A/N: I have returned from the medication and inability to write coherently. Should be able to write consistently for the next little while. Also, I'm about to change something about the canon for the sake of this fic. It's an AU, so this shouldn't be too jarring.
Time for chapter 28
Enjoy!
Hiashi shielded his eyes with his forearm as lightning cracked across the dark night's sky. It was nearly three in the morning, which was a testament to how little free time was afforded to the Hyuga clan head, as he had taken his current walk as a means of solitary thinking. With the quickly approaching final round of the Chunin exams, in which Neji would be competing. Despite the relative ease with which the young Hyuga boy was expected to dispose of his initial opponent, the looming threat of Neji facing either Gaara or Naruto after the fact had cost Hiashi many nights of sleep.
'I must hope for Uzumaki-san to fell Gaara. Between the two of them, Neji is much more likely to defeat him than Gaara purely based upon skill sets. Neji would have absolutely no way to close distance against Gaara. Uzumaki-san would be far from easy, but the chance is certainly there' he thought to himself as he scaled the path that led to the Hokage Monument. As he climbed to the plateau that overlooked the village, a stirring sound from above caught his attention. The Hyuga clan head immediately whirled around and looked upwards towards the face of the Fourth Hokage, which had been carved into the rocky mountainside.
Standing atop the stoney face was Naruto, who wore nothing but a pair of training shorts and a tattered shirt. From the looks of the limited clothing, they had been damaged in action. The blonde silently stared down at the Hyuga clan head from his perch for several moments before calling out to him.
"Imagine meeting you here. Not a common tourist destination usually. What brings you here, Hyuga-sama?" he asked. Hiashi activated his Byakugan to better view the Jinchuuriki and straightened his posture despite the heavy downpour of rain.
"Much the same as you, I would assume. Sleep is easily interrupted, and is often impossible to recapture once lost. I'm walking myself to exhaustion" he explained as he assessed Naruto carefully. Naruto nodded.
"I get what you mean. Sleeping is a hell of a lot harder than it should be. I decided to get in some late-night drilling while I was at it. Only two weeks until the finals, so I need all the practice I can get" he said. The Hyuga clan head raised an eyebrow and gestured to the boy's ravaged outfit.
"Did this drilling result in the destruction of your clothing?" he asked curiously. The Jinchuuriki glanced down at his body and laughed a bit at the question.
"Yeah, I guess it did. I might have gotten a little carried away with some of it. Oh well, I have at least two more shirts and maybe another pair of shorts. No big deal" he replied as he picked at his torn-beyond-repair shirt. Hiashi felt a pang of sympathy at Naruto's unknowing allusion to his own poverty. The blonde then proceeded to tear off the remainder of his shirt and toss it aside, leaving nothing to cover his tattooed abdomen.
"Maybe this is littering, but I don't think I'll be needed that anymore" he said as he stretched and wiped rainwater from his eyes. Hiashi sighed and shook his head.
"You could have simply brought it to a seamstress, you know. That was a waste of a perfectly good shirt" he said tiredly. Naruto gave him a hard look.
"Do you really think I could just walk into a sewing shop and ask for a service?" he asked rhetorically. The Hyuga clan head winced at his own ignorance and scratched the back of his head.
"I suppose you're right. Wrong though it may be, this village's bias against you would make such simple matters quite complicated. If you'd like, I could arrange for some of the Hyuga's cloth-workers to fix your clothing when needed" he offered as a patching to his insensitive remark. The Jinchuuriki smiled.
"That'd be nice. Thanks for that, Hyuga-sama" he said as he stared down at his far-off companion. Hiashi returned the stare as lightning illuminated the night once more, allowing for a brief-but-clear view of Naruto.
'An ocean of suppressed indignation and pain lies still in those eyes of yours, Uzumaki-san. Just waiting to be unleashed in a great wave of destructive force' he thought solemnly as the lightning faded away. He then turned his attention to the seal on Naruto's stomach, which was giving off a subtle glow.
"That tattoo of yours is quite exotic. I'm quite proud of it, if I am to be honest. Being it's creator and such" he said, earning a strange look from the Jinchuuriki.
"You mentioned that a while back. You said that your clan was responsible for the seal. I didn't know that you were the one who made it specifically. In a way, you put the fox inside me" he said blankly. Hiashi felt the air begin to tense, but it quickly loosened once more. After several moments of silence, the clan head spoke once more.
"That's one way to put it. The fourth was the one who truly sealed the demon within you, but such a feat would not have been possible without a seal of my invention. If you want an apology, you aren't going to get one from me" he said firmly. Naruto gazed down at him for a second or two before leaping down from his perch, landing directly in front of Hiashi.
"I don't need an apology from you, and I don't deserve one. From what I understand, the village would have been destroyed had the fox not been sealed. I still don't understand why it had to be me, but it makes sense at the end of the day" he said tiredly. The Hyuga clan head looked the boy up and down and shuddered a bit.
'He's the spitting image of his father, truly. A bit shorter, and likely less traditionally handsome, but very similar. Even his chakra feels similar' he thought to himself as Naruto stretched up to his full height a few feet from Hiashi.
