BLIND
CHAPTER 19
The next morning was sunny. Hinata knew this not by sight, but by feeling. The light pouring into the room grazed over her skin, warm and caressing, and she knew she had gone blind. At least temporarily. Her fingers gingerly traced the bandages over her eyes and she sighed.
She sniffed the air; grassy, cool, with a hint of bitterness and peppermint. Those were herbs she smelled. There was something sweet too, that obviously had not come from the hospital. At some point during her treatment last night she had passed out. Her niisan had been with her, whispering in her ear that he'd be right outside the door until everything was over. If he came back to see her afterwards she didn't remember.
He wasn't here now. Everything she'd been wearing last night was gone: her weapons, her bandages, and even her homemade ointments, as well as the little empty bottle given to her by her father. As thankful as she was for the bath and the change of clothing, the whereabouts of that elixir bottle worried her. She'd meant to keep it.
It wasn't long before Hinata heard the sound of footsteps outside her door. Someone was here to see her. They opened the sliding door, came inside, and shut it respectfully behind them. She caught the new scent in the room, incense and tea, and sensed the familiar aura. Niisan.
He didn't say a word. Instead he came by her bedside, taking casual, unhurried steps, and placed something on the table nearby. He then went over to the window and opened it, moving aside for the breeze to come rushing in. Smells of springtime burst through the room, a lovely sanitizer for the unpleasant medicinal odor of a hospital.
"How are you feeling this morning, Hinata-sama?" he asked. His voice was different from last night; calmer, collected. Nothing like his old voice, the familiar one which burned with acidic accusation. Last night she had heard it used on Sasuke-san. Before then, it was the only voice she heard whenever he spoke to her. When did he change?
"I can't see," she said quietly.
"Indeed," he replied. "Hopefully you were expecting the possibility." Hinata nodded. She had strained herself too much during the fight with her father.
"How are you?" Hinata asked him. He had told her nothing of his fight. She didn't even know if he had passed the test; she only suspected. He was stronger than her in every sense, so if she had passed, surely that meant he had too.
"I'm well," Neji said. "I've brought you something to eat. The food here isn't as nutritious as the kind you're used to. It will help you recover faster if you eat it." Hinata's mouth nearly fell open. He had brought her breakfast? A curious rush of heat rose to her cheeks and she smiled gratefully.
"Thank you, Niisan!"
He said nothing, but she imagined him nodding.
"Will you please tell me what happened to everyone last night? Did you pass?"
"Of course," he said without a fraction of smugness. "The Uchiha and his teammate have too."
"Teammate?" She gasped. "Naruto-kun!" An overwhelming swell of happiness brought tears to her eyes. It hurt to cry, but it was hardly unwelcomed. Luckily the bandages absorbed the moisture.
"Yes, that's his name," Neji continued. "They were challenged by their sensei, Kakashi. As was I. You of course got your father. From what I heard there was some resistance when Hiashi opted to test you himself, but the Hokage knows us. He was certain he wouldn't go easy on you just because you're his daughter. If the fact that you are now blind in a hospital bed is not proof enough, I don't know what is."
Neji's voice hardened at the end, or it seemed like it to Hinata. She didn't understand why. He had been no more surprised by Hiashi's involvement than she was when she had told him last night. She heard him approach the bedside and place something on it. He opened whatever it was with a sound of fabric sliding against fabric, followed by a hollow popping sound. "Here," he said. She reached out for whatever he was offering and secured a pair of chopsticks. She snapped them apasrt and accepted his second offering, a bento box.
She waited before taking the first bite. "Where is Gaara-san?" she asked. Something in the room changed at the sound of his name. Neji's silence sapped the atmosphere of its warm feel, and Hinata suspected that something had happened. "Niisan?"
"Why ask about him?" he said tersely.
"Sasuke-san said he was going to see a-a certain, um . . . 'browless freak,' so . . ."
"Yes, I guess you wouldn't know." He uncapped something that sounded like a thermos, and the smell of herbal tea wafted into the air. He left it on the counter for her when she was ready. She could tell by the steam on her face that it was scalding. He went to the window after letting her know. Hinata imagined him with his back straight, staring out into the world without really seeing it. Whenever his mind was on something his eyes would assume that far away distant look, so emotionless, so stern, and yet absolutely full of troubles.
