Chapter Ten: Here comes Trouble
AN: There's a complex story behind a "certain character's" failures revealed in this chapter. You'll learn more about them as the story progresses.
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A whole day had passed by in training. Hinata thought it would be easy, but it was not. She remembered when she and Miyuki first cut a swathe along the pathway that led to her home. Her fingers and bones had hurt like hell. A deep ache had set in, but this was . . . impossible!
She sat in a large wooden chair in Sasuke's office and looked down to her deeply bruised palms: they were swollen, with sickly green veins popping out of the skin. When she tried to curl her fingers, a sharp pain went through her whole arm. Sasuke had given her a very hard time. She did not understand him at all. It was as if he had a different face for everything—a new façade for all occasions—and she could hope to pull one away completely before a new one formed in its place.
Sighing, she slumped over the table and gazed down at her dirty nails. Then her gaze wandered off left and right and outside the window, which was left slightly open, across from the large table. A cool breeze touched her face with lightness and moved the golden, blazing red, tangerine leaves on trees and the ones scattered through the ground outside. Sun had travelled below the horizon, and variations of red hue were beginning to go tumbling across the last merry bits of day.
Sasuke told her to wait in the office, and, obediently, she had been sitting here, waiting for the last fifteen minutes. The rest of the team completed tough exercises one after another; she was glad this was her first day. Today, she felt a pang of worry for Naruto's daily routine: Sasuke had denied him the Jōnin post because he was falling behind; his family had forced her upon him; and Sakura probably added to his troubles.
Hinata did not know what to feel for him. Maybe these thoughts were the last bits of her love for him that made her experience unwanted remorse. She was slowly letting go of it, steeling herself for what was to come. The quietness of her thoughts was constantly disturbed by the noises outside, but there would always be the comfort and loneliness of her home—a sanctuary and prison.
Hinata sat up straight when she heard soft sounds of steps on the wooden floor outside, and within seconds, Sasuke entered the office, leaving the familiar vague smell of something fragrant and musky in his wake. It lingered in the air, persistent, not ready to leave in spite of the steady draft pouring into the room that was being warmed by fire.
Putting the scroll down on the table, he pulled down the zip on his jacket, taking it off and throwing it on the back of his chair. Sweat was visible at his throat, drying out in the heat the fireplace exuded. He pulled the heavy chair back and sat down. Not a second passed when he raised his hand and took off his headband and threw it onto the table. It clanked on the hard surface there. After that quick ritual, he leant back into his chair and closed his eyes. He looked tired.
Hinata kept looking at Sasuke's face, covered in a film of sweat. The dark hair around his face clung to the skin. He just sat there, eyes closed, arms resting on the armrests, not looking at her or anything—he was quiet as if sleeping in the big chair. Moments passed and he finally opened his eyes, bringing his gaze upon her curious face. There were traces of a bloom in her cheeks now. He held his gaze for a moment and watched as her face began to redden—even more.
"How was your first day?" he asked and moved his head back to look up at cobwebs hanging from the side of the still ceiling fan. A look of displeasure came to his face, but he quickly schooled his features.
"I-It was good," she said in a very small voice and fiddled with the button on her jacket with nervousness.
Sasuke let out a soft laugh and sat upright. "Liar. There isn't a single shinobi on my team whose first day was ever good with me," he said with a playful expression and grabbed the scroll from the table. "So how was it?"
"I . . . " she paused and mustered up a bit of courage to speak again, " . . . it was a very d-difficult day. My hands are bruised, and I can't feel my fingers." She quickly looked away when she saw Sasuke smiling at her confession, his eyes on the scroll.
"Get used to it. You've been out of practice—five years is a very long time. I'll tell Yuu to heal you before you leave." He looked up for a fleeting moment and then dropped his eyes back to the scroll again. "Your performance wasn't good for a new Genin. Step up your game if you want to stay in the squad. Right now, you're just in the trial slot."
"Trial slot?" Hinata asked and wiped her sweaty hands on her pants.
