WORDS
"She's been seeing him all this time?"
"But he's a rogue ninja. Why would she do that?"
"I heard they're actually in a relationship, and that she's been having intercourse with him."
"I'm so confused. I thought she loved Naruto?"
"Guess you never know. The quietest can't really be trusted."
—
It had been 7 days since she last saw Sasuke, and she had been confined to her home. They called it "house arrest." The moment she arrived to her family, Hiashi had already been informed by what happened, and he had shown such disinterest as a default expression when she looked at him. If that wasn't the whole driving force as to why she locked herself up in her room, then it very well could have been a great reason. Hinata decided that she wasn't going to wallow in the pain that expression brought her, since it wasn't the first time he showed her his disappointment, anyway.
Hinata would sit by her window sill, basking in the evening air. She had seen 7 sunsets and none of them declared the arrival of her Uchiha. She thought that maybe he'd come and see her. Most days she wondered if he had forgotten about her.
The heiress had also seen 7 sunrises where she would check if her memories of him had faded. Hinata would let out sighs of relief knowing that she could still remember everything about Sasuke. A glimmer of hope would light up the girl, knowing that the Great Purpose is yet to come, and that maybe in between journeys and arrivals, she could stop nature from manifesting the wills of the Fate and find a way to be with the rogue ninja.
Throughout the week, Hinata knew that teams were made to do investigations of her case. Hinata found it almost comical because it wasn't like she covered things up to secretly betray Konoha. She loved the village and wanted to protect it with her life. However, she wasn't exactly honest, either. The mere fact that the Uchiha had been entering and exiting Konoha unnoticed can cause an alarm for the village. Sasuke had become significantly stronger ever since the unison, and she wondered if Konoha would even be able to stop him. And all she wanted to do was to expose the danger befalling Konoha without separating herself from Sasuke.
She recalled a statement that she's been hearing… "all logic ceases once locked."
Did she get carried away? Did she hurt anyone in the process?
Her bedroom door opened, and there was her father, his expression straight as always, "The Hokage wants you in her office."
Hinata found herself sitting in the middle of a room, surrounded by people who led the recent mission she was in, who all sat close to the walls. The atmosphere felt like she was no longer condemned even though they didn't understand why she did what she did. Well, at least that was how it felt to her.
"Hyūga Hinata, heiress to the Hyūga clan is under the Locked Soul curse, and you are locked with a rogue ninja, who is adamant in destroying this village. And he goes by the name Uchiha Sasuke." Said Tsunade, reading from a piece of paper, a report of some sort. The Hokage lifted her gaze off the sheet to look at the Hyūga, waiting for her verbal confirmation.
Hinata nodded, "Yes ma'am."
Tsunade glanced back at the report, "We've undergone investigations regarding your situation, particularly from the angle of the curse, and have had conversations with our renowned chakra treatment therapist, Taiyou Iyasu, and she had explained to us that your condition is a matter of life and death."
Tsunade placed the report back on her desk, pinching the bridge of her nose, letting out a small sigh. It was obvious that a lot had happened in a year and a half. And with Hinata's condition, things just made an interesting turn.
"I honestly thought this curse was a myth or some type of legend…" she mumbled to herself, Shizune peering in to hear what the Hokage was saying to accurately take notes of the meeting.
Hinata took a glance around the room and noticed that Kakashi was there, along with Naruto and Sakura. For some reason, they've been around each other a whole lot. She had also noticed her father sitting next to Kakashi, and she actually appreciated how private this meeting was, even though more people saw her with Sasuke.
"Hinata," Tsunade began, "We have a lot of reasons to believe that Sasuke will not be backing down and that he will continue what he's been planning for years. You knew this, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did."
"Alright, so, I think we're all curious to know, at least to be fair to you," she paused, folding her hands together before fixing her attention to the Hyūga, "we want to give you a chance to explain yourself through a series of questions."
Hinata nodded, her legs pressed together, and her hands were holding each other for dear life.
"Why did you pursue him?"