"What happened?" Hinata pressed after a moment's silence.
"I said our test was conducted by Kakashi. That was not entirely true. The fight itself was against Sabaku Gaara."
That was so absurd, and yet she didn't ask for answers. Gaara seemed so . . . indestructible. Why was she wondering if he was alright? Since her niisan was right here she knew he was all right, but her concern heightened for the others.
"Where are Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun?"
"I don't know where the idiot is," Neji said. "The Uchiha is training with Kakashi, I think. I don't know for sure. I don't keep tabs on him."
"So he really did what he said he would?" Hinata asked worriedly. "Is Sasuke-san in trouble?"
"That's not important," Neji said sternly. "Right now just concentrate on resting. Nins only have a short time to recover before they have to start training again. The next round in the tournament will be coming up in a few short months. However, knowing the underhanded tactics of the academy, I would start training much sooner if I were you. You need to be at your best and beyond if we should face off against each other."
He came from the window, hesitating by her beside. She angled her head toward him, feeling a cold sweat beginning to form at her neck. A papery rustling sound disrupted the silence as Neji placed something else on the table and turned to leave. Hinata asked what it was.
"It was left for you before I got here," said Neji. That coldness was back in his tone, giving Hinata a slight shiver. "They're cinnamon buns."
Gaara didn't expect to see her in class. He didn't expect to see anyone in class. So why was he here? Only three days after the tournament and the academy was open for lessons. The jonins had given ample time for nins to recover from their wounds, three weeks in fact, but since the majority of class had, for obvious reasons, not passed the test, it was decided that lessons would carry on as usual.
Naturally he was expected to be here, though he could think of a million other things to do besides waste his time on lessons he had already acquired in Suna. Since the tournament his siblings had been keeping a careful eye on him, more than usual, and it was just as annoying as it ever was. Baki had been warned as well, and now set Gaara on a schedule that he more or less played off as a joke. When were they going to realize how useless it was to try and cage him? He was not the naïve little boy he had been five years ago. The day Gaara adhered to any kind of schedule would be the day he stopped loathing humanity.
Being the first day back in class, the nins who had not passed the first test were seething in their failure, and reveled in the opportunity to share their anger with others. If nothing else, Gaara could at least say he came for that.
"Oy," Naruto whispered from the lower deck. He sat next to the annoying pink hair ninja—the one Gaara faintly remembered seeing around the Uchiha. He had wondered some time ago if she was his teammate. If so, he felt the closest thing to sympathy he had ever felt towards anything. Had she hung all over him as she did the Uchiha, he may have killed her a long time ago. The blond haired idiot inspired the same feelings, though Gaara hated him for an entirely different reason.
"Oy," Naruto hissed again. Could he not tell that the girl was ignoring him? When he hissed at her again she spun on him, her ridiculously colored hair flowing up around her.
"What?" she barked.
"You didn't get hurt during the exam, did you?"
"No I didn't get hurt during the exam, you baka," she snapped at him. "I was here, remember? While you and Sasuke were out passing the test? Instead I was stuck in this room with half the class and that blond bimbo of a pig."
"I heard that, Billboard Brow!" shouted a girl from across the classroom. Obviously they had distanced themselves from each other, though it did nothing to ebb their heated exchanges. Gaara watched in disgust as the two snapped at each other over multiple rows, angering the other classmates and the teacher. Somehow they had managed to become even more annoying now that the Uchiha wasn't here.
Even after all that had happened the "avenger," as he called himself, was well and on his feet. Well enough to be training. That was good. He needed it. Gaara relished in the moment when the Uchiha's head would finally be in his hand. That despairing look in his eyes when the moment finally came that he realized all his training had been useless; his prestige, his heritage, rendered worthless.
Amongst the bantering in the classroom no one had noticed when the door opened in the upper deck. Gaara laid both arms on his desk. So she did come.
Judging from what he'd been told, he had expected her to still be in the hospital. Of all the nins given time to recover, Hinata was the one who needed it the most. Her walk was slow, with a noticeable trace of caution. She descended one row beneath him and took the seat directly south of his.
