Hinata was guided home by her father and Ko. She'd gotten out of the hospital after spending three days more days in there. She would've felt driven up the wall by being confined to her room, but Sasuke had stopped by every day on his way home from school with some written work that Iruka-sensei had given them and helped her write her answers. She was grateful to him; her grades wouldn't suffer too much thanks to him turning her work in the next day.
Sasuke had opened up to her quicker than she thought he would. He talked about his family and how he felt being the youngest and how his father treated him because of it. She listened patiently and offered him a silver lining and praise where she could; she sensed he needed reassurance and Itachi was unable to be around to give it to him.
"I hope your sight comes back soon," he sighed one afternoon. He didn't say more with Ko in the corner of the room but she knew what he was referring to.
She nodded. "It should be a few more days," she replied.
"It's gonna be awesome!" And Hinata could tell he had a huge smile on his face.
Part of her figured that Sasuke was easily opening up and expressing himself to her more because she couldn't see. She was expecting him to close up a little when her sight did return, and that was okay. Hinata was just happy that she could bring him some comfort, even if it was just for a few days.
Itachi had informed her the day before that he would be gone for a three-day mission so he would be unable to visit her, but he'd talked to her father about looking over her training personally and was waiting for an answer.
Today, she had suddenly been released and she felt bad that she could not tell Sasuke so she kindly asked Ko to make sure the nurses at the front desk informed Sasuke that she had been released.
"Hinata, today you will be meeting your cousin, Neji. I've told you of him before, do you remember?" Her father asked.
"Yes, I…remember, father," she said. She was counting her steps since she'd never gone to the hospital before. "I'm sorry, but I'm…counting my steps."
Hiashi hummed and said nothing more until they arrived at the front gate. "We're here."
Hinata logged the number of steps and turns in her head and nodded to herself. "I'm happy to be home, father," she said.
"Neji, say hello to Hinata," Hiashi said.
"Hinata-sama, hello. It's wonderful to meet you," Neji said, bowing to her with a bright smile on his face. He blushed at her cherub face and red cheeks and thought she was the cutest person he'd ever seen.
"The pleasure is all mine, Neji-san. Thank you for… coming to greet me," she said, bowing her head back.
"Neji is currently in training to be your protector. He's training hard to ensure that you are safe, and I expect the same commitment from you as well, my daughter. We will start our training again tomorrow after school," Hiashi explained.
"Y-yes, father. I will continue to…do my best."
"Neji, today you may stay with Hinata until I finish my meeting. I will send for you when I'm ready."
"Yes, Hiashi-sama, thank you," Neji said.
Sitting in Hinata's favorite tea room, they were silent. Neji stared at her openly, taking her in and admiring her looks. Hinata sat quietly waiting to be spoken to as she drank her tea.
"Hinata-sama, how is your training going?" Neji finally asked.
"It's going…well," she said. After hearing that she had properly defended herself, Hinata felt a bit more confident in herself. "And yours?"
"It's going great! Hiashi-sama is very strong and I look forward to learning as much from him as I can!" Neji exclaimed. Hinata smiled warmly at his enthusiasm.
"I'm happy to hear that!" She giggled and Neji's cheeks went a bright red.
He was happy to have such an important job.
Sasuke held Hinata's classwork in his hands as he ran to the hospital. When he helped her, he felt useful. Hinata was incredibly smart, but helping her write out things and placing her pencil where it needed to be was something he found fun. He loved that she didn't fawn over him and take advantage of the situation by trying to be close to him.
When he rushed inside, he was quickly stopped by a nurse at the front desk. "Excuse me, Uchiha-sama. I'm happy to inform you that Hinata-sama was released earlier today. She wanted me to tell you that she will be waiting for you at the Hyuuga compound, and if you could please meet her there."
Sasuke felt annoyed at having been stopped but brightened up considerably when he heard his friend was out of the hospital. "Thanks!" He called out as he ran back out the door and toward the Hyuuga estate.
"Sasuke, where are we running to?" Naruto exclaimed as he began running beside Sasuke. They slowed to a stop.
"I'm going to Hinata's," Sasuke said. "She got out of the hospital earlier today."
"You've been spending a lot of time with her lately, huh?" When word got out that Hinata was in the hospital because she'd been injured during an attempted kidnapping, the class got together and made her a huge "Get Well Soon" card that they all signed. Iruka-sensei delivered it to her personally, saw Sasuke there—he didn't ask questions, just started handing Hinata's work to him after class—and watched as Hinata lit up. Since that night when he held her hand, he looked forward to spending time with her without anyone's watchful eyes on them. Surely when she returned, he'd have almost no time to talk to her in school between classes and avoiding the gaggle of girls who chased after him.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I told you our parents are friends and I've been bringing her schoolwork to her."
