hello and welcome to the second installment of the one-shots that set the scene for the second part of this series!
thank you for all your comments on the previous ficlet with itachi - here the action is taking place a ~week after that meeting, AND we get shikaku pov!
as always, let me know what you think!
Work Text:
Shikaku hadn't expected the knock.
So when Shikamaru opened the door and revealed the Hyuuga boy he'd fought in the Chunin Exams and an exhausted-looking Hinata on the other side, Shikaku was officially intrigued.
"Nara-sama." Hizashi's son greeted, inclining his head respectfully, before he turned to Shikamaru and nudged Hinata, who barely blinked. "She hasn't been sleeping."
Shikaku felt the first stirring of concern at that, because Hinata seemed completely unaware of her surroundings, and the glint of recognition he'd expected upon seeing him or Shikamaru was absent from her eyes.
Either not noticing Hinata's state or simply trying to get under the boy's skin, Shikamaru just frowned right back at the Hyuuga. "And what do you expect me to do about that?"
And Hizashi's son just shrugged, looking uncomfortable now, his eyes darting from Shikamaru to Shikaku and away before he frowned at Shikamaru and offered an almost mulish, "Whatever you did before seemed to work."
For a moment, Shikaku almost thought that Shikamaru was going to turn the Hyuuga away, but in the end, his son just sighed, capitulating with a grumbled, "You're a real piece of work, Hyuuga."
The fact that the teen didn't reply was acknowledgment enough of the truth of the words. Shikaku watched silently as the boy inclining his head at Shikamaru and offered a slightly deeper nod to Shikaku over Shikamaru's shoulder before his attention focused on Hinata and, with what looked like a firm hand between the girl's shoulder blades, he lightly pushed her over the threshold of Shikaku's house and towards Shikamaru.
Hinata, clearly too out of it to have expected the movement, stumbled, and Shikamaru ended up with an armful of Hyuuga heiress and a desperate fight against gravity to keep them both on their feet. Shikaku wasn't surprised when Hizashi's son took advantage of the moment where Shikamaru fought to stabilise Hinata to take his leave, disappearing without so much as a 'goodbye'.
"Hey, hey," Shikamaru called, pushing Hinata away from where she'd all-but collapsed into his chest so he could look at her better, "you okay?"
Shikaku felt another twinge of worry shoot through him at the obvious effort it took Hinata to lift her head up. He heard Shikamaru suck in a quiet breath once Hinata finally met his gaze, and he could understand why; Hinata's eyes were half-lidded and bleary, and the dark, purpling shadows underneath stood out all the more against her pale complexion and even paler irises.
The girl blinked, seemingly only then noticing her company.
"…Hello, Shikamaru." She greeted on a sigh, the words almost slurred as she looked around confusedly. "What are you doing here?"
"What amI-? No, nevermind." Shikamaru huffed, reaching out with a tendril of shadow to pull the front door closed at the same time as he used the hold he still had on Hinata's shoulders to steer her further into the room. "Have you slept at all since I saw you last week?"
Hinata blinked again, visibly processing the words before she frowned.
"I-" she began haltingly, then trailed off, her frown deepening. "…I can't remember."
Not good,Shikaku mused, and he didn't miss the brief panic that passed over Shikamaru's face.
"What the hell happened?" Shikamaru demanded, pushing lightly on Hinata's shoulders so she could sit on the sofa, though he remained standing, frowning down at the girl. "It's been a week."
"Father stepped down." Hinata revealed quietly, and Shikaku felt his stomach drop out.
"Stepped- He made you Head?" Shikamaru pressed, studying Hinata intently, seemingly unable to choose between confusion, curiosity, and concern. "You're not happy. Why? Wasn't this the goal?"
"Not- not like this." Hinata sighed, melting back against the sofa, her eyes fluttering shut. Shikaku wasn't sure whether the girl was even aware she was speaking out loud when she added an even quieter, "I expected him to fight. I thought I'd have more time."
Shikaku caught Shikamaru about to open his mouth, no doubt to push for more information, and decided to spare the Hyuuga.
"Shikamaru." He called, drawing Shikamaru's gaze, and Shikaku wondered whether Hinata wasn't the only one to have forgotten about his presence. "Don't you think the interrogation can wait until Hinata has had some sleep?"
"Right, sorry." Shikamaru groaned, running a hand through his hair before he pointed a warning finger at Hinata. "Wait here, I'll set up your room."
Shikaku twitched at that, staring after Shikamaru's retreating back and feeling a smirk tug at his lips as he wondered whether Shikamaru realised what he'd just said.