He had seen her eyes. The veins in her skin were no longer bulging, but receded, leaving bluish scars underneath her already translucent skin. In the time it took her to enter the classroom and take a seat, she had not blinked once.
Sounds died around him as he stared at her back. That tiny back. Even lacking in physical strength as he was, he felt like he could wrap his arms around that back and crush her. There was a fragility about her that had not been there before the exam, and he suspected that she was not recovered enough to be even be out of bed.
She didn't even look down at Naruto, whom she could no doubt hear, what with the insufferable shouting and laughing. And that was another thing that annoyed him. To think that this rodent of a boy had faced off against Gaara not three days ago, and was cavorting in class as if nothing had happened. The next time they fought, he would act differently.
When class was over Gaara watched Hinata rise from her seat. She gave acknowledgement to no one, though he saw her turn her head slightly in his direction as she made her way upstairs. When she left through the door, he followed. Something was off.
Hinata's movements were something he was not stranger to. After all, he had taken up residence in her home. He watched her there, too. She may or may not have known it, but either way, it didn't curb his obsession. His interest in her today was stronger than it had been in weeks. She seemed hollow, looking at no one and talking to no one. She wandered in isolation, every step aware of itself, as if she were treading through a mine field.
At the exit he saw her reach slowly for the doors, feeling for the handle, and pushed her way outside. Ah. Now he understood. She was blind.
No doubt it was from the strain of her kekkei genkai. Aside from the scarring around her eyes, there had also been some bruising. Gaara wondered what she was doing out and about instead of lying in a hospital bed. He'd swear the residents of Konoha had the most endurance of any country he'd ever seen. This girl in particular, who surpassed even his most persistent assassins in will. Few had begged for their life before he ended it. Gaara doubted she would do the same.
He continued following her through the market. It was a scorching day, not unlike what he was used to in his desert village, and though she was blind, he kept to the shadows. A little girl ran past her and tripped. Hinata reached out and caught her just before she hit the ground. "Be careful," she said kindly, and continued on her way.
Where was she going? The estate was in the other direction. From her path so far, it looked as if she were heading toward the training grounds. The Uchiha was not there. Gaara knew this. Whatever training he was getting wasn't in the village; obviously not a lesson not intended for the casual passerby.
Once Hinata reached the training grounds she positioned herself at one of the targets. She extracted several kunai from the holster around her leg and began practicing. Interesting. He watched from the trees as she threw knife after knife. Her aim was superb, even in her condition, and her posture was good.
She stopped after about a half hour and wandered toward the hill tops. She sat there, next to a tree, and put her head against her shoulder as if to sleep. He came over to her when it looked like she had drifted off. He studied her with apparent boredom, but in actuality he was quite absorbed.
What a childish face she had: worn, bruised, with fluttery lashes. The white skin on her cheeks were lined with barely visible cuts, and on her lower lip, a much darker one. Her hair had gotten longer since he'd first seen her. Her bangs in particular slicked well past her eyes, moving gently with the breeze.
He could kill her now. It would be so easy. His hand stretched towards her, his palm flat against the air. Reaching for her throat. Her heart. He didn't know. Before he could touch her she said his name. He drew back, narrowing his eyes.
"Gaara-san," she said, looking up at him. Those glassy eyes, like silver stained windows, stared at him. Seeing nothing. Indeed this was so, but she knew it was him. Did she know he'd been following the entire time? "If you were forced to kill one of your own family members, someone who was like a brother to you, would you?"
The question was unexpected, but it sparked the tiniest bit of pleasure in him. He turned away. "I don't have to be forced," he said, and left her.
*AN*
If you like this story and want to be kept updated, please TWEET me at Stitchpuppy01 so I can respond to you personally! I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from you!
I really really hope I didn't do anything inconsistent here. As you know, it's been a WHILE. I had to go back over all these chapters to write this new one. I have to go back again to write others. Wow, I swear I can't see a finish line. I want to end it so bad, but I don't know how, and I certainly don't want to slop together a final chapter when there are people who've been following this story for years. I owe you guys quite a bit. Well, if you're not pissed off at me and you still like this story, I encourage you to keep reading.