"Sakura-chan's been really complaining my ear off about it," Naruto sighed.
"I don't see why it's any of her business," Sasuke shot back. "And how does she know anyways?"
Naruto shrugged. "It's not but she complains to me, and she saw you running off to the hospital and just put two and two together."
"Oh. Why do you let her do that?"
"'Cause," Naruto sighed again, "I kinda like her, you know."
Sasuke patted Naruto's shoulder. "You have my support," he told him solemnly.
His friend brightened up. "Thanks! So, like, are you gonna be Hinata's boyfriend?"
"Gross! She's just my friend, Naruto! And you know how clans work, her future husband was picked out for her once she turned five."
Naruto laughed. "Sorry, sorry. It's really weird that y'all's future is decided so early, but I guess that's just how things are. Anyways, can I come visit her with you?"
"It's not my house. She should be well enough to train in another couple of days, so you can see her then, okay?" Naruto nodded eagerly. "I'm gonna get going now. She's waiting for her classwork. See you!"
"See 'ya!" Naruto waved.
Sasuke ran to the compound and was let in when the guards recognized him. He was led down the familiar path toward Hinata's favorite tea room. When he was announced and let in, another young boy, a Hyuuga by the looks of his eyes, was leaving the room with a bright smile and a blush on his face. Sasuke couldn't help but scowl. The boy didn't pay him any attention and Sasuke found himself annoyed at that. He shut the door behind him a little too hard and saw that Hinata had jumped a bit.
"S-Sasuke?" She called out softly. They decided to drop all the formalities when it was just the two of them as they'd gotten to know one another pretty well and Sasuke forbid her from adding the '-kun' honorific to his name.
"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I didn't mean to shut the door that hard," he said as he took a seat beside her and put her schoolwork in front of her. He liked being in this room since the first time he came here. This is the only time they could actually be alone, other than on the walk home from school. Maybe he could start meeting her at her door and walk with her to school as well.
"That's…all right. How was school today?" She asked.
"The same as usual. Here's your work, it's right in front of you."
"I probably…shouldn't say this but I wish I didn't have to go back," she mumbled.
"Why not?" He asked.
"I-I don't have very many friends," she explained. "And I know school is for learning, but it gets…lonely sometimes."
Sasuke couldn't relate too much to that. He could in that he wished he didn't need to attend the school building to pass his classes, but he had friends. He had Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji—the two seemed to come as a pair, and even that weirdly quiet kid with the sunglasses, Shino. But when he really thought back to seeing Hinata during breaks or lunch, she was always alone.
He decided to himself that he was going to introduce her to his friends and hopefully that would make her want to come to school again.
"It's okay. I'll introduce you to some nice people when you come back," Sasuke said, smiling at her.
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you," she replied.
"Uh, so who was that kid that was in here?"
"Oh…He's my cousin, Neji. He is to be my protector, so he's been training with my father to prepare," she explained.
"Protector? What does that mean?"
Hinata fidgeted uncomfortably. "I apologize, Sasuke, but…I can just tell you that Neji-san will be by my side as much as Ko-san is from now on. He will probably be accompanying me to and from school since he also attends the academy. He's a year ahead of us."
Sasuke grimaced. He was going to have to deal with that kid more? He certainly wasn't looking forward to walking with Hinata anymore. He sighed inwardly but promised himself that he would try for his future sister-in-law. For his friend.
"Well, I was hoping to start walking with you to school, too. Would that be okay?" He asked.
Hinata smiled brightly. "Of course! I'd like that." Sasuke smiled brightly and served himself some tea before they started on Hinata's schoolwork.
"You are still moving too slow, Neji. Again!" Hiashi commanded as Neji stood across from him, panting and sporting a few bruises. The young boy slowly exhaled and ran towards him with his hands in their family's Gentle Fist style. With only one hand, Hiashi was holding him off. He wasn't even moving a step out of place from his original spot.
Neji was very talented and strong, there was no doubt about it, but unless he showed Hiashi just what he could do then he couldn't learn the moves of the Main House.
"You are hesitating too much, nephew. If you do not come at me with the intent to kill, then we must cease our training and I will begin to look for someone else to be my daughter's protector," Hiashi said. He saw how taken with Hinata the boy was and was hoping that would push the buttons needed for him to let go. He was correct. Neji growled and started fighting like he truly meant it.
