities of who laid beyond the door. After a moment or two, the door creaked open to reveal the absolute last person Hinata wanted to see.
"You look well, Hinata. I sincerely hope that you don't feel well, though" Hiashi said as he made his way into the room and over to a chair in the corner.
"H-hello, father. I would assume that you are here to...discuss some things" Hinata greeted shakily as her father assessed her from his corner chair. The clan head shook his head and sighed sadly.
"Skipping right to the topic at hand, hm? Admirable for somebody in your position" he muttered as he gathered his words. After nearly a full minute of silence before Hiashi spoke again.
"I cannot put into words how disappointed I am. You defied every lesson of morality and dignity that I have ever tried to instill into you. You whored yourself away to a sinister, sinful power that you had no control over, and you maimed your own teammate with it. You are very lucky that Uzumaki-san has a remarkable level of self-control, because if he didn't, you would likely be in a coma" he said. Hinata furrowed her eyebrows at the statement.
"What do you mean?" she asked skeptically. The clan head scowled at her and stood up from his chair.
"First and foremost, even at the pique of your power while using that seal, there was never a moment in which you were not at his mercy. Had he so chosen, he could have rendered you unconscious immediately. If I am to be honest, I wish he would have. If he had, I would not have been forced to watch my eldest daughter fall so far" he began. Hinata considered refuting his words, but thought better of it.
"Why would you do something so foolish? What compelled you to give in to the curse mark?" Hiashi demanded. Hinata pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose.
"Victory. I needed it, and I needed it badly. I knew in the back of my mind that my chances against him were slim at best without use of the curse mark after the first few exchanges. I still refuse to resign myself to the idea that he truly is superior to me, and I doubt I ever will" she said. Her father gave her a hard look.
"It's fine to be competitive. In fact, I implore you to keep a competitive mindset. Such a thing can be extremely beneficial in moderation. What isn't fine is blowing that mindset so far out of proportion that you severely damage the people around you. Uzumaki-san's status as a Jinchuuriki is the only reason he's alive right now. His body was badly damaged by the process of forcing his chakra into your body" he said. Hinata felt her blood freeze in her veins.
"What has happened to him? Is he okay?" she asked, a renewed fear permeating her voice. Her father raised an eyebrow and sat down on the end of her bed.
"For somebody who claimed to enjoy the imagery of his face as a mask of blood and lacerations, you seem awfully worried about him. His current condition is your doing. As for what has happened to him, it's fairly complicated. The best way to explain it would be to say that he saved you quite a bit of trouble. As would be expected, the power the curse mark comes at a price. It causes your body to...eat itself alive in a way. Muscles atrophy, bones become brittle, and nerve endings die" he began, eliciting quiet gasp from Hinata, who wore a look of guilty horror as she pieced it all together.
"When he forced his chakra into you, your body was overloaded with energy for a moment. You would have died had he not absorbed a bit of the excess. That extra chakra was a portion of the chakra held within the curse mark. As a consequence of allowing that energy into his body, he suffered the side-effects of your transformation. He likely knew that he was much more likely to recover within a reasonable time-frame than you. That boy is much more intelligent than even I gave him credit for" Hiashi said, concluding his explanation. Hinata lowered her eyes and stared at her hands.
'You willingly took a beating from me just to draw out my curse mark. Then, you took away the side-effects and took them on yourself. You put my needs before your own, even in the heat of battle. That selflessness will get you killed someday, but for now, you've taken my breath away, Naruto-kun' she thought to herself as the magnitude of her teammate's shrewd tactics.
"Where is he now?" she asked quietly. Hiashi pointed a finger out into the hallway and shrugged his shoulders.
"Where do you think? He's just down the hall. He's required to stay in the building until tomorrow morning, but he is visitable" he said before turning to leave. Before the clan head could leave the room, his daughter called out to him one last time.
"What were the results of the preliminary round? And who is facing who in the finals?" she asked curiously. Hiashi glanced back over his shoulder at her.