Once the sound of Shikamaru bustling around upstairs faded to a comforting background noise, Shikaku turned his attention to the Hyuuga all-but passed out on their sofa.
"While I wish it hadn't rebounded on your health, I want to offer my congratulations." He said quietly, stifling the sigh at the incomprehension in Hinata's eyes when she made herself sit up and meet his gaze. "Jounin and Clan Head at your age is… not easy."
"Thank you." Hinata murmured, though she looked almost lost when she added a weak, "Why does it feel like I cheated?"
Shikaku pushed his papers away and stood, gesturing for Hinata to do the same. He stepped closer until he could rest a hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder, absently noting that it was far frailer than it should have been and resolving to set Yoshino on the girl's case
"The rank of jounin isn't handed out to just anybody." He told Hinata sagely, ducking his head so he could catch her eyes. "And while the Hokage has final say, it's never just one person putting that paperwork on her desk."
He smiled crookedly, squeezing Hinata's shoulder for emphasis. "You getting that promotion means that multiple people in the Village decided that you deserved it."
For a beat, Hinata just stared at him, and then offered him a single, slow nod in response to his words. Mission accomplished, Shikaku lifted his hand from the Hyuuga's shoulder and stepped back, intent on going back to his paperwork.
Almost as if the pressure of his hand was all that had been holding Hinata up, the girl's legs buckled under her and she stumbled. Yet before she could fall or Shikaku could try to catch her, a shadow pooled around the girl's feet, steadying her.
"This is why you shouldn't go a week without sleep." Shikamaru grouched from where he stood at the bottom of the stairs, and though his voice was clearly exasperated, his expression told a different story as he beckoned the Hyuuga over. "Come on."
And Shikaku watched as Shikamaru tugged at the shadow connecting him and Hinata, prompting the girl to walk over, her posture and gait much surer than before. He watched on, not quite able to believe what he was seeing, as instead of tensing up at having been turned into a marionette, the Hyuuga's shoulders lost their last bit of tension and a tired smile pulled at her lips.
"Thank you, Shikamaru." she murmured once she reached where Shikamaru was standing, getting a quiet 'anytime' as Shikamaru let her go past before following her up the stairs.
Shikaku blinked, eyes trained on where his son and the Hyuuga had been standing, his mind reeling.
Shikamaru managing to tweak the Shadow Possession jutsu into something resembling puppet strings wasn'tthatshocking – Shikaku had seen him working on the technique since the Chunin Exams, tweaking and refining the Nara staple with a degree of ingenuity Shikaku hadn't known the boy possessed.
But Shikamaru using their Clan technique on Hinata, and the girl not even twitching? Relaxing even, as if handing her autonomy into Shikamaru's hands was a relief, instead of a nightmare?Thatwas curious.
All in all, considering the state she'd arrived at their doorstep in that morning, Shikaku wasn't surprised when Hinata remained asleep for the entire day.
He'd been grateful when Asuma had come by, grabbing Shikamaru to help with the final preparations for the Iwa Exams – though Shikamaru had done a good job of keeping himself busy, the way his gaze had kept darting to the stairs had said more than words ever could about his impatience for Hinata to wake up.
Still, after a full day out, even Shikamaru's curiosity could not stand up to his exhaustion, so once it had hit midnight, he'd finally excused himself and gone to bed while Hinata remained asleep.
Shikaku himself had been aiming for an early night until he'd realised that he'd forgotten to account for the paperwork he needed to fill out to send not just the Yondaime's student but also the Sandaime's only son intoIwagakureof all places.
Worse than sending a Hyuuga into Kumo had been.
"Good evening."
Shikaku only just managed to avoid throwing his pen, nearly pulling a muscle in his neck at how quickly he turned to look at the source of the noise.
Finding Hinata at the bottom of the stairs, her feet bare and her sleep shirt slipping off one shoulder, pillow creases on one cheek and eyes bleary with sleep, Shikaku released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, inwardly rolling his eyes at his own forgetfulness.
Hinata's steps made no sound. That wasn't new. It was naïve of him to expect her to lose that skill just because she was exhausted.
"It's three in the morning." Shikaku corrected instead, smiling crookedly at the girl to soften the words.
"Then I apologise for disturbing you so late." Hinata murmured, raising a hand to rub at her arm as she added a hesitant, "But…I can't remember how I got here."
"Your cousin brought you." Shikaku replied, trying to avoid showing his concern and opting to focus on getting some answers instead: "When did Hiashi step down?"
