Chapter Nine
She lay in a field, and the sun shone brightly on her face. The wind played through her hair. She was carefree and unconcerned, and happy because nothing could touch or harm her here. An invisible barrier surrounded the field, keeping all the bad things out... keeping everything out. She was all alone. She had always been alone. How could anyone pass through that barrier? But it was better this way – she was safe. She was happy, or so she told herself.
Dark clouds gathered and filled the sky, but not where she was lying as they couldn't reach her. Restless, she sat up, got to her feet, walked around and tried to see what was going on, but around the field was darkness she couldn't penetrate with her eyes. Muffled sounds reached her ears – people screaming, a dog barking? Familiar sounds, but not in a pleasant way. She could feel the fear and anxiety around her even if she couldn't see it. Someone needed her help but couldn't reach her, and she dared not go into the darkness. Gathering her courage in her heart, she tried to overcome the fear and step into the unknown - but she found she couldn't pass her own barrier, which was only meant to keep things out, not in. She tried to push it away, she kicked it, she pounded it with her fists until her hands bled, but it moved not an inch, and when she looked at it again all she saw was her own pathetic reflection, staring at her with contempt and pity. She backed away in fright, realised too late she had imprisoned herself. She fell on her knees as she ran out of air, as the impenetrable wall around her slowly choked her, strangled her, even though it should protect her, turning upon her like a pet wolf, only true to its own kind, as unstoppable as any other force of nature. And then she died.
The trees flashed by on either side of her, grey and white, haunting her, trying to catch her. The ground was black, if it really was ground, and if she stood still too long she felt she was sinking away in it, and the longer she lingered the harder the next step became. She had a goal, somewhere to get, something to reach, but it seemed impossible – his shape was so far ahead she could not catch up, and he was only moving faster and faster while she only moved slower. She call out for him to wait, but he didn't hear her, he only looked ahead, not back. She lacked the strength to go on, the speed to keep up, the confidence; and the ground pulled her down, making her too heavy to keep moving, and as his shape vanished in the distance the last light disappeared from her life. Her existence was over before it had even started.
The darkness closed in...
Pain.
The first thing she noticed was pain.
But pain meant she was alive. Alive and not well, but alive. You had to exist to feel pain, so she definitely existed, perhaps more so than was comfortable at the moment.
My entire body is aching... but my eyes hurt the most. I can feel there's a bandage around them... why? Where am I?
She could feel she was lying on something soft, possibly a mattress. Her fingers, heavy and clumsy, groped in the darkness and touched wood – the edge of a bed.
So I'm in a bed... that doesn't tell me much... what happened before I got here?
She tried to recall her last memories. Flashes of light flickered through her mind, and she thought she could hear a low hum, but that was all. She tried again, concentrating harder this time.
A large chamber... torches... a voice, telling me to relax... and a feeling, as if... as if...
And then she remembered, and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from shrieking in sudden fear. For that feeling... it had felt as if a part of her was taken away, ripped from her very soul, and now that she recalled it she could feel the void where that part once had been, a strange emptiness inside.
What have they done to me?
But before she could come to terms with this new, horrible feeling, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening and the footsteps of two people entering the room, discussing vehemently. She quickly pretended to be asleep, meanwhile listening carefully to their words.
"...but I'm telling you, nothing good will come of this! Contact with the outside can only harm us, you know that!" a slightly high-pitched male voice spoke loudly. "If we don't do something-"
"Shh! Quiet," said another man in a calmer, lower tone. "Look."
Hinata could feel their gazes upon her, and could barely suppress the annoying urge to blush she always felt when people stared at her. The fact someone had removed her vest didn't help – she liked wearing that because it made her a lot less interesting to look at.
"I think she's asleep," the first man said quietly.
"But who is she?" asked the other. "She's not from here..."
He moved closer to Hinata's bed, until she could clearly hear his breathing in the otherwise quiet room.
"Come look at this," he said. "This emblem... isn't that the Leaf of Konoha?"