"Yes, a trial slot," Sasuke replied and rolled up the scroll and met her eyes. "I plan on throwing one free-loader out of the team. He's been getting on my nerves for a while now. The bastard didn't even perform today. You I can train. He? I don't need another meddlesome medic on my team. He's useless to me—better you than him."
Hinata did not say anything and bent her head to look at her hands again. Sasuke tapped the table a few times with his knuckle. "Pay attention, Hinata. You'll keep on repeating the same exercise every day till you learn something. Clear?" he asked and slapped on the table lightly.
Hinata nodded and rubbed her palms on her dirty and sweaty pants again; her hands were starting to itch now. "I'll have to come d-daily?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
Sasuke looked at her with an incredulous expression as if that was not obvious enough. "Of course," he paused, stood up, and made his way around the table towards her chair, "you won't get any special treatment . . . just because of the nice time we had together." He looked down at her, wearing a wisp of a smile on his handsome face.
Hinata averted his gaze, which was heavy upon her, and looked outside the window again. There, on a supple tree branch, sat that tiny hawk Sasuke called Kirin. It was sitting there with an obedience that was unnatural for a bird, cocking its head and craning its neck to look left and right, whilst Sasuke was walking about in the office to get another scroll. Hinata thought it looked adorable! She had this urge to grab it in her fist and stroke its flecked feathers.
"Your bird," she said and pointed at the window.
Sasuke walked to the window and opened it a little more and looked outside; when he made a small hand gesture, Kirin let out a melodious sound and flew to him. It landed on his shoulder and bounced excitedly when he reached into his pocket to feed him.
"I told Nii-Sama not to send you here so early," he said in a gentle voice and stroked his feathers lightly, "but I guess he knows that I get lonely without you." He smiled and leant against the table.
Hinata smiled, too, admiring the all-white softness of Sasuke's features in the golds of dusk's light. He looked happy today, his countenance serene, undisturbed by any burden. A part of her envied him. He did not know trouble the way she did . . . feeling it every day, a contagion that ate away at her insides and made her face crumble to reveal a telling countenance that hid nothing.
Sasuke knew how to hide his heart. Perhaps, staying close to him, she would end up learning the art of secrecy—something she could never learn in her home. Her eyes were still transfixed on his face that she did not realise when he had started looking back at her. "Something wrong?" he asked, breaking her from quiet thoughts.
"N-No," she said quickly and turned her gaze to look at the hawk again that had hidden itself well behind Sasuke's jaw-length hair (it surprised her that it was playing with Sasuke!). "I—what are my chances to clear the trial period?"
"That's up to you. If you work hard, nothing is impossible. I'll instruct Neji to help you out because I've got my hands full with missions for a week. I won't be around to train you," he explained.
Hinata's heart felt the longing, and her untrained, honest lips moved before she could stop them, and she whispered, "when will . . . I-I see you again?"
A subtle but playful expression scurried across his face before it disappeared behind his well-guarded countenance. "I can come see you tonight if you want" he said in a smooth, deep voice and leant down to meet her passion-touched eyes. "Naruto will stay at the academy again, but you already knew. Aren't you naughty, Hinata?" He backed away and left behind that peculiar scent of his in the air—a scent she loved!
Hinata bent her head down and peered through the curtain of hair over her eyes at her shivering hands. Nervousness bothered her mind and body again. What was she doing? This was not right! Out of the corner of her eyes, she gazed at his face. The allure in his eyes was gone, vanished behind the mask he always wore. His eyes took on that ferocious red colour and turned to look at the door. Three perfect Tomoes moved in a circle before coming to a halt. "Go home," he said, and his eyes fixed on the door. "I'll come by after I'm done here."
"Yes," Hinata said and stood up, moving her aching fingers a bit. They still hurt, but, at least, the itchiness was gone.
"Yuu should be done with his work by now. Ask him to heal you," he said and folded his arms across his breast when he heard the knock on the door. "Come in, Sakura."