"Uzumaki-san is set to face Gaara of the Sand, and Neji is to face Kankuro of the Sand. Your teammate, Shikamaru Nara is set to face Temari of the Sand. As for the results of the preliminary round, Neji bludgeoned Kiba Inuzuka in seventeen seconds, and the opponents of your cousin and teammate battered their opponents effortlessly" he explained before leaving the room.
After he had left, Hinata stood up from her bed and stretched. She then walked over to a mirror sitting on her bedside table and looked at her own face.
'Medical ninjutsu is quite something' she thought to herself as she found that her face was virtually unmarked. She then glanced around the room for a moment before spotting a pile of clothes sitting on a chair.
'I must dress myself. I would rather humiliate myself in my own clothes than a hospital gown'
Hinata stood in front of Naruto's hospital room hesitantly for several moments before finally finding the nerve to knock. After rapping her knuckles on the hardwood three times, a muffled call came from within the room.
"Come on in" Naruto said from inside. The Hyuga girl took a deep breath and pushed the door open before stepping inside and closing it behind her. As the Jinchuuriki caught sight of her, a wide range of emotions flashed across his face, which, unlike Hinata's, was still badly marked and cut.
"Oh, Hinata. How...are you?" he asked carefully, his tone carrying a subtle undertone of apprehension. The heiress fidgeted slightly and sat herself down on a chair next to his bed, finding anything to look at but him.
"Quite well, all things considered. My body has healed remarkably. Medical Ninjutsu is a godsend" she said as she looked herself up and down. Naruto nodded and sat up in bed, wincing as he did so.
"Wish I could say the same. The nurses have been telling me that the fox's chakra makes medical ninjutsu impossible. I kind of think they're just avoiding having to heal me. I mean, I'll heal on my own within a few days, but this still sucks" he said with a sigh. Hinata gave him a guilty look and bit her lip.
"I suppose you may be wondering what I'm doing here. Especially after all that I said to you" she said quietly. The Jinchuuriki remained silent as he studied her carefully.
"You don't seem anywhere near as sinister as you were yesterday. I'm not all that worried, honestly" he said with a shrug. The Hyuga girl glanced up at him and clenched her jaw to prevent her lip from quivering as she beheld his battered face.
"Look at you, battered and bloody even after the fact. All because of my own stupidity" she whispered in a pained tone. Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. It's fine. I understand why you feel the way you do. Even if I think you took it a few steps too far. I survived, and so did you. That's all that matters. Don't stress yourself out over something that isn't important" he said. Hinata felt her limit being quickly reached.
"But it is important. I gave into my darkest desires and my shameful jealousy. As a result, I hurt you psychologically and physically. I turned you into something no person should ever be. A scapegoat" she said shakily. The blonde pursed his lips.
"Like I said in the Land of Waves, you aren't the first, and you won't be the last. Don't be so self-critical. We all have low points" he said. The Hyuga girl slammed her fist down onto his bedside table, causing him to flinch.
"But you shouldn't be the one who suffers for it. You don't deserve to be everybody's doormat. You're better than that. You're worth more than that" she said angrily. Naruto raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to respond, but was silenced by Hinata, who put up a hand.
"Yes, I know. I'm being pathetically hypocritical. I said horrible, awful, no-good things to you yesterday to vent my own frustrations. I'm no better than the people I'm criticizing" she said quietly. Naruto shifted a bit in place.
"You know, I think I finally understand why Orochimaru marked you" he said with a strange look. Hinata frowned at the statement and motioned for him to continue.
"He didn't do it to lure you in like Kakashi-sensei and your father were suspecting. He did it to goad me. He somehow knew that you would use that curse mark. He also knew that you and I would end up fighting. Not sure how, but I think I'm right" he explained. The Hyuga girl sighed.
"Even if you are right, even if my use of the seal was all part of some master plan, I still made the choice. I still opted to throw away my morals and treat you like discarded trash. I'm so, so sorry, Naruto-kun" she apologized emotionally. Naruto tilted his head to one side at her words.
"You're still calling me 'Naruto-kun'. Why? I thought you were just saying it to mess with me during our fight" he asked skeptically. Hinata turned red for a moment, but calmed herself and gave him a melancholy smile.