The first man stepped closer as well.
"Looks like it. Gee, I didn't think I'd ever see one of those for real. But that means... she's from Konoha as well?"
They considered this in silence for a while. Then the second man said:
"They have pretty girls in Konoha."
"Is that all you can think about?" The first man suddenly sounded nervous. "Don't you see what this means? This confirms the rumours! Rousoku-sama already made contact with Konoha!"
"I can see that. But why? What do we have to gain from that? I thought our ancestors moved here to get away from those head family bastards in the first place."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you! This spells trouble like nothing else! Rousoku-sama doesn't know what he's getting himself into, that crazed old git!"
Another moment of uneasy silence followed.
"You know, I always said that man would bring the Branch down one day," the second man eventually said. "I suppose that's how it goes. Nothing to do about it, really."
"What? But, don't you see? This is an opportunity!" Hinata pictured the man looking over his shoulder nervously. "This might even be our only chance!"
"Our chance for what exactly?" the other asked sharply.
"To... to stop Rousoku-sama's schemes! This girl... he wouldn't have brought her all the way here if he didn't need her, right?"
"I don't like where this is going..."
"I'm just saying. We could... take her away. Or, y'know. Kill her. Something."
"Are you out of your mind?" the second man said angrily. "Doesn't anything get through that thick skull of yours? Kill her? And then what? The people in Konoha say, oh that's fine, we didn't really need her anyway? If anything you would cause more problems for us, idiot. And besides, Rousoku-sama won't look on you too kindly either."
"But what if we just-"
"That's enough of your crazy ideas for one day! Let's just get the stuff and get out of here."
Hinata heard them moving away from the bed and rummage in some cupboards; the first man kept muttering under his breath all the while, and Hinata feared that at any moment he might make some desperate attempt to harm her, but fortunately he lacked either the courage or the resolve and eventually the men exited the room again, finally allowing Hinata to take some deep breaths.
That was weird. Who are these people? And where am I?
The last thing she clearly remembered was being led to a small room by Ingou, somewhere deep in the bowels of the mountain. It had been cold there, but exhaustion had got the better of her and eventually she had fallen asleep. Whatever happened after that... she might have been half-conscious at the time, but she couldn't recall it now. Only that feeling lingered, the feeling of being incomplete.
But there was no time to reflect on that now. Wherever she was, it wasn't a friendly place. The least she could do was try to get out of here. If she could somehow find Naruto again, she'd be safe – as long as she was this weakened, there was no way she could defend herself, but he would protect her, she knew he would.
In spite of her muscles being sore and her limbs heavy, she managed to work herself up into a sitting position with her back against the wall that made up the head of the bed. Even that little exercise drained her energy, and she cursed her own weakness. She now also noticed how hungry she was – the last thing she had eaten would have been the lunch Ingou had shared with her. On the other hand, her fever and headache seemed to have retreated. What bothered her most right now was the pain in her eyes. With trembling fingers, she examined the bandages around her head, which covered only her eyes but were wound so tightly she couldn't pry them loose. She might be able to cut them if she had something sharp, but she didn't. She sighed. It seemed like nothing ever could go easy.
Having nothing better to do, she tried to get an image of the room she was in, tricky as that was without being able to see. She knew there was a wall to her back and a door in another wall somewhere to the right, suggesting the room was at least slightly oblong in shape. There were some cupboards to her left, probably against the third wall, and considering there was no audible echo the fourth wall, that was opposite of her, could not be far off either. She could only guess what the rest of the room was like, but when she leaned all the way to the right and reached out as far as she could, her fingers touched another bed just like hers, which meant this was either a dormitory or more specifically, judging by the fresh, almost chemical smell, a hospital room.
Hospitalised again after all, then. I should never have gone on this mission, but... I just wanted to be with Naruto-kun. Would he be looking for me now, wondering where I had gone off to? Would he do so much as think of me? If only I knew for sure... I could suffer happily.