The door opened and revealed the pink-haired woman who wore that same strange expression on her face, which had turned red and sweaty under the sun. It lost its intensity almost immediately as her eyes turned to Sasuke; her tight expression softened and eased. Hinata did not understand her. Quietly, she made her way out of the office and closed the door behind her.
"Office hours are over," Sasuke said and watched her as she made her way around the table and stopped close to him—too close. "Go home, unless you have something important to tell me."
"I came to give you this," Sakura said and produced a scroll out of her jacket's pocket. A hearty smile was prominent on her lips.
Sasuke took the scroll from her hand and unrolled it. A subtle 'hmm' sound escaped his lips before he rolled it back up and threw it onto the table. "I don't approve of these results," he said, and his features changed into a look of irritation.
"What are you saying? Hokage-Sama took the test—you have to accept these!" she protested, looking helpless.
"I don't," Sasuke replied, a hard look plastered on his face. "I'm the team's Head Jōnin, and it's up to me to accept your results or reject them. That's what the rules say, anyway. And guess what? I don't trust your mentor."
Sakura backed away a little, impatient. "What do you mean?" she asked and bit her lower lip in anxiety.
"I don't know—maybe because you're her student that she feels the need to throw you into the best team in Konoha? You know, to exalt her own reputation and that of your clan's? After all, Haruno Clan is unheard of," he said, his voice full of reproach.
"That's not true!" Sakura denied, raising her voice.
"Don't shout—this is my office," Sasuke said with a heavy accent and clenched his teeth in a way as though he wanted to say more.
"I've worked hard to get here and stay on this team—you know that! You know how good my chakra control is. It's the same as Yuu's. I have good Taijutsu and tailing skills. You just—you just don't see it. You're unfair to me!" Sakura accused, her voice shaking with emotion now.
"You take me for a fool?" he asked and pushed himself off the table to tower over her, his expression losing the softness with a flare of anger. "You know damn well how you got here. Your parents pleaded before the Hokage, and she practically told you the Jōnin Team test—you sly little cheater. I had to give you countless extensions, work around the test timings, group you up with Yuu, and send you off to that damned woman's office almost daily so that you could make up for your training. Don't mock me." He took in a heavy breath, seething with pronounced irritation.
Sakura fell silent. She knew he would never fall for her lies. It was no use, and she could not tell him the truth. It was better to lie for now. "It's true," she began another lie and looked down to her feet, "I didn't come here on hard-work alone. It was Hokage-Sama's love for me and my parents' prayers that I am where I am today—but-but that's also true that I've worked hard since then. I've done everything you've ever asked. I passed all the exams! Sasuke, I've done whatever you asked. Don't be so cold-hearted—don't be so unfair to me!" Her breath, caught in her throat, came out as a few sobs. She moved her hand up and wiped the tears from her eyes, as if to push her burdens down.
Sasuke's expressions softened just a bit. "What do you want? I'm tired of coddling you," he said and kneaded his brow. "I don't care what your reasons are to stay here. I won't accept your test results. The Team Exams will take place a week from now, and Yuu will oversee the Medical Divisions' Tests with a few other Ninjas from my Clan. If you fail those, I don't care what you do—I'll throw you out faster than you can grovel before your persuasive mentor. That's my final word."
"I'll have to give the tests again? And Yuu is a Chūnin—he can't oversee anything!" she said, her expression accusatory.
"You damn well will if you want to stay. And Yuu gave Jōnin Exams two weeks ago. I sent his letter of recommendation to the Anbu Division. The approval letter came in today," Sasuke said and there was a clear note of triumph in his sly voice. "Is that all? If it is, you can leave. I have work to do."
Sakura inched closer and leant up to press her cheek against his jaw. "You know—you know I didn't stay just to preserve my Clan's honour. I stayed here for you, too," she whispered in his ear and then left the office in silence and with a heavy heart . . .