Hinata blinked, though whether at her cousin's involvement or Shikaku's bluntness, he couldn't be sure.
"The same day I made jounin." She revealed, and Shikaku nodded to himself.A week, then. Shikamaru had been right.
"Yoshino left some leftovers for you in the fridge." He redirected, jerking his head towards the kitchen, needing some time to think. "You should eat."
"…Thank you, Shikaku-san." Hinata replied, then dutifully shuffled off, and Shikaku wondered how much time had passed since she'd eaten a proper meal since she'd managed to go a week without a proper night's sleep.
Sighing and pushing the thought to the back of his mind for the time being, Shikaku let the girl prepare her food in silence, giving her the opportunity to wake up fully.
Whatever sleepiness he'd been feeling while making his way through the paperwork had vanished with Hinata's arrival, and he wondered how inconsiderate he'd be if he continued with the interrogation he'd asked Shikamaru to postpone. He needed to know what could've motivated Hiashi to step down; the man he'd known for the last three decades would have never given up Headship without a fight, even after everything that Hinata had brought to light about the Clan.
He glanced up once Hinata sat on the other side of the table, doing a double-take once he caught the unexpectedly distraught expression on the Hyuuga's face.
"Did something happen?" he asked sharply, unsure as to the reason for the sudden devastation in Hinata's eyes.
"Will I have to…stop coming here?" the girl asked quietly, the words sounding like they were being wrenched out of her very soul. "Now that I- now that I'm Head?"
"No." Shikaku replied, cursing Hiashi six ways to Sunday in his mind. "I will have to treat you a little differently when we're out in public, but in private, nothing has to change if you don't want it to."
"I don't. Want it to, I mean." Hinata hastened to say, glancing down at her plate before she forced her eyes back to Shikaku's. "I…really appreciate my time with your family, Shikaku-san. I apologise for imposing so frequently on your hospitality."
"It's not an imposition. You're welcome here any time." Shikaku reassured for what felt like the tenth time, then added a teasing, "Besides, you heard Shikamaru; he already thinks of the guest room asyourroom."
Hinata blushed at the words, but there was the hint of a pleased smile playing at the corner of her lips which Shikaku took as a win. Then, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, waiting till Hinata got through at least some of her food before he asked:
"Is there anything specific that made you feel like you had to run yourself ragged in your first week as Head?"
Predictably, Hinata froze, the hand that had been holding her chopsticks freezing half-way to her mouth before she shook off her shock and lowered sighed, putting her chopsticks down as met Shikaku's gaze.
"There is a lot that needs to be done." She said after a beat, surprising Shikaku with her candour. "A lot of the Branch House has been able to be unsealed, but not all. Grandfather is still in T . So are some of the Elders who refused to step down."
Hinata shifted uncomfortably, then took a sip of her miso as she considered her next words.
"There's a lot of mistrust between the Houses, and I don't know how to solve it. I want to make sure that all Hyuuga have the ability to learn all Hyuuga techniques if they so wish, but I don't know all of them myself so I can't teach them."
A frustrated expression crossed her face then, and Shikaku wouldn't have been surprised to find that the girl thought that she was the one at fault for her lack of knowledge.
"My Grandfather disinherited and banished Neji-nii-san and my sister, and my first act as Head was to reinstate them." She continued, and Shikaku felt a proud smile tug at his lips at the reveal, but Hinata wasn't done. "But while Neji has returned to the Compound, my sister is still living with the Inuzuka and I- I don't know what todo, Shikaku-san."
Shikaku winced at the way Hinata's voice broke on the last words, sympathy and guilt warring within him in equal parts at the clear stress Hinata was under.
"First of all, breathe." He advised, meeting and holding Hinata's gaze to drive his point home. "Then prioritise. You can't hope to do everything yourself, particularly not in your first week. Is there anyone at the Compound you trust?"
"Neji." Hinata replied immediately, and something in Shikaku's chest warmed at that. "Junpei-san. Osamu-san and Atsumu-san. And- for s-some things- my Father."
"Then delegate." Shikaku suggested, keeping his surprise at the mention of Hiashi to himself. "Hyuuga Junpei is a Branch Elder, no?"
"Yes."
"Ask him to talk to the most distrusting Branch members. Maybe organise activities for people from different Houses to mix and interact with each other. Not related to combat." Shikaku instructed, smiling humourlessly at Hinata's obvious surprise at the suggestion. "None of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans have quite as strict separation as your Clan, but we do have some hierarchy. The Clan dinners are our way of offering a neutral space."