She started as the door was swung open again. Possibly the room was isolated specifically to keep noise out, because she had not heard any approaching footsteps. Now she did – they were light steps, while at the same time firm and determined.
"Well, look at that, you're all awake and eager to get out, I see," a woman's voice cut through the deafening silence. "And here I thought you'd be out of it for some more hours to come. So, how are you feeling? Your eyes giving you trouble? I figured they would. Don't worry girl, I'll take a look at it right away."
Hinata could only nod, slightly unsettled by this outburst of sound. Judging by the sound of her voice, the woman still had to be fairly young herself, but she spoke with an authority that could have belonged to someone much older.
"Now," the newcomer said as she moved over to Hinata, "I need you to sit very still for a moment, okay?"
Hinata nodded nervously. The woman – or was it a girl? – laid a hand on the bandage that covered Hinata's eyes, and a warm glow spread out from where they touched. Slowly, the pain faded away, until it had completely disappeared. Hinata let out a grateful sigh of relief.
"There we go," the young woman said approvingly. "that was the finishing touch. You should be happy you didn't wake up earlier, or the pain would have been a lot worse. Now, let's take those bandages off, shall we?"
With swift and cunning fingers, she quickly untied and unwound the piece of cloth.
"There. You can open your eyes now."
Carefully, Hinata's eyelids went up, fluttered a few times, then opened completely. Panic grabbed her heart as she looked around her.
"E-everything's blurry and vague!" She blinked frantically, but it didn't help. "My eyes...!"
The girl, who was sitting on her bed, laid a calming hand on her cheek.
"I know, dear, and I'm sorry. Just try to relax for now, okay? Panicking won't get us anywhere."
"Y-yes... but... when will this go over?" Hinata squinted in an attempt to see clearer; it made no difference.
The girl shifted uneasily. "I don't know. It's a pretty unique case, you could say. Try not to worry about it too much. I'll take care of you the best I can."
Hinata looked at the girl closely now for the first time. Her vision was blurred, but she could still make out long blonde hair, a small nose and large, white eyes. She gasped.
"Your eyes... the Byakugan?"
The girl smiled. "Right on. Let me introduce myself."
She stood up with a flourish and made a little bow.
"Kiza Hyuuga, faithful member of the Hidden Branch, chief medical officer of the local hospital and the cheekiest nineteen-year-old ever to wander these caves!"
"But... your name..."
"What, Kiza? You like it? I've been named after one of the most prominent figures of our personal little history, even though that does not say an awful lot."
"No, I mean... Hyuuga? That's not possible..."
Kiza clapped her hands in front of her mouth in an overly dramatic fashion.
"Oh dear! You mean nobody's told you anything yet? About who we are and all that? No?" She sighed. "Typical. Leaving the boring jobs for someone else to do. Well, I'm afraid it's not my place to tell you either. To be honest, I've been told not to talk to you at all, but who's going to stop me? Well, just to make this a little clearer for you: we're a long forgotten branch of the Hyuuga clan that has been hiding out here for a long time. That's all I can really say right now. It seems that other Hyuuga kid – is he family of you? – is supposed to tell you all this."
Other Hyuuga kid?
Hinata's eyes widened.
"Neji-nii-san? Is he here? I have to see him-"
She tried to get up, but Kiza grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back down.
"Calm down! If he hasn't talked to you yet I bet he'll come by soon to do so. Always let a man come to you, you know, not the other way around."
She winked, but Hinata only wrapped her arms around herself and curled up in a little ball, instinctively trying to protect herself from the unknown. She didn't understand anything of what was going on, but eventually her mind settled on the most important question.
"If... if Neji-nii-san is here... have you maybe seen Naruto-kun as well?" she asked, trying not to get her hopes up.
Kiza frowned. "Boy about your age, average height, blonde hair and a costume that hurts your eyes?"
"Yes!"
"Oh, he's here alright. He and that Neji guy were in town just a short while ago."