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Hinata sat in the room's shadows. One candle sat on the table; its flame danced on the wick, threatening to go out any second as the wind outside turned rough. She had just made it home when Miyuki gave her the message from Minato. She did not even have time to rest. Next to her sat her husband, his head bowed and his face tense. He was silent, unable to answer his father's questions.
"Naruto, your father has asked you something," Kushina spoke and adjusted the shawl draped around her small shoulders, with delicate hands. Her long red hair hung down her back like a smooth curtain. They were spread on the floor behind her, wispy and numerous on the shiny wooden floor. She was an uncannily young-looking woman—pretty, with a sprite-like appearance.
Naruto raised his head up sluggishly, his eyes tired and weary. He looked very ill. "I . . . I don't have anything else to say. I already told you, it's—it's just not working," he said, his voice weary, and raised his hand to palm his face.
"Perhaps you are not trying hard enough," Minato spoke heavily and turned his blue eyes a little to look at Hinata. He was still very youthful and handsome for someone just a year shy of fifty like his wife. "You will turn twenty-five soon. I married you off five years ago in hopes of preserving our Clan through you. The Hyūga Clan wanted the same, yet here you are, sitting before me with nothing but excuses."
"Father, I—" Naruto protested but clamped his lips tightly together when Minato raised his hand.
"I do not want to hear any more excuses from you. How difficult is it to have a child with a healthy woman?" Minato spoke, his voice heavier than before, laced with authority despite what had become of his Clan; but his wife was enough to anchor and shield his name from complete ruin (her marriage to Minato was quite the scandal back in the day). She was from a prestigious Uzumaki family, and despite the mass-slaughter of her clan few decades back, they were still many in number, living in Eddy Village under Konoha's protection. They were famous for their Sealing Techniques and medicinal herbs—an irreplaceable asset for Konoha's ever-growing military power.
"Did you go to Shizune, Hinata?" Kushina asked, clearing her throat. "I made an appointment for you yesterday, but she told me that you never came. May I ask why?" Her greenish eyes were dark and inquisitive in the shadows.
Hinata looked up at her and avoided Minato's crystal-like blue eyes: she could see a bit of Naruto in him. "I-I joined Sasuke-Sama's team. I forgot. It's not like I haven't gone there before—m-many times. She doesn't have anything new to say to me, anyway," Hinata said and drew in a deep sigh.
"You joined that Uchiha's team? Why?" Minato asked, looking stern now.
However, before Hinata could say something in her defence, Naruto forestalled her loudly, "and what's wrong with that? It's not like Sasuke would ruin her family's name or anything. He just wanted a new hand on the team. It would benefit the Hyūga Clan to be under the Uchiha." He looked away, huffing.
"I know Sasuke means a lot to you, Naruto, but your wife needs to be home if she is to raise a child," Kushina reasoned and looked calmly from the fuming Naruto to the quiet Hinata.
"Not to mention that daemon incident. It cannot be forgotten. Sage knows what these Uchihas are planning," Minato accused in the softest voice, with a slow shake of his head.
"Have you invited me here to accuse and insult Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his temper flaring. "If it wasn't for Sasuke, I was done for. No one would take me into their teams. It was Sasuke who looked out for me. No thanks to you, father."
"Naruto, behave yourself! You are speaking to your father. Apologise, now!" Kushina spoke in a disapproving tone and placed her hand tenderly on Minato's shoulder.
"And you, mother? You didn't stop being a ninja when you married father, and even after you had me. Are all your rules for me—to make my life more miserable?" Naruto said loudly, not backing down.
"No one is making your life miserable, Naruto," Minato spoke, his voice still calm, and closed his eyes, his countenance weary. He looked hurt by his son's honesty. "I am not your enemy. I am your father.
"You know how the Uchihas are and how Hinata would suffer if she failed to bear us and her own family an heir. Neji would have been a fair match, but he is from the Branch Family. You know how it is. The Head Family's few sons are wedded off within the Head Family. Hiashi had little choice in the matter. His own family-line was dying. Try to understand things. You are not a child."