Hinata nodded thoughtfully, silent as she processed his words and likely revaluated her experience of the few inter-Clan dinners she'd attended in light of this new information.
"Your cousin is lauded as a genius." Shikaku continued after a few seconds, drawing Hinata's attention once more. "Have him teach some of the secret techniques he knows. Ask Hiashi to teach him the others."
Another nod, and Shikaku felt a stirring of pride once some of the tension that had been riddling Hinata's shoulders began to loosen.
"As for your sister- have you spoken with her?"
"Not- not in a while." Hinata admitted, wincing guiltily. "Not since before the Jounin Exams."
"Then talk to her." Shikaku said simply, and even he heard the undertone of fatherly exasperation in the words. "She's young; for all you know, she might just be staying away because she wantsyouto come toher."
Though Hinata had ducked her head at the subtle chastisement, Shikaku caught the small smile that pulled at her lips at the reminder of her sister's youth.
"Thank you, Shikaku-san." she murmured, the words heavy with gratitude. "And- Grandfather and the Elders?"
"That's something you will have to decide by yourself." Shikaku replied, not letting himself feel guilty for the way Hinata immediately deflated, though she nodded, seemingly understanding his reasoning.
"I want them to feel remorse." She whispered, more to the table than to Shikaku, before she looked up once more, expression resolute. "But, more than anything, I want to free the remaining Branch members of the seal, and they hold the seal-keys."
Ah.
"What's on your mind?" Shikaku inquired idly, feeling mildly alarmed when Hinata smiled sadly.
"I told Neji-nii-san that I would be ready to kill the Elders to free the Branch House if it came down to it." she stated simply, as if that was a normal thing to admit. "And I would. I don't want to, but I would."
There,Shikaku the difference between the girl before him and her peers.
"But…thereisa way of destroying the seal-keys that does not require the Elders to die." Hinata continued, and Shikaku kept his expression carefully disinterested.
"Oh?"
"It involves ripping the seal-keys straight from their coils." Hinata revealed bluntly, and this time, Shikaku had to cover his double-take with a cough.
"Elaborate?" he managed after a few seconds, and the breathless way the words came out was not entirely faked.
"The seal-keys are like a parasite for the bearer's chakra reserves. But, after enough time as a shinobi, the bearer's coils can adapt to the parasite's presence." Hinata explained, and Shikaku had the startling realisation that she was speaking from experience. "Ripping it out, especially from people who have carried them for decades, could damage them. Extensively."
And Hinata's had. Shikaku remembered Tsunade's exhausted grumbling after the nth session that had been dedicated to rebuilding Hinata's chakra reserves after the seal-keys Hotaru had sealed into her as a newborn had dissolved with her death. The very fact that Hinata was able to use chakra at all was due to the hours Tsunade had spent in her hospital room, rebuilding her chakra network tenketsu by tenketsu.
Shikaku took a breath and held it for a few seconds, suddenly understanding Asuma's fondness for cigarettes.
"It's still a kinder fate than death." Was all he said, and Hinata nodded.
"Yes. It is." She confirmed, and the look in her eyes was hard as steel. "And it feels- proportionate."
Proportionate. Shikaku hid his horror at Hinata's word choice behind his patented mask of Nara indifference, asking about the one person Hinata had not mentioned yet.
"And Hotaru?"
Hinata winced. "I don't think I can be objective about him."
Shikaku's laugh slipped out before he could quite bite it back, sharp and humourless. "Can anyone?"
"N-no, I mean- I want the Branch members to choose." Hinata corrected, and Shikaku's laughter cut off so fast he nearly coughed again. "They suffered the most by his actions."
In and out,Shikaku reminded himself, then, keeping his voice as bland as his expression, asked the most important question of the night:
"And if they decide that the only appropriate punishment is death?"
And Hinata met his gaze, and the expression in her eyes was cold as glass and just as brittle.
"Then my Grandfather will die."
Shikaku closed his eyes, needing a moment to recover after that bombshell. He could hear Hinata pick up her chopsticks again, but he kept his eyes closed even once she got up and started washing up, processing what he'd learnt over the last few minutes.
He really shouldn't be surprised by the girl's ability to blindside him at this point, and yet.
He opened his eyes once he heard the chair scrape, finding Hinata back in her seat, a conflicted expression on her face as she studied him, and it was with a mix of curiosity and trepidation that Shikaku realised that the girl wasn't done.
"What's on your mind?" he asked after a few seconds, absently wondering whether he was going to regret the question.
