Author Notes
Hello again! Thank you for your time, your patience and your interest!
As always, thank you, nazarin ramzan! Your kindness is very much appreciated!
This chapter is shorter and a bit more serious, but I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless.
Thank you again!
Clarification:
"sample text" (Dialogue)
"sample text" (Thoughts)
The last August day was already half gone when Hinata and Neji finally arrived at Sai's apartment, only to find Kimiko in a crying fit, while Sai was trying his best to cheer her up with some ink mice he had hastily painted and animated.
"Kill him, Hyuuga! Kill him! He made your daughter cry, you kill him right now!"
"A-ano, Kimiko-chan, Sai-kun", Hinata said, grabbing Neji's arm, sensing the assassin instinct emanating from his every pore. "W-what happened?"
"I. AM. HUNGRY!" Kimiko yelled, running towards Hinata and burying her face in the kunoichi's clothes.
"I-I will prepare something", Hinata tried to comfort the sniffling girl.
"While your mothe… While Hinata-sama is preparing the food, we need to talk, Kimiko." Neji said, softening a little at the sight of his beloved hugging their child.
Caught up in the tenderness of the moment, none of them had time to realize that Sai had took the opportunity and scurried away. Even he wasn't that clueless as not to read Neji's expression.
"So…" Neji began, unknowing what to say, while Hinata was already handling the pans.
The three of them had made their way to the kitchen and quickly dusted off the counters. Neji had placed Kimiko on top of one of them, so that he could have a better view of his daughter and was trying to come up with questions while chopping the vegetables. The little girl was watching him expectantly.
"So… To sum it up, you need the cure. What is the illness you are suffering from exactly?"
"It is a disease that progressively drains my chakra. From what I know, the cure itself is not going to eliminate it completely, but it will slow it down and it will hopefully give me another three to five years… Seven, if I am really lucky."
At the sound of these words, Hinata froze and quietly began shaking, while tears were forming in her eyes. Not wanting to be seen, she turned towards the stove, trying to conceal her desperation, all the while pretending to be checking in on the food.
"So this whole thing, this whole time travel, everything was just in order to buy you some time? Not to save you?" Neji asked, incredulously.
Kimiko sighed, looking out the window, her face suddenly stricken by a mature expression, while contemplating a bird happily chirping in a nearby tree.
"Daddy… What I am about to say will sound horrible, but… You both fought a war. You know the toll it takes, you know how it devastates everything. I am not talking about buildings, these can always be rebuilt, I am talking about the human lives… It is said that this looming war is going to be worse than anything ever seen before. The reason for which I want to extend my life a little more is so that I can bear as many children as possible. I know that the lives that will be lost can never be replaced, but my duty, as a Hyuuga and as a Konoha citizen…"
"Stop it!" Neji bellowed, startling both Hinata and Kimiko. "You cannot be talking seriously! You are a child! MY child! You cannot expect me to let my own daughter be treated like cattle! Absolutely not! No way!"
"You tell them, Hyuuga! This is not happening under your watch!" the voice inside him was also growling in rage.
"K-Kimiko-chan… T-There has to be another way… We have to stop the war, we have to save you, we have to save Otousan as well… W-We have to…"
"Mommy", the voice of the girl was still serious, "we cannot afford playing with this. It is very dangerous and the consequences could be..."
Neji interrupted her, his voice dangerously low:
"Be that as it may, we must take the chance. I swore I would never let the idea of destiny obscure my way."
He closed his eyes, remembering the Chuunin exams and the hurt he had inflicted upon Hinata. After all the venom he had thrown at her, after all the hits she had taken from him, the least he could do was give her the freedom to choose her own path, unbinding her from a prewritten future. If she were to choose Naruto, then so be it.
They ate in silence, none of them knowing how to proceed.
"Daddy", Kimiko began, after the last plate had been washed, "if we do this, we need a plan and... And I cannot guarantee that it will work. First and foremost, you have to find the scroll. We must have it, even as a backup plan, of everything else fails..."
"Failure is not an option", Neji retorted hurriedly.
"First you have to find it", Kimiko ignored him, "and you have to hurry. Secondly, and from now on, we are venturing into unknown territory, if we are to save grandpa Hiashi, we have to find a way to keep him outside of the Hyuuga compound the night the fire starts. As such, I suggest you talk to the Hokage to send him in an urgent negotiation mission. That would also buy you some time to search for the scroll, since I think it is guarded in his room and that is where the fire is supposed to start."
"H-Hanabi..." Hinata whispered, forcing the two to look at her. "W-We cannot risk... I-I mean", she took a deep breath, "I mean if we are going to do this and given that we don't know how it will end, we cannot risk her life, so I think we should ask the Hokage to send her with Otousan as well", she said in one breath, hoping she sounded determined enough.
Silence fell again, both Neji and Kimiko simply nodding in agreement.
"It is settled then", the Hyuuga genius concluded. "Kimiko, you stay here. We will go talk to the Hokage and, after Hiashi-sama and Hanabi-sama leave, we will begin searching for the cure... One more thing", Neji added, turning to look at his daughter. "When is the fire supposed to start?"
"Tomorrow night", Kimiko whispered.
"I hope you find me here tomorrow..." she thought, tears forming in her eyes as Hinata gently kissed her forehead, bidding her goodbye, while whispering in her ear:
"D-Do not worry, Kimiko-chan, I will protect you with my life."