A smile appeared on Hinata's face. At last, some good news. Naruto-kun... will I see you again soon?
Kiza looked at her inquisitively.
"So, this Naruto guy - is he a friend of yours?" she asked innocently.
This time Hinata couldn't control herself; she blushed.
"Y-yes..."
"Ah, I see!" Kiza grinned. "Good for you!"
Hinata couldn't help it. She started to grin as well...
And then suddenly a jolt of pain shot through her, turning her smile into a grimace.
"Aaah...!"
"Are you okay?" Kiza asked worriedly. "Wait, I'll get you some medicine."
She stood up and walked over to the sink, then started messing around with cups and glasses. Hinata tried to relax a bit. It had only been one jolt, but now she felt her entire body aching again.
"Do you... know what's wrong with me?" she asked quietly.
"I'm afraid not," Kiza said without turning around. "I've been examining you while you were asleep, or rather unconscious, and at first I thought it was just the flu. But it's not. None of my normal medicines seem to help, so I had to develop a new something from scratch."
She walked over to Hinata and placed a tray with two steaming cups of tea on her lap, then dropped a small tablet in one of them.
"It's no cure, but it seems to be slowing whatever it is you have down. Hopefully that will give us enough time to solve the problem completely, right?"
She looked into Hinata's wide-open eyes, then smiled encouragingly.
"Oh, don't look so frightened! I'm a medical expert, I'm sure I'll find something. Besides, it might go over by itself, just like the flu can! So let's not linger on bad thoughts, shall we?"
She turned around and pulled over a chair, sat down and picked up her own tea, meanwhile examining Hinata with curiosity in her eyes.
"So, tell me about yourself a bit!"
"I wouldn't know what to tell..."
"Well, you can start by telling me your name, for example."
Hinata turned red immediately. "I'm sorry! That was rude of me... I thought... I'm Hinata. Hyuuga."
"Hinata. That's a pretty name." Kiza sipped from her tea. "What's life in Konoha like, Hinata?"
Hinata shook her head. "I... I'm sorry to ask this, but... why do you ask these things? I mean no offense," she added quickly. "It's just-"
"That you don't know what side I'm on?" Kiza laughed. "No worries, that's fair enough. But I'm not trying to interrogate you or anything. It's just that I've never been away from this place, and sometimes it gets awfully boring. I long for news from the outside every day, so I was just hoping to chat with you a bit. If you'd rather be alone for a while, that's fine too, but if you're okay with me being here..."
She looked pleadingly at Hinata, who again couldn't help but smile.
"No, that's fine," she said softly. "But I'm really not that interesting to talk about. What I do in Konoha is mostly training. I... want to become stronger, to prove myself."
"Prove yourself to who?"
"To... myself, mostly. But also to Naruto-kun, and to my father... I want to prove I can be a worthy heiress..."
"Heiress?" Kiza blinked. "For real? You are the head family's heiress?"
"Yes, but... not a very good one, I think... even when I was small, I was weak... always too weak. My father tried to have faith in me, but he kept being disappointed..."
And suddenly, Hinata found herself telling Kiza everything, about her father's constant contempt of her weakness, about Neji's hatred towards her and the entire head family, about the pressure of being the heiress to the mighty Hyuuga clan, about her insecurities and fears that haunted her every day. She told her about her decision to become a strong shinobi, about her trying to keep up with her teammates but always being in the way, about lacking the confidence and willpower to become stronger. And she spoke of how she had first seen Naruto, how his stubbornness, his inability to give up had inspired her, how he had been a light to her, a source of power, and how over time, her feelings for him had developed. The words just kept coming, and it felt so good to finally be able to tell someone other than herself. Kiza listened intently, nodded now and then but never interrupted her, and when Hinata finally stopped talking a thoughtful silence followed. It went on for a while, and just when Hinata started to feel embarrassed for her outburst Kiza spoke up, but in a strangely quiet voice.
"Is... is that the way to act? When someone disapproves of you... should you keep trying to prove yourself? Should you never give up, but try to improve every day to reach your goal?"