"Something tells me that you know a whole lot more about why I was made a Jinchuuriki than you're letting on" the blonde said. The clan head smirked inwardly.
'Catch him in the right mood, and he's just as sharp' he chuckled mentally. Hiashi then shook his head and stepped back.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Either way, you have other things to worry about. Don't distract yourself" he chided. Naruto frowned and began to protest, but stopped.
"What is your opinion of my daughter, Uzumaki-san?" Hiashi asked, smoothly switching topics in the blink of an eye. The blonde stared at him silently for a moment.
"I think she's lying to herself" he replied bluntly. Hiashi raised an eyebrow at the fearless remark and motioned for the Jinchuuriki to elaborate.
"Go on, Uzumaki-san. That wasn't much of an answer. One could even argue that it doesn't fit the parameters of the question I asked you" he said. Naruto looked off into the stormy sky.
"She's trying to convince herself that I'm some sort of martyr for being willing to let her vent a little during our match. She's putting me up on a pedestal. She's completely shifted gears since the preliminary round ended, and I don't entirely buy it as being real. I think it's a coping mechanism for the guilt she feels" he explained. The clan head considered his explanation before responding.
"From the sounds of it, her use of the curse mark bothers you greatly. Understandably so, but it does come as something of a surprise to me. Hinata described you as being quite forgiving" he said. Naruto sighed.
"Of course it bothers me. She tried to kill me. She really wanted to end my life. She also seemed like she was really enjoying beating the hell out of me. I did some research into seals and such, and what I found out is that transformation-based diagrams tend to amplify already-existent personality traits" he said, allowing Hiashi to connect the remaining dots himself.
"I will not deny that Hinata was indeed bitterly jealous of your progress, but I would not characterize her as cruel by any metric. Egotistical, yes, but not sadistic. Jealousy can be twisted into sadism under certain circumstances when faced with the right stimuli. I understand your frustration, believe me, I do, but don't mischaracterize her" the clan head said. The blonde pursed his lips.
"I'm not afraid of much, Hyuga-sama. I've seen terrible things, and I've been told the coldest things you can imagine, but nothing, and I mean nothing has ever made me want to run away and hide as much as the sound of Hinata's voice after she transformed. I felt like a cornered animal. I was stronger than her, and I knew that, but it made no difference. She just kept walking me down, telling me how badly she was going to hurt me and how. It was just so...painful" he said quietly. Hiashi put a hand on his shoulder.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but it wasn't her power or ghastly appearance that shook you. It was the idea that a person whom you consider to be a friend would be so willing to hurt you. Comradery is a precious trust, and she broke it into glass-like pieces. She then carved your skin with those shards and laughed at your expense" he said. The jinchuuriki lowered his eyes to the ground and allowed himself to relax.
"I've never had friends before. Shikamaru seems fine, and I've been getting along okay with Lee, but Hinata is kind of all I have when it comes to real relationships. I don't know if this is how all people are, but maybe having friends isn't for me. I hate being led one way and then tugged in another. I was starting to...really like her. Then she goes and does what she did. Even now, with her being super affectionate, I just don't feel like I believe it" he said in a defeated tone. Hiashi sighed and reached into his pocket, eventually producing a small slip of folded paper.
"Perhaps it isn't right for me to show you this, but if you need proof of her honesty, this should be more than sufficient" he said as he handed to small paper to Naruto. The genin stared at the slip skeptically as he took hold of it.
"What is it, and how would a piece of paper prove anything?" he asked. The Hyuga clan head stepped back and turned around to exit the plateau.
"Hinata has very few hobbies. She spends the vast majority of her time either training or quietly watching you. Whenever she does choose to indulge herself a bit, she either reads, or she writes. Poetry if it's the latter" he said as he began to descend the stairs. Naruto silently watched him leave, and once Hiashi's footsteps were no longer audible, he unfolded the slip of paper. Its contents were written in predictably lavish handwriting, but was nonetheless readable.
Your voice, how sweet it's sound
To have saved a wretch like me
From a place of no rebound
Even after my horrid decree
Despite my forked tongue
Despite my frigid disposition
Your mercy overhung
Your selfless scheme came to fruition
Words cannot and will not suffice
For you were not crass
You melted my castle of ice
My House of Glass
Naruto slowly refolded the paper and gently tucked it into his pocket. He then looked out over the village and towards the Hyuga Estate, where Hinata was fast asleep. The blonde shivered as the cold rain poured onto his bear skin.
"You're such a sap, Hinata. A damn good poet, but still a sap. I love you for it, though" he said to no-one in particular. He then began his slow walk home. After reaching his apartment and entering it, Naruto threw on a set of pajamas and flopped down onto his bed, not bothering to cover himself with blankets.
'I'm not sure why you had that poem or where you got it, but I'm glad you gave it to me. Thank you, Hiashi' he thought to himself as his eyelids drew progressively more heavy and difficult to support. After a minute or two, the Jinchuuriki lost consciousness.
Although still not fully mended, a trust had been medicated that night.
A/N: Alright, I KNOW that was a super short chapter, but I felt like it would feel really forced to add another scene after that one. Also, I SUCK AT POETRY, so try not to be too hard on me lol
See you next chapter! Read and Review!