Author's Notes:Sorry this took so long to update. Between my Japanese studies, running contests over at the Narutoforums NaruHina Fanclub, and other matters, I've had very little time to tend to fanfictions. My own original tale, the Apsu Saga: Land of Searing Fire, is also well under way, and I've been practicing my artwork quite a bit as well. Busy bees have little time for play, but I hope my newest installment of Mutual Dislike meets everyone's expectations. Please remember to leave a review, and if you spot any errors, let me know. This includes continuity - though keep in mind that even though current events in the manga are looking grim for a certain Hokage, I'm not counting her out at all. Yeah, I know, spoilers, I'm horrible, right? Anyway, R&R!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Hinata, Hiashi, Hizashi, Ko, Atsui, Kamui, Darui, Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White, Montey Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight, Benito Mussolini, or the Blue Meanie, Cowboy Curtis or Jambi the Genie. But I will come out of nowhere lighting fast and kick Chuck Norris and his cowboy ass.
"Trust"
"Yo Darui! This dumb girl is squirming again - the venom ain't falling off, right?"
"Relax, Atsui. The venom only needs reapplication every ten hours. We're only about seven from where we camped, and we've got another two vials in Shii's satchel."
"Yeah but, this kid wasn't easy to take down, remember? She's definitely got some endurance, so I wouldn't be surprised if we screwed up with the dosage. Girl's got more grit than most Konoha ninja I've come across, that's for sure."
"Atsui, would you quit hounding the man about it? It's bad enough your hotheadedness let those others get away last night. Get it through your head that you don't make the calls."
"Gah- Samui! You told me you wouldn't let Shii and Darui hear about that!"
"What, how you let the dog kid rile you up so much that you got your sword lodged in a tree? Or about how easily you fell for that smokescreen diversion?"
"Both of you just chill. Look, Atsui, if it makes you feel any better, we'll apply the next dose when we find a bit of cover here. Samui, don't go blaming your little brother for that muck up, because you were responsible for that part of the mission too. Y'guys got it?"
Though she could hear her captor's banter, Hinata wasn't even fully aware of herself. She had to fight just to keep her blurry eyes open, and convince herself that she wasn't sleeping, and that every word that came out of their mouth was important. Every particle of memory that lodged itself into her brain felt like a constant, pulsing pressure. It hurt to retain everything they were saying, let alone try to test the limits of the poison.
Painful jolts of resistance shot up her arms with every mild flicker of her fingers, and were it not for the numbness in her face, her face would be crunched in recoil. But every twitch of her hand, every turn of her head, was another step in figuring out her limits in this state. And at that, every word that passed from the mouths of her captors was another tool that would prove vital in the long run.
She tried to move her wrist again, moving her hand about four inches. It was twice how much she could move it an hour ago. The effects were beginning to wear, just enough to be noticeable. It didn't take nearly as much effort to move either. Her energy was starting to return to her.
'Think, Hinata…' Her mind was still in a haze, a mix of numbness colliding with the sore and stiff venom coursing through her bloodstream. Atsui was wrong about one thing, which she thought about as she mentally reviewed her sorry state. There certainly wasn't any overdose – she wouldn't go anywhere soon like this. Still, they would have to make a stop in order to give her another dose of the poison, and from the sounds of it, they wanted to do it soon.
She opened her eyes, trying to steady her vision as her body was jerked around from her captor's movements. Looking down, she could only see a blurred rush of sandy colored rock, which fatigued her eyes to watch as it ripped across her line of vision. Wearily straining her eyes to the side, she could barely make out another blur – green – on the horizon nearby. Her sight was doubled and rippling, but she still assumed the terrain that way was nothing but forest. 'Think harder…come on!'
She felt like she was back in her academy days, straining her mind just to remember simple details about terrain in the Land of Fire. They were following a rightward slant; the Hyuuga girl could feel it by the wind resistance. She tried to steady her vision, back once more at the nauseating blur of ground below.
She saw it; the monolithic shadows cast over their own, providing a cover of shade. It was midday, almost. It would be almost impossible to determine exactly where she was, but she knew it would take until nightfall to reach the northern pass. She also knew that was where they were headed – they had mentioned before that the border patrols were hot on their trail.
If years of scouting experience had done one thing above all else for the Hyuuga girl, she knew the layout of the land better now than most people her age. Especially since the war, when she was promoted to Jonin, she had worked hard to hone her memory of the various territories and terrains in the lands surrounding Konoha's lush forests. Every mission she had taken since had been a chance for improvement, and it had really begun to show.
Yet as she came to realize her advantages, her mind slipped once more, nearly falling back into the depths of unconsciousness. Her mind wandered back to a safer place; the comforts of home. She was in the warm, caring embrace of Naruto, whilst quelling the concerns of her loving father, who had been worried sick. She had been away. She had been in danger. Yet there she was, sitting with them, laughing with them. Both of the most important men in her life, sharing her safe return home.