"That's what Naruto-kun taught me," Hinata said softly. "It's the only thing I know to be completely certain in my life."
"If that's so..." Kiza smiled a sad smile. "Hinata... we are the same. You and I... perhaps we were meant to meet."
"What do you mean?" Hinata asked uncertainly.
Kiza laid a hand on her own heart.
"I, too, am the heiress to my clan. My father, Rousoku, is its current leader. Like you, I was brought up to be a good leader someday myself, but... my father... became obsessed. Obsessed with our so-called feud against the head family."
She noticed Hinata's confused stare, and shook her head.
"You don't have to know the details right now, but ever since our clan settled here centuries ago, revenge against your clan has been the main ideology for its leaders. And every time that responsibility was passed down from father to son, the pressure seemed to become a little bigger. Now, after a few hundred years, it's my father's turn. And he simply can't handle it. It drives him crazy, it haunts him. Would you believe he prays to his predecessors? Of course, we all honour our former leaders, but he's worshipping them, as if they were gods!"
She made an annoyed gesture, saw Hinata's expression, and calmed down a bit. "I'm sorry, I tend to get worked up over that. Don't even get me started on his stupid paranoia."
She sighed, then continued in a sadder tone.
"Anyway, like I said, the first few years he cared for me like a proper loving father. Then his obsession kicked in, and I was shoved aside like some uninteresting pet. He simply stopped caring for me. I... never knew my mother, and when Rousoku started ignoring me I just left our personal chambers and went to live down in the village with the common clan members. They immediately started taking care of me. I didn't live in any specific house – sometimes I'd sleep here, sometimes there. I was welcome everywhere, not just because the people felt pity for me, but because they liked to have me around. My father must have noticed that I was missing at some point, but he never came to get me back. I guess... he must have just thought that was one nuisance less to deal with."
Kiza stopped to take a few deep breaths. Impulsively, Hinata reached out and grabbed the older girl's hand, then smiled friendlily. Kiza smiled back.
"Thanks. Even now, it... it still hurts. These days, he simply tends to ignore me, like he ignores everyone he doesn't need for something. The only one he talks to is that creep Modosu – nobody knows what that guy's up to, but I doubt it's something good."
Suddenly she laughed.
"Oh, look at me, boring you with my life story like this. I just tried to explain why I thought we were so similar. Like you, I didn't let my father's rejection get me down. I just continued to improve myself, if not as a heiress then as something else. And here I am, chief medical officer of the Hidden Branch! What do you think of that?"
Hinata wasn't sure what to say. "It's an... interesting profession. For a heiress, anyway."
"It is, isn't it? To be honest, it was just a coincidence that I had my interest peaked. You see, I am able to lend other's my own chakra – isn't that something? It's an ability I probably inherited from my mother, though it's hard to say for sure. Anyway, at first it seemed quite useless, because our clan is never involved in long-winding battles, but guess what other profession can require a lot of chakra?"
"That of a medical ninja?" Hinata hazarded.
"Spot on! Especially during long procedures, a medic may easily run out of chakra. If that happens, i just place my hand on his shoulder and he can continue using my chakra for a long time! The advantage is that you don't have to get another medic in halfway during an operation, which in some cases is even impossible. Anyway, eventually I started to crave more than just a supporting role. I started doing little things like broken bones and such, then went on to serious surgeries, and apparently I have a knack for it because they actually voted me in charge of the whole business! Of course, we lack a lot of professional medics, but it's still a huge honour for a nineteen-year-old girl like me."
She beamed at Hinata, who involuntarily had to laugh. She'd never met such a strange and kind girl before. It was as if they had been friends for years, so natural it felt to sit there and chat with Kiza, forgetting all the worries for a moment. She realised that Kiza had something about her that simply made her so easy to be with that it was hard not to like her. Naruto had the exact same thing – anyone who stayed in his presence long enough was bound to end up as his friend.