"You wish to protect Hinata? Then you must always train and fight to ensure that you are the one who is worthy to hold such a title!" He continued, blocking Neji's attacks. The strength behind his hits increased and Hiashi felt himself actually have to take a step back to steady himself once again.
They continued like this until Neji dropped to his knees, panting heavily.
"Your strength is commendable, but your stamina is lacking. Hinata herself can fight me like this steadily for an hour and a half. You have only lasted thirty minutes. That is the first thing we will work on," Hiashi commented. "You've done well, but I must leave for my meeting. You may return home."
"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," Neji said. "Uncle…do you truly believe I can be strong enough to protect Hinata-sama?"
Hiashi regarded the boy for a few moments before walking over to the door. "I do. I believe you and her can bring great change to our clan in the future by even fighting alongside one another. That is the real goal I want you to strive for. Not just to protect my daughter, but to fight with her as a team," he said. Desperately, it is something Hiashi wanted. He ached silently for the day he could say that there was no longer a Main and Branch House, but just a House.
Neji watched as Hiashi left the training room and fell to his back. His father definitely worked him hard, but he felt the utmost respect for Hinata, who trained so hard that she lost her sight and could still defend herself from a Jonin while blinded, who trained so hard that she could last hours doing so vigorously with her father, and who trained so hard and could still come out a gentle girl like she was. She absolutely left him in awe.
What baffled him the most was how angry he got when Hiashi threatened to have someone else watch over her. He knew he could do the job and he wanted it. It was the greatest honor anyone could have, in his opinion. Neji would never let anyone take his place. He was to be Kou Hyuuga's successor.
As Hiashi waited for the Elders to arrive, he took a moment to survey the faint bruises left by his nephew before smirking just enough to be visible. Neji definitely showed exquisite promise with his training and he was going to do his best to make sure the Elders either agreed or remained silent—in which case, he'd take it as their agreement. This would be the first step in merging the houses.
Hinata and Neji would train together, they'd learn as much as he could teach them, and then it would be up to them to continue. Now that Hinata had shown such great potential, he found himself becoming impatient.
He frowned at the thought of Hinata and her potential as his mind when to Itachi Uchiha, who'd come to see him before he left for a mission.
"You want to train my daughter?" He asked the eldest Uchiha as they sat in his office. He'd been genuinely surprised when his maid had announced that Itachi requested a meeting with him at such short notice. Right now, though, he wasn't sure whether to be offended or not.
"Unfortunately, with my missions, I can only guide her. Hiashi-sama, she did splendidly and you've trained her well—I assure you I mean no disrespect—but she is to be my wife. I want to help her and you hone her potential," Itachi explained. "I will not train her with our doujutsus as that is forbidden, and I want to ensure that she does not get dependent on it."
Hiashi took this information in and nodded along. He agreed with the Uchiha. Too much reliance on their eyes would be their downfall, and he did his best to make sure Hinata could hold her own without her eyes. But Itachi was a known genius, and any help he could offer would benefit Hinata in multiple ways, even if it was just guiding her rather than full-on training.
"I understand. You have a three-day mission, correct?" Itachi nodded. "Come see me when you return and you'll have your answer."
"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," Itachi replied as he bowed.
Neji learning the Main House techniques was only half of what this meeting was about. The other was if Hinata could train under the elder Uchiha.
The door suddenly slid open and the four Elders walked in silently and gracefully before taking a seat in their respective spots.
"Good evening," Hiashi spoke. "I am sure you will be happy to hear that Hinata is back home and will return to training tomorrow."
"Yes, that is good to hear. She did well, but she could've done better," his father, the last Clan Head, said.
"I feel I should remind everyone here that Hinata injured a jonin whilst blinded due to rigorous training with me. She more than exceeded expectations, Hideyoshi-sama. However, I do agree that she can be much better, as such, I will be permitting her to train under the guidance of Uchiha prodigy, Itachi, when she is not training with me," Hiashi explained.
"An outsider?!" Haruka, the only female Elder, exclaimed.
"Her future husband," Hiashi added. "He assured me that he wanted to train her without the use of doujutsus to ensure that she is a more than capable ninja without it."
"And you trust him to keep his word? He's an Uchiha!" Another Elder, Hiroshi, sneered.
Hiashi refrained from sighing. "I must once again remind everyone that the Uchiha and Hyuuga Clans will be united in the future; therefore, we will refrain from expressing prejudice too carelessly, yes? We are a prideful clan," he said sternly. "So we will not stoop to something as distasteful as prejudice."
The Elders remained silent, though Hiroshi glared at the slight humiliation Hiashi had just imposed on him.
