The Two Children Part 1
It's been a little while since the last update, but I hope this one will be good.
Naruto looked at the child in his arms and was having a hard time believing the fact that he was now a father. Although she looked like Hinata, something about her felt very familiar, almost like he was looking at a part of himself. He had no words to describe this odd sense of attachment towards the girl even though this was the first time they ever met.
It seemed she was feeling the same as well, wrapping her hands around her father's neck and clinging on to his body ever so happily. She had little hesitation in that regard, accepting Naruto as her father. In fact she was very enthusiastic about the matter.
Yuhi now looked at her father's face with great curiosity. She gently caressed his cheeks with both hands before suddenly starting to stretch them out to their maximum possible length.
"HEHE, daddy's cheeks are stretchy, but not as stretchy as mommy's." She said in joy, having way too much fun with her father's face.
Naruto was a little taken aback at first but he understood that she was just trying to get to know him in her own way.
Yuhi now moved her hand around his face somewhat haphazardly, almost in a misguided fashion until she managed to grab hold of his ears, at which point she turned towards her mother.
"These are…daddy's ears?" She asked in great excitement.
"That's right dear. Those are indeed your father's ears." Hinata replied with a smile.
Hearing her mother's reaffirmation, Yuhi started to trace her hand around her father's face once again until she pinched his nose shut. "This is…daddy's nose."
"You're right again darling." Hinata replied once more, retaining her smile.
Now Yuhi moved her hands upwards until she grabbed a lock of Naruto's hair. "THIS IS DADDY'S HAIR!"
"That is indeed your father's hair. In fact, because you did such an excellent job in getting that right, I'll let you in on a little extra that you'll love to know."
"What is it? What is it?" Yuhi looked at her mother out of curiosity. "TELL ME!"
"Your father's hair colour is blonde, exactly the same as yours." Hinata said while mimicking the same level of enthusiasm as her daughter. "Although you have taken after me mostly in terms of looks, the colour of your hair is something you've directly inherited from him. When I see the two of you next to each other, I can tell that you're father and child just from that one striking similarity."
Hearing Hinata's words made Naruto reach the same realisation. It really was starting to dawn on him that he was now a father, as farfetched as the concept sounded. But when he looked at his daughter closely, something seemed very off. In fact something was off about Hinata's expression as well. Sure she was smiling, but it seemed hollow in a way and unlike her usual heartfelt smile.
Yuhi started to move her hands around his face until her fingers touched his closed eyelids. However this time she did not attempt to name what she had touched. Almost instantly, Hinata quickly moved their daughter's hands from his eyes to stop her from dwelling on the matter.
"Yuhi, how about you try to guess something else?" Hinata said nervously.
But Naruto opened his own eyes and looked at his child directly, only to find a sombre expression. It was when their gazes met did he finally realise what was going on.
Yuhi's eyes, they were missing their light.
Naruto looked over to Hinata in shock, hoping that his wife would put an end to this sense of foreboding. But his enquiry was quickly shut down by Hinata as she swung her head left to right, begging him not to say anything about the matter in front of their child.
Naruto didn't know what to make out of this situation. He needed some time to gather his thoughts. So he decided to put his daughter down on the ground so that he could try to understand the situation. But this was a great mistake.
"NO NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata shouted her warning and tried to grab hold of their daughter, but she was too late. Naruto had already put her down on her feet before Hinata could get to her.
To his horror, Naruto saw what no parent would ever want to see. As soon as he let go, his child came crashing down to her knees before falling face first into the ground. Her legs were…
If what he had found earlier wasn't enough, this was enough to cause Naruto to take a few steps back in horror. Hinata tried to rectify what he had done by picking their daughter back up, but the damage had already been done, and it was an emotional one.
Yuhi faced her father with tears streaming down her eyes.
"I…I HATE YOU DADDY!" She shouted at the top of her lungs before turning around and dashing straight out of the room through the air.
"NO YUHI, STOP!" Hinata yelled back in response as she got up to follow after her.
"Sis, you stay here. I'll go take care of her." Hanabi didn't waste any time and exited the room as well to go after her niece.
There was suddenly pin drop silence in the room before Naruto decided to break it in a shaky voice. "W-What happened?"
And that was the question Hinata was dreading all along for the past 3 years. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. It was painful for any parent to explain this kind of situation about their own child.