"Must I spell this out for you?" she asked, clearly hoping that the answer to her question was a resounding 'no'. To her disappointment, the Jinchuuriki nodded.
"You might" he said with a chuckle. Hinata folded her hands over her chest and looked him in the eyes for the first time since her arrival in his hospital room.
"Despite my awful treatment of you, despite all of the insults, despite the countless times I've given you the cold shoulder, I...I have come to adore you. Much to my own dismay. I hate myself for it, I really do, but even I can't deny it anymore" she admitted, more to herself than Naruto. The Jinchuuriki stared at her blankly for a moment before responding.
"So, that's what you meant when you said that you would 'put your affection aside' to try to beat me senseless. This is...more than a little shocking for me to hear" he said carefully. Hinata felt a tear finally escape from one of her eyes.
"I have no doubt in my mind that I've ruined any chance of you and I having a healthy relationship of any kind, be it romantic or platonic. All I've ever done is hurt you and-" she began. Before she could finish, Naruto pressed a finger to her lips.
"Don't jump to conclusions. I willingly gave up two years of my life to make sure you survived our fight. I care about you more than almost anybody else currently living. You mean a lot to me, even if I don't fully understand why. I love being around you when you're in a good mood, so don't go convincing yourself that I hate you or something, because I don't. Not even close" he said. Hinata's eyes widened at one specific detail of his speech. She gently removed his hand from her face and grasped the limb tightly as though she were terrified to be without it.
"You weren't exaggerating. You really did cut your own life-span down for me" she said quietly. Then, without warning, she stood up and tumbled onto the bed, latching onto Naruto and burying her face in his chest as she began to weep openly.
"I stole two entire years, 730 days from you. I've killed you in advance…" Hinata wailed as she tightened her grip around the Jinchuuriki. Naruto winced with pain as he was squeezed by his crying teammate, but chose not to struggle.
"You didn't kill me Hinata. I made the choice to suppress the curse mark. I knew the risks, and I gambled. Sometimes you lose, and I did this time" he said reassuringly while rubbing her back and allowing her to cry.
"Why are you so damn forgiving? Why are you so willing to forget all that I've done?" Hinata asked quietly as her tears soaked through his shirt. Naruto gently pried her off of himself and laid a hand on the side of her face.
"Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei care, but they have their own agendas. Shikamaru...we'll get there, but for now, he's just another guy. You...as hard as it's been and as much pain as I've endured, I'm still happier than I've been in years. You being kind of a stalker creeps me out, but it also makes me kind of happy to know that somebody is watching over me" he said. Hinata opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't find her voice.
"I guess the best way to put it is...you're all I've got. That's why I'm so willing to go to the lengths I do for you" Naruto said honestly. The Hyuga heiress gently tucked her head underneath his chin and wrapped her arms around him again.
"I cannot guarantee that this will ever be easy for either one of us, but I...promise that I won't do something as foolish as I did yesterday. I will never force you to give up a piece of yourself for my sake again" she said as she softly nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.
"You're so bipolar. Less than a day ago, you were trying to kill me, now here you are cuddling me. Some consistency would be nice" Naruto said with a chuckle. The Hyuga girl curled up against him and closed her eyes.
"Duly noted. Tell me, how...do you feel about me? Be honest" she asked quietly. The blonde thought for a moment before answering.
"I don't quite adore you the way you claim to adore me, there's still some growing to do. I think I could in the future. No, I think I will. Not quite yet, though" he replied. Hinata nodded.
"Would you mind if I slept as we are now? The blankets in this establishment are poor, and you are quite warm" she asked. Naruto snickered.
"You could just come out and say that you want to snuggle. I'm willing to let you just because you apologized so nicely" he said. Hinata sighed and yawned.
"I'll never admit it. Never" she said defiantly before beginning to softly snore in his arms. After several minutes, the Jinchuuriki closed his eyes as well.
'Not where I thought I'd end up today, but I guess I can live with this'
A/N: Just to clarify: THEY ARE NOT TOGETHER YET. It'll still be a little while before that actually happens. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed :)
See you next chapter! Read and Review!