"So I trust that we are all in agreement? Hinata will train under the guidance of Itachi Uchiha." The Elder reluctantly hummed. "Very well. The next matter I'd like to discuss is Neji Hyuuga learning Main House techniques."
"Unacceptable, Hiashi! He's a member of the Branch family," Hideyoshi said.
"Neji has already shown himself to be a Hyuuga prodigy. Rather than holding him back because he is a Branch member, it is our duty—the ones deciding what is best for our clan—to let him flourish," he argued.
"It's forbidden!" the final Elder, Hikaru, shouted.
"Yes, it appears so. Please, remind me again why it is forbidden."
There was a pregnant pause. "Because our ancestors deemed it so," Haruka answered.
"I understand that, but why?" Hiashi pushed. When he received no response, he nodded. "Until someone can supply me with an acceptable answer, Neji will learn as much as he can from me, alongside Hinata and Hanabi once she's of age. Any concerns?"
"Hiashi, we must speak of how you're currently running this clan," his father said. "We must stick to tradition and the rules that have been set on our family from the beginning. It is bad enough that you're allowing the union of our family with those Uchiha!"
"Our family is very traditional, Hideyoshi-sama, is it not? And the time has come for the rules to change, as the world is doing the same. It is the way to survive with other prosperous clans and continue to flourish. Our children are the future. Things will not always remain the same and the least we can do is show them that we are capable of change, that it is not a bad thing but rather necessary," he explained.
"Well, yes, but this is too much, Hiashi. Surely, you must see that!"
"You taught me yourself that we, as Clan Heads, must sometimes make tough decisions, that it is our duty. Do you now doubt your own training? Father, I am the Head of this clan and Hinata will take my place once I've felt that it is time to hand over the title. You must respect this," Hiashi said, giving Hideyoshi a hard look.
His father remained silent.
"Now, then…this meeting has been concluded. Thank you for your time. Please, enjoy the rest of your evening."
Although it looked as though they all wanted to argue, they remained quiet and left in a single-file line. Hiashi, once completely alone, sighed softly to himself and prayed he bought enough time.
He knew that no matter how much they tried, they could never come up with a logical reason as to why Neji could not learn the Main House techniques. He didn't have to worry about that. He only worried about their prejudice against the Uchiha Clan. For a peaceful era to begin, everyone needed to have an open mind to any changes that may occur, but these older members are nothing if not stubborn.
That night, when Hinata was dressed for sleep and left alone, she triple-checked her window to make sure it was locked and had Mitsuki check underneath her bed and in her closet. Ko had offered to stand watch in her room, but with three days of no time to herself, she politely declined. Now sitting in her bed, she wondered if she made a mistake. Her senses were telling her that there was no danger around, but that wasn't helping her pounding heart.
Despite having sensed the jonin, she wondered if he had been a little more patient then maybe he would've completed his mission. Maybe she'd already be in Kumogakure without her eyes and killed or, worse, without her eyes and sold to a brothel. Her father had never shied away from telling her the horrors of the world for someone like her. Normally, she appreciated it but now that was all she was thinking about.
She was safe, she knew that, but she suddenly couldn't breathe. She wanted to curl into a ball underneath her bed, away from everything else, and let the world pass her by.
Hinata laid herself in bed and pulled the blankets over her head and listened to the sound of her breathing. She counted slowly, hoping to lull herself to sleep.
I hope this chapter was enjoyable! I realized that I didn't put the next upload date on the previous chapter. I would like to post Friday nights/Saturday mornings :) I'm very excited to post the next portion of this story (from when Hinata regains her sight) and see what y'all think. I also want to address the couple of ugly reviews we've gotten for this story and why I deleted them. Should there be a young aspiring writer on here that is trying to work their way up to posting their first story, I don't want them to be discouraged by such comments.
These comments don't both me or r3dx because those guest comments are from people who never return to this story, so we don't see the point in keeping them up. There's no loss or shame in deleting those kinds of comments. As seasoned fic writers, it's up to us to set an example of how to deal with things like that in a healthy manner. Those comments were about how horrible of a character Hinata is while insulting us and one even told us to kill ourselves, but that's no way to behave. I see it as childish. If anyone does have a problem with this story and they would like to actually discuss it civily, then we'd be more than happy to do that!
I know how bad it is between Hinata and Sakura fans and we want no part of that (a lot of it is due to internalized issues). They're both great characters who should've been more developed by Kishimoto, but that's why fanfics exist. We should all be supporting each other because we know how difficult it is to create this kind of art.
Thank you for reading this long author's note, but we hope you understand!
-hina & R3DX
NEXT UPDATE: 03/11/23