Seeing the utter breakdown of his daughter, Hiashi finally decided it was time for him to step in.
"From the looks of everything, it would be safe to assume that Hinata has not informed you of anything." He said in a somewhat sympathetic voice.
Naruto gave Hiashi a confused look while Hinata still stared at the ground in dismay.
"So my assumption was correct." Hiashi now diverted his attention to his daughter. "No matter how dire it may be, he needs to know the exact details of the situation, for he is the father of that child. If you are unable to disclose the information, I will do so myself."
Hearing her father's words made Hinata realise one of the main reasons why she brought Naruto here in the first place. She couldn't falter now, not after finally managing to firm her resolve over the matter.
"No…I will tell him." Hinata said to her father before turning to her husband. "Naruto-kun, what I am about to tell you is something extremely important that you must know. It is the story of our children's birth."
Naruto caught on to the fact that Hinata said it was their "children's" story and not their "child's". However he decided to let Hinata explain everything first before saying anything.
"As you will remember, I returned to my planet about 4 years ago after the summer I spent with you on Earth. Soon after I got back, I found out that I was pregnant with two children…twins."
Although he expected to hear that, the fact that he was the father to two children was another big surprise just when he was starting to only come to terms with his parenthood. Nonetheless he listened on.
"I was ecstatic." Hinata explained. "I was finally going to have children of my own. Even better, they would be our children. We would have a family of four. We would live happily together. Those were my hopes…but they were not meant to be."
That last phrase sent a shiver down Naruto's spine. Just from her tone he could tell something bad must have happened.
"Although I wanted to return back to you to give you the news as soon as possible, father insisted that I waited until our children were born, by which time he would sort out the issues surrounding me being able to meet you. So I waited patiently, counting the days until our children would be born and I would be able to meet you once again, this time with the two of them as well. But then…the night of disaster came upon us…the night when our children were forcefully born."
Thus Hinata explained to Naruto of the details of the events that occurred during the night at the hospital, how a masked man named Tobi invaded the planet, caused the premature birth of their children and escaped with their son while leaving Hinata and Yuhi at the brink of death. It was a painful story to tell. Hinata hated recalling the events that transpired during that night as they had deeply traumatised her. But Naruto needed to know, and she would be the one to tell him.
"Even though the doctors say it was a miracle that she survived, Yuhi's premature birth and Tobi's assault left her with some severe handicaps. For one she is visually impaired. Although not entirely blind, she can only barely see vague silhouettes of the objects and people around her. Secondly, the nervous system in the lower half of her body has been severely damaged. In other words…her legs are paralysed." Hinata barely managed to keep talking. It pained her to no end to see her daughter having to suffer through such agony. "I…I wanted to go after our son. I wanted to find him. I wanted to save him. But our daughter was in such bad shape. In the end I had to stay behind to take care of her and tend to her. As her mother, I couldn't leave her in that state. But in making that coice I ended up sacrificing our son. As his mother I should have been scouring the ends of the universe to find him…but I couldn't. I was helpless. That choice still kills me inside every moment. And even though I stayed behind, there is nothing I managed to do to lessen our daughter's pain. The doctors cannot understand the detailed workings of her eyes. It is unlike anything they have ever seen before and even after years of research, nothing conclusive has been found in how her eyesight can be cured. Even how her nervous system works has been an enigma, making it difficult to find a way to cure her paralysis. I wish I could give her my eyes so that she could have her vision. I wish she could move in my place. I wish I could do something…anything."
It was a lot for Naruto to take in, too much perhaps. But Hinata's tears made him realise that she had been suffering through everything all by herself for the past three years. Compared to her, he had faced nothing yet.
He wrapped his hands around Hinata and embraced her tightly so as to communicate his feelings. "It must have been tough for you Hinata. But it's okay now. You don't have to face these hardships on your own anymore. I'm here with you to share your pain…because that is what it means to be family - to be there for one another in both good and bad times."
Hearing his words made Hinata burst out into tears even more. She started to cry as hard as she had ever done.
Naruto could only hold her and accept her pain. It was the only thing he could do right now. "It's okay to cry Hinata."
And thus she continued on crying longer than she could remember. Even though it hurt, she felt the burden she carried for all these years lighten even just a little. "Our son…our son…"
"We will find him."
Hearing those words, Hinata looked up at Naruto from his embrace with a look of bewilderment.