It would feel good, right now, to simply give up and indulge in this hallucination, this daydream that she wasn't here. It just wouldn't be right. She was a ninja, after all. Shattering the false hopes that she would open her eyes to find herself awakening in her own warm bed, her mind surged back into focus mode.
They would stop soon. She was almost certain about that. If they were hugging along the cliff sides for cover against the border patrol, they were already aware of this section of the forest. Not even a mile away, an outpost for the Grass Country and Land of Fire militia was stationed, so the forest itself would be teeming with unforeseen patrols. It was only by cover of the midday shadows against the cliff that they were at an advantage here. They would no doubt come across some of the caves ahead to inject her again.
'Less than an hour, at this rate.' She closed her eyes. Steadying the butterflies in her stomach, Hinata began to run the scenarios in her head for the perfect moment. 'I'm not about to give up…' she chanted in her mind, keeping herself motivated. 'My family and Naruto-kun are waiting for me. I refuse to let them down.'
"Hiashi-sama, is it really a good idea to run so far ahead of Naruto?" Ko seldom questioned the head of the Hyuuga clan, but as the blur of forest began to shrink Naruto's orange form on the horizon, he was almost certain his family's leader was trying to leave the boy behind intentionally.
"Enough, Ko. If he can't keep up, he wasn't worth taking on this mission." Hiashi snapped, his head locked intently on the way ahead. "We must make it to the pass before Kumo escapes the country with my daughter, I briefed you on this before."
"Of course, Hiashi-sama, but…if I can speak, if we leave him here we—"
"Then so be it!"
"Oh, so it's like that, huh?" Both Hyuugas heads jolted to the side to see an angry Naruto, passing them by. "If you're gonna be like that, I'll save Hinata on my own."
"Arrogant child!" Ko watched as Hiashi sped up with his rise in rage, sighing as the two powerhouse shinobi began to move out of sight. All the while, he wondered if the two of them could accomplish anything while they were at odds with one another like this. Hinata's life was on the line, and they were working towards the same goal – but in their pride, he began to fear they would kill each other before stopping Hinata's abductors.
He increased his footspeed, trying to match up to them, all the while remembering the day Naruto first came to the Hyuuga estate.
'I don't care if he's a village hero, son of the Fourth, or a jinchuuriki. I wouldn't care if he was the Hokage, or even a Lord, on that note. None of that matters to me.' Hiashi's words echoed in his mind. 'He is dangerous for her. Hinata is reckless for that boy. You've seen it first hand, Ko – surely, you understand what I am talking about. It's unsafe for her to be in a relationship with someone like him, where conflict seems to find him no matter where he goes. One day, she's going to get herself killed for him. I refuse to allow it!'
Ko wondered if Naruto realized why Hiashi was so hostile towards him, but also wondered if he cared. Though Hiashi had said all of that before the blond first set foot in the house, his opinion hadn't changed a bit. If anything, it had worsened with the obvious reminder that Naruto wasn't as refined or proper as a member of the clan. It was fortunate that Hiashi's desire to always be a gracious host prevented him from doing so much as invoking a spiteful staring contest.
He had finally caught up with the others, and he reached out to tap Naruto on the shoulder. Pressing a finger against his lips to signal silence, he motioned for the boy to fall back as soon as he turned to him. Begrudgingly, and coiling his lip while shooting one more sharp glare at Hinata's father, Naruto began to slow down along with Ko.
"What's up?" He said this casually, but with a hint of anger in his tone. Ko was a bit surprised, with the boy's current temper towards Hiashi, that he didn't snap as well.
"He's just worried. You know that, right?"
Naruto turned forward again, moving in silence for a moment before offering a halfhearted response. "I guess. Still, they could have just sent me and Neji on this. Oh, and you as well, Ko – sorry."
The man smiled warmly. "I'm glad you think I'm good enough to help you save Lady Hinata. But I am of far less use than either Neji or Hiashi-sama. In fact, if Neji hadn't just returned from a mission before, I'm certain Lady Tsunade would have sent him in my place. This mission is too critical, after all."
Naruto frowned. "Hey, don't talk down on yourself like that, Ko. You care about Hinata's safety as much as anyone. You deserve to be here – but him…" He stared ahead at Hiashi once more. "He's just trying to save face. He just cares now that she's every bit the heiress that he wanted. If she was still struggling, he wouldn't have come along on this."
Ko's eyes widened, shocked that the young man would say something like that. "That's completely untrue, Naruto. Few people care for Hinata as much as her father. Hiashi-sama is strict, this is true, but he—"
"Yeah, I heard that from Hinata as well." His staring didn't cease, as he didn't even face Ko as he said this. "It just doesn't seem like that to me. I guess if I used my chakra mode to sense his intentions, I'd know for sure, but…I don't even think I need to do that. After how he treated Hinata as a child, made her life so rough, I just can't bring myself to believe that guy genuinely cares for her."