"W-Well, I didn't want to. But I had these migraines and they were severe to the point I couldn't even hold my Byakugan for more than 1 minute. I had significant chakra depletion for some odd reason and whenever I was with him, I regained my strength."
Hinata saw how Sakura flinched, and she guessed that maybe it was hard for Sakura to hear this. The heiress regretted speaking that instant.
"A locked soul needed a trigger. What triggered you and Sasuke?" asked Tsunade.
"I think he saw me one day, and from then on, I was being followed by him for about 1 year."
"Followed?"
"...Yes."
"Did he show himself at some point? How did you come to know this?"
"I, uh, I've always known. I chose to p-pretend not to notice so that he keeps following me. During this time, the migraines have not started, but the pull to know where he was, whether he was around or not, was so strong, I would actively bring myself out of Konoha parameters from time to time. That is, if I noticed he wasn't around."
"You're saying you would search for him?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am."
"And how would you know where he was?"
Hinata shrugged, genuinely confused on how to answer this. "I don't know… I could just sense his presence."
Tsunade glanced at Shizune to give her assistant a nod, making sure she had written all of the details down. When the Hokage turned back to look at Hinata, she noticed the pendant resting on the Hyūga's chest, but decided not to point it out.
"During the academy years, were you ever close to Sasuke?"
Hinata shook her head. "We never spoke, and never really noticed each other."
"Are you sure?"
"Y-Yes. I knew he was close to Naruto, but I never paid attention to him at all and had no reason to."
"Why?"
"Because I was in love with Naruto." Hinata said, nonchalantly. Naruto's expression was hard to read, but it was clear that even he couldn't understand Hinata's change of heart. She had wondered for a while why he was silent after her confession. Why he continued to act like it didn't happen… but these thoughts went down the drain the moment Sasuke entered her life.
"And when did you notice your feelings for Naruto faded?"
"About 6 months ago."
"What happened?"
The heiress' cheeks flushed a light red color, embarrassed to even answer the question. "S-Sasuke and I touched." She said, in a very soft tone of voice, obviously too shy to even speak.
"Touched? In what way?" Tsunade asked, all the while making sure Shizune wrote down everything.
"He touched my cheek, and I felt a surge of energy exchanging between us. I n-noticed how I, emotionally, desired him in a way I shouldn't."
"I see. So far, it's according to the myth."
Tsunade stopped her questions and stood to grab a scroll that looked older than the existence of Konoha itself. Very carefully, she placed the scroll on her desk, and opened it for the counsel to see. Naruto and Sakura looked like they had never seen fiction come to life before, so even they were too shocked with all the information hidden from them all this time, now unveiling before their eyes. However, the elders seemed to have known, but chose to keep quiet to maintain another secret.
"We believe we have the scroll in our archives because of Uzumaki Kushina. How she found it and where, we still do not know." Tsunade began, "Naruto's mother was under the same curse as her husband. Origins of this curse is still unknown, but Kushina was kind enough to retrieve this scroll and it is a guide for those who are suffering through the same thing."
The room was too silent. If a pin would hit the ground, it would be the loudest sound anyone would hear.
"We call it a curse because it makes the afflicted ones suffer. And we are trying our best to find a cure. We also believe that the most powerful people in this world who caused enough stirring to determine changes of eras, were also victims of this curse."
"If my mom was locked, does that mean it will run down to me, too?" Naruto asked.
"No. This curse is not interested in lineages. However, it chooses those who are bitter enough or kind enough to sacrifice their own well-being for the sake of a Great Purpose. Such as Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Hinata." Tsunade responded.
Hinata saw how Sakura couldn't even look at the Hokage any longer, and the pain in her green eyes was enough information for the heiress, that Sakura wouldn't have thought that the man of her dreams would choose someone like Hinata.
"I think you all understand that the exchange of chakra or energy is called a Unison. Once their chakras are completed, then the Great Purpose is at hand. We have reason to believe that it is here, soon. Meaning, we need to be ready for an attack caused by Sasuke."
"It needs 7 cycles to complete the unison," Kakashi stated. "Hinata had only been sneaking out twice."