"That's right Hinata. We will find him one day. No matter how long it may take. No matter how arduous the journey may be. We WILL find him and bring him back to us." Naruto said with absolute resolution in his voice. "That is a promise of a lifetime."
Although most people would question such a promise, for whatever reason Hinata believed in Naruto. Perhaps because she wanted to believe in him or maybe because she didn't particularly have many remaining choices, she felt a sense of hope when he solaced her. Thus she nodded to him in return.
"I wouldn't be making promises I couldn't keep if I were you." They heard a newcomer say in a cynical tone. This caused both Naruto and Hinata to look towards the entrance.
"BROTHER!" Hinata gasped.
"Brother?" Naruto looked from Hinata to her older brother Neji, who had a stern and unwelcoming look on his face.
"So this is the charlatan my sister has associated herself with. It would appear your genes have dealt you a rough blow." Neji now glared at Naruto. "False hopes can only take someone so far until reality sets in once again, at which point the pain is only greater. It is the sign of a pathetic man who does not understand his own limitations."
His words stung, but Naruto kept his cool. "I have every intention of keeping my promise to Hinata, until my very last breath."
"And do pray tell how you intend to find that child by yourself in the vast confines of space?"
Naruto didn't know the solution yet, but that didn't mean he was going to give up. "I…I'll find a way."
"If we Hyuyans have been unable to find him thus far, a primitive life form like you has approximately zero probability of bringing him back." Neji now shifted his gaze to his father. "It is without a doubt the Ucians who were behind the kidnapping of that child, and we could have possibly had him back by now if you decided to grow a backbone and decided to take decisive action."
Hiashi shook his head in denial. "We will not have this conversation again. I cannot simply use anecdotal evidence as a cause for taking action against a particular race. This is not a game."
"Who else but the Ucians would do such a thing?" Neji questioned even more harshly this time. "Just admit it. You're afraid to confront the Ucians."
"I thought I already told you. I will NOT jeopardise the lives of our people simply on the back a suspicion and no solid evidence. One bad move between two super races could end up in disaster. We must gather more information first."
Neji was now livid. "You keep playing your waiting game while those Ucians experiment upon that child like a lab rat and find our secrets. Then keep watching as they end up annihilating our entire race as they did with our allies. Our only hope at this point is that the stolen child's genetics has been messed up as badly as his sister by this primitive life form."
Naruto had been enduring for long, but that last statement pushed him over the edge. He grabbed on to Neji collar and glared at him menacingly. "I don't care if you call me primitive, BUT DON'T YOU DARE SAY ONE DEGRADING WORD ABOUT OUR CHILDREN!"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME AND KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Neji pushed both of his hands aside and kicked Naruto so hard that he slammed against the wall and created a crater within it.
"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata rushed to Naruto who was still standing on his feet amidst the debris. She turned on her X-ray vision to find that his body was surprisingly okay even after the impact, so she gave a sigh of relief.
"I suppose I should be impressed that you're still standing." Neji said as he started to walk towards Naruto.
But before he could get closer he felt his father's hand grab his shoulder.
"Take one more step towards him and you WILL face the consequences." Hiashi glared at Neji so hard that he could almost feel a hole being bored into his skull.
Neji knew better than to aggravate his father past a certain point, and he had just crossed that point. "Fine, have it your way. I will take my leave."
As such, he left just as quickly as he came.
"Are you okay, Namikaze Naruto?" Hiashi asked with a bit more care in his tone. "Surprisingly, you seem to be from the looks of it."
"Y-Yes…I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. If you will not mind, I need to be somewhere important." Naruto replied earnestly to which Hiashi showed his approval. So Naruto now turned to Hinata. "There is something I need to take care of in regards to our daughter, and I need you to accompany me."
She nodded in response.
Thus Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her along out of the room to where their daughter was.
Hiashi watched them leave and there was a small yet noticeable smile on his face. Although he hadn't known Naruto for long, there was something about him that made him feel a sense of hope as well, seeing him becoming the support his own child required. That thought made him happy.
I hope you liked it. I will focus on the children's backgrounds for the next couple of chapters.
Also, before I end this chapter, I would like to do a bit of shameless self-promotion. Some of you may already know this but I have recently started another NaruHina story called "Consortium of Clans". If you like my writing and would like to check out something different and show some love to that other story, then that would make me supah happy.
Other than that, I shall see you all next time.