The thought of Neji came suddenly to Hinata's mind. That was true—she desired Neji so long ago (it was the wish of a girl's heart). He was a kind and handsome man—sober, loving, brave. If her father had wedded her off to him, she would not have been plagued by a lonely and shameful life. Just today, when she saw him looking at her again, she felt a sudden jolt of that old longing rise in her with such intensity that only the thoughts of Sasuke stopped it. Alas, she was just lonely these days . . .
"There you go again. You just can't stop accusing the one person I care about the most, don't you?" Naruto said and leant forward, the whiskers on his face standing on ends. He looked livid. "Your accusation got half of his clan killed. Don't deny it. As for an heir, then you'll get one when I feel like going near her!" He hastily got to his feet and glanced down at Hinata for a fleeting moment and spun around to leave.
"Naruto, do not shy away from your responsibilities. Do not forget the hardships faced by your parents. Do not be . . . selfish. This is not just about you. Think about it," Minato spoke, holding Kushina's hand in his.
"I'm going over to the academy. I've got to prepare for the Jōnin and Team Tests in the coming weeks. I don't have time for this," he said without turning around and left all of them silent in the living room.
"He has grown into such a spiteful child," Minato spoke aloud and heaved a painfully long sigh. Then he raised his eyes to look at Hinata who was still staring down at her healed hands. "If he does not come near you, then you as a wife can go near him. You are a woman and the daughter of a respectable Clan. It is not just Naruto's responsibility to shoulder his own Clan's honour. It is yours, as well."
"Minato is right. Think about your Clan and the shame your father will face if people find out that Naruto does not care for you. Or Sage forbid, they start thinking that you are a barren woman. You have no idea what that would do to your father," Kushina spoke with an air of her Clan's superiority over hers. Hinata did not like her tone, but she stayed quiet.
"I will ask a servant to escort you back to your house," Minato spoke and rose to his feet—so did Kushina. In the light, Hinata's eyes fell upon the white haori he wore that still bore the red patterns of his Clan since his Hokage days.
"It's a'right—I'll manage," Hinata replied and stood up, too. "Thank you for the dinner." She bowed and turned around to leave the big house . . .
It took her a good thirty minutes to make it back to the familiar boundary of the forest that marked the moors' beginning. The night was quiet, its silence broken up a little by the wind. Somewhere out there in the darkness, an owl hooted, and crickets made a little noise; but because of the light rains, the forest fell asleep too soon before the moon even had a chance to shine down upon it with all its intensity.
Minato's and Kushina's words hurt her deeply. Naruto did not want her, even they could see that much. How could she ever pursue him to bed her? He never made love to her: it was always a responsibility, a ritual for him, which he tried to complete without leaving his seed inside her. He wanted his parents to break off this marriage. This was not the first time they were called before them; they always asked the same questions, and she gave the same answers that always left her utterly humiliated.
Slowly, Hinata walked along the snaking stream that led to her house. Her eyes were downcast, looking at the vegetables poking out from the scraped soil. She had planted new seeds few weeks ago, and new buds were reaching out above the ground now. The recent rains had been beneficial. Tending to the moors would be Miyuki's duty now as she would be working hard to gain that spot on the team. When she would get it, she would try and break free; she just needed a little reassurance!
With that thought, she raised her eyes to look at the door. She stopped in her tracks, and her cheeks flushed light pink: Sasuke was standing on her doorstep, gazing at her, a soft smile about his lips. He had not forgotten that she invited him over to her place. After that gruelling humiliation at Minato's home, the thought of making love to him filled her with profound happiness!
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EN: In Canon, Uzumaki Kushina is not from a prestigious Uzumaki family. No, she was selected to be Nine-Tails' container because she had "potent" chakra, more potent than her clansmen. She was never associated with high status before her marriage to Minato; so her aristocratic status in my fiction is completely non-canon.
The "red patterns" on the white haori the Hokages wear in canon has nothing to do with Minato's Clan. In fact, Namikaze isn't a clan. I, on the other hand, have changed that.