Tsunade pointed at a line written down on the scroll, and she quoted, "...however, when the hearts of two locked souls have given in and declared its willingness to love each other, then the unison has been completed."
She, then, glanced at the heiress sitting encircled in the middle of the room, "So Hinata, I have 2 more questions: how many times have you had sexual intercourses with Sasuke and have the two of you confessed your love to one another?"
She could feel her heart blocking the airways in her throat, and with so much shame knowing that it's on the record, Hinata said, "T-Three sexual intercourses and yes, we have confessed our love to one another."
"Why the hell does it have to be so cheesy?!" Naruto exclaimed, obviously frustrated with the situation. Hinata wondered why.
"When one confesses, then it has been decided in their hearts. When we use our chakra, it takes our decision-making tool, which is our heart, to fully channel it. Same theory applies to this." Kakashi explained, saving Tsunade's frustration if she even had any.
Tsunade picked it up from there, "Bonds are created from the decisions we make in our hearts. This chakra unison demands that and sexual intercourse creates a soul tie that's almost impossible to break free from. Hence, the migraines. The less she gets the glue that ties the bond, the more her chakra will eat her up."
"Then what do we do?" Sakura asked, looking quite worried and probably as frustrated as Naruto.
"We wait for Sasuke to invade." Tsunade said.
"I-I will lose my memories of him when the Great Purpose has been achieved. And there will be a reset within me. M-Maybe, Sasuke wasn't meant to destroy Konoha but through his bitterness, we would be shown a greater evil that we've closed our eyes to this whole time." Hinata explained.
Tsunade was interested, and Hinata could see it through how her eyes would widen slightly. "Do tell."
"I have reason to believe that someone is using Sasuke's hatred. Instead of Sasuke being the bad guy, I believe another person is behind all of this, scheming and meticulously planning."
"And how do you know this?" Tsunade asked.
"... S-Sasuke would open up to me about some things. And that's why I kept pursuing him, other than the fact I needed him, I wanted to get some intel."
"...To protect Konoha." Sakura said, finishing Hinata's sentence.
"I had hoped that when you found the both of us, he'd surrender," The heiress said. "But I was wrong."
There was silence in the room for a few moments, long enough for it to be noticeable. Hinata could tell everyone was exhausted. She was, too. It had been such a tough few months and they were barely scratching the surface.
"Hinata, thank you for your candor. You are no longer under house arrest." Tsunade said, breaking the silence.
"Wait, but what if she looks for Sasuke?!" Naruto asked, looking even more frustrated.
"If she doesn't, she will die. A slow, tragic, painful death." Tsunade added, enough to silence the yellow-haired hothead. "I want her to meet him because I don't want another brilliant medic dying on me." The Hokage stood from her chair, "I dismiss this meeting."
After most of the attendees left, Tsunade asked Shizune to close the door, leaving Hinata alone with the Hokage and her assistant.
"That pendant has his chakra in it, yes?"
Hinata grabbed it in her hand, almost in a protective way. "Yes."
"I truly don't know what to do," Tsunade said, "For the first time ever, I feel helpless."
"I understand." Hinata would say.
"That pendant… it glows when he's near you, right?"
"Yes."
Tsunade smiled, only slightly. "My lover gave the same pendant to me. The oldest trick in the books."
Hinata stood there, her hand still holding onto the pendant, afraid that it would be taken from her. It might have been a reactive response, but nonetheless, she needed it with her for many obvious reasons.
"Go," Tsunade ordered, "I can sense the depletion in your chakra."
Hinata nodded, bowed, and finally left the room. Her absence left a dreadful heaviness, caused by problems neither of them could solve. The complexity of the situation could drive Tsunade mad, if she didn't gather herself well. A sigh escaped the Lady as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"A-Ano, Tsunade-sama," Shizune started, placing the compiled writings of the meeting next to Tsunade's report files, "Do you think we should destroy these writings once they've lost their memories?"
"No, we keep it. I want to know how and why the Locked Soul curse appeared in the first place."