Kiza eventually held Hinata's hands in her own and squeezed them tightly.
"Hinata, I really think you and I were meant to meet. I recognise so much in you, it's as if I'm looking at a past image of myself. But we have to be mindful of the present as well."
Her tone became more serious.
"I have to warn you. You are not in a safe place. I don't know what my father wants with you, only that what they did to you last night was just the start. They're not done with you yet, so stay alert, and stay strong. I will try to find out what is going on, and then I will help you with all my might. Because like I said, we are the same. Both heiresses, both rejected by our fathers as unimportant... but both able to change things. I can feel it. Together, we stand strong. You with me?"
Hinata nodded, and at that exact moment someone knocked on the door, causing both of the girls to start. Kiza gave Hinata's hand another encouraging squeeze, then walked to the door and opened it.
Neji stepped in. He nodded at Kiza, but then turned his attention to Hinata.
"Hinata-sama," he said. "We need to talk. There is much I have to tell you."
***
Kiza walked down the stone corridor hurriedly. Behind her, she could hear the sound of the door closing as Neji entered the room. She wasn't worried about that – she knew the real danger in the current events came from Rousoku and Modosu, not from a newcomer like that Neji.
She passed by a few more hospital rooms, some filled with several beds like the room Hinata had occupied, some intended for emergency surgery. The layout of the place was rather erratic and illogical, which had always irked her, but at the same time she couldn't imagine it any differently. If someone were to redesign the place she would soon be thoroughly lost.
Eventually she entered a small tunnel that branched off the main one and followed it until she reached a door with a sign that had 'Keep out – chief medical officer only' written on it in a neat handwriting. She opened it, and entered the room beyond – her own room, her territory. It was but a small place, consisting of a living area and a bathroom, but it had everything she needed. A small kitchen was cramped in one corner, a large drawer in another. The old, battered desk was empty, but the floor was covered in books, scrolls, clothes, food leftovers, dirty plates and bowls and broken pencils. The wastebasket next to the desk was almost invisible beneath a huge pile of crumpled papers, and the only thing that seemed to stand unused for long enough to gather a layer of dust was an old broom leaning against the wall.
On the bed, which was clean and tidy unlike most of the room, sat Ingou. He was leafing through one of the books that lay spread through the room, but looked up as soon as Kiza entered.
"Bad news," he said. "Looks like the rumours were right."
"I figured that by now. I was hoping for some details."
He grinned. "You're in luck then. I heard some very interesting things."
Kiza sat down next to him on the bed and looked at him seriously.
"What kind of things?"
He told her. She listened quietly.
When he came to the last bit she cursed, and by the time he was done she was pacing around the small room agitatedly.
"I'm not going to let it happen," she said firmly. "I'll stop this no matter what. I just have to find a way."
Ingou drew his sword – it was not an impressive sight, of course, but the sound was all the more ominous.
"This is a good solution," he opined. "Always works for me."
"That's disgusting."
"No, that's effective. But fine. Try your peace-loving methods."
Kiza stopped facing to shoot him a determined glance. "Oh, I will. But first I have to find out what is really going on. Do you think what you heard was the truth? I know my father. He only has one purpose, and that is revenge. We just need to know how he's planning to do it."
"It might be too late when you finally find out. There might not be much time."
She sighed. "You're right about that one. I'll call a meeting. Inform the people." Then she added, suddenly angry again: "I'm going to do all I can to protect her! No matter what it takes! We've been tolerating Rousoku's craziness long enough anyway. Maybe the time has come to take action!"
"Good luck with that. You know where to find me if you need my help."
Ingou stood up and made for the door. In the doorway he hesitated, then turned around. "Kiza?"
She looked up tiredly. "Hmm?"
"Will you be careful?"
She smiled. "Don't you worry. Do you think my father will hurt me? He's misguided, not cruel. Besides, I have the whole village on my side. I'll be fine. You go get some sleep, okay? You look tired."
"You too. And... thanks."
"No problem."
"See you."