"But, if you love Lady Hinata, why don't you trust her when she tells you she knows his true feelings?" He watched Naruto's expression as he waited for his answer. The teen could do little but frown and look down, his eyebrows lowered and lip curled. He looked as if he desperately wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. "I'm not questioning that you love Lady Hinata deeply and genuinely, Naruto. I wouldn't know enough about love to question that anyway. But from my understanding, trust is one of the pillars of a good relationship. She trusts you effortlessly – even when I myself sometimes question your actions."
Naruto's head bolted to the side. "H-hey, what the hell?!"
Ko chuckled. "I'm her bodyguard, so I have to be cautious about you too, you know. Just rest assured, I'm well past not trusting you. Most of that is Lady Hinata's doing, though. What I'm asking is, do you trust her as much as she seems to trust you?"
"I…well, yeah." A smile began to form, his thoughts turning to the heiress. "She's always been honest about things, even when she was scared to be, and even when the pressure was on. When she first told me she loved me, I still remember just how trying that situation was. I was pinned by Pain, unable to move and without an ounce of drive left. She intervened, and wouldn't leave when I told her to, when I told her it was too dangerous. So I asked why."
The teen looked at his palm. "She just came out with it. She didn't want to see me disappear, because I saved her from going down a hopeless path. Even staring down an enemy, she wasn't about to leave me without the answers I wanted. I mean, I guess it was the heat of the situation that helped her along, but...a dishonest person wouldn't have answered like that. There's so much about her that I've come to love, I guess sometimes I just take her honesty for granted."
Ko nodded. "When Lady Hinata was a child, it's true that Hiashi-sama was very hard on her. Even when she had just become a genin, his heart hadn't softened much. It wasn't until around the time he began to train Neji that he really began to go easier on her – something you had something to do with, from my understanding."
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and turned away. "I…had very little to do with that. Neji was a good guy, he just needed the crap kicked out of him once – not to mention, he didn't treat Hinata much better, now that I think about it. He had a grudge, though, and it was just misplaced. He got his lumps for it, and he turned out okay. I don't see though…" He turned back to Ko, his expression quite serious once more. "…how that excuses the old man. If he just started then, what the hell? I mean…"
"There was a lot going on in his life, between the matters of running the clan, keeping the status quo with the succession system we have. Above everything else, the death of his brother had an impact on him as well. Keep this between us, but I think he was scared."
Naruto gained a look of shock at this statement. Hiashi Hyuuga? Scared? It didn't seem plausible.
"In truth, Hiashi knew the clan was at odds with one another." Ko continued. "He knew what had to be done, and he was constantly under stress. The elders wanted him to make the decisions they thought were best. He was too scared to step outside of that comfort zone. It wasn't until Hizashi, Neji's father, gave up his life that Hiashi began to question the Hyuuga way. He constantly fought to maintain his belief in the clan's system, and if you ask me, it's what made him so bitter towards Lady Hinata for so long. After he and Neji made amends, however, things got…well, a lot better."
The boy became lost in thought at Ko's words, eyes locked on the man of his ire, still more than an earshot away. He found this all hard to believe, but when he thought about it, he hadn't really been around Hinata or her family much until recently. Sure, after the Chuunin exams, he considered her a dear friend, but between his three years away from Konoha and the time he spent training and battling Akatsuki upon his return, they had only truly become close after the war.
He had missed a lot of pinnacle moments of her life because of this. It was to be expected, but it didn't help his outlook on Hiashi. "Guess…I'm a victim of my own hate, then." He drew a heavy sigh, realizing how he'd set himself back on his own word to so many people. Jiraiya, Nagato, Konan – everyone whom he'd promised he would cast aside hate for, no matter how much it hurt. Even if the scale was smaller, and he would never have sought revenge on Hiashi for it, he still felt the onset of guilt seep in.
"I jumped to conclusions big time, then. When Hinata first told me about how Hiashi used to be, we got into a fight, because I started speaking poorly about him. She didn't really get a chance to finish before we decided to drop it and not bring it up again, but I could always tell she wanted to convince me. She's a lot more forgiving than I am, sometimes. It's just, when I heard that she had felt a lot of the pain I did as a child – the pain of being unwanted and lonely – it made me sad, and a little angry. I thought, 'she has a father who could have treated her better', and held it against him."
"I'm a little surprised Hiashi held such discontent for you as well, Naruto." Ko watched as Hiashi began to fade out of view ahead. "He was grateful for what you did to mend the bridge between him and his nephew. That alone gave him the push he needed to make things better for all of us. He just worries more about Lady Hinata's safety."
"Eh? But I keep her safe."
Ko shook his head. "It's not like that. He's always afraid Hinata will do something like…well, what she did to save your life, when Akatsuki destroyed Konoha awhile back."
"Oh." That's really all he could think to say. It all began to make sense to him, and he was ashamed of himself now for not talking this over with Hinata…when he had the chance. 'Hinata…' Naruto thought to himself as he sped up, his talk with Ko. 'If you truly believe your father is a good man, and you forgive him…why couldn't I have done the same? When all of this is over, and you're back home and safe, I promise to try harder to get along with your father. Just please, please be okay.'
END CHAPTER