"Can I ask a hypothetical question?" Hinata replied quietly, answering his question with one of her own, and Shikaku wondered how many more hypotheticals from the Hyuuga his heart could take. Still, he gestured for Hinata to go on, morbidly curious despite himself. "Would you judge someone for what they did when acting on orders?"
At that, Shikaku blinked, then wordlessly got up from the table and poured himself some coffee. It was clear that he would not be getting any actual sleep tonight, regardless of how long his conversation with Hinata actually took.
He ambled back to his seat, taking a sip of his coffee as he sat back down, then regarded Hinata seriously over the rim of his mug.
"That's difficult to answer without nuance." He pointed out, drawing a wry smile from the girl.
"With nuance, it would no longer be a hypothetical." She retorted, and Shikaku hid his snort in his mug, his amusement winning over his annoyance at the riposte.
Then, he sighed and tried to give the question the consideration it deserved.
"In an ideal world, I would hope that our individual morals would be able to take precedence over orders." He admitted heavily, meeting Hinata's eyes tiredly. "But I also know that this is not the case for most shinobi."
Hinata nodded sadly, then frowned as she considered Shikaku seriously. "And if you knew that someone was being punished for what they did while acting on orders?"
"Assuming I had proof that they acted on orders?" Shikaku checked, convinced by now that the hypothetical was far from a true hypothetical. "I would try to help where I could."
Hinata smiled at that, still somewhat sad, but also proud, like Shikaku had passed some kind of test he hadn't even realised he'd been taking. "Thank you, Shikaku-san."
"Hinata." Shikaku sighed, taking another sip of his coffee as he contemplated getting something stronger from the cupboard. "I appreciate the hypothetical, but I also know you." he told her bluntly, drawing a guilty flinch from the girl. "What do you need?"
Hinata studied him for a few seconds, and Shikaku was intrigued by the realisation that he could see the shadows of the girl's mentors in her expression. It was one thing to know who the girl had learnt from, who Yuhi had exposed her students to, and another thing entirely to see echoes of those influences in the girl's mien as she sat in his kitchen, contemplating how much she trusted him.
"Did Elder Shimura keep records of the missions he ordered for ROOT?"
Well, fuck.
Shikaku swallowed some more coffee, then realised that he'd lost the ability to obfuscate the moment he'd asked the girl to leave the hypothetical behind.
"He did." He admitted simply, wondering whether he wasn't dooming them both.
"Have those records been recovered?" Hinata pressed, and Shikaku sighed, frustrated with himself and his own curiosity.
"They have. But they were coded, so a team of codebreakers has been working to decode them for the last two months." He replied, not letting Hinata feel even a sliver of hope at getting her hands on the documents. Then, he narrowed his eyes, letting some of the ice he usually reserved for matters of Village security leak into his voice. "Why are you asking?"
"I've been…wondering." Hinata admitted, straightening unconsciously at Shikaku's tone, though rather than backpedal, she seemed to firm up her resolve. "The last time all of the Hyuuga Clan had been in the Village at the same time was when the end of the Third War had been announced fifteen years ago."
Shikaku kept himself perfectly still, not allowing so much as a muscle to twitch until the girl elaborated.
"Between the genin, chunin, jounin, ANBU, and the civilian Clan members, it's almost impossible to have the whole Clan at the Compound at the same time." Hinata revealed, her tone contemplative, almost musing, but the expression in her eyes was far too sharp for Shikaku to ever buy that misdirection.
The worst part was that Shikaku had an uncomfortable suspicion that he knew exactly what the Hyuuga was getting at, and he found himself at a fork in the road, staring down a lose-lose scenario.
Either he put the brakes on the conversation right there and lost some of Hinata's trust, while potentially also setting her on the path to get the information she was after in a different way, or, he revealed things Hinata should have no reason to know, not even as Clan Head, and set her on the first step of whatever next path she'd set herself on.
Shikaku realised that there was a worse choice out of the two, so he reached under the chopstick drawer built into the table and lifted the false bottom, then pulled out a silencing tag and slapped it on the table between him and the girl.
Sighing, he regarded Hinata tiredly, only slightly comforted by the apprehension in her eyes.
"Ask your question." He ordered, and to her credit, the girl didn't hesitate.
"Did you ever find it odd?" Hinata asked simply, her voice quiet despite the seal, but an odd intensity in her eyes that Shikaku would've rather gone his whole life without seeing. "That the whole Clan was in the Village at the same time?"
Yeah, Hinata trusted him far too much.
"At the time, I never thought about it." Shikaku admitted, wondering where to draw the line. "You need to understand the shockwaves that it caused. Every Clan was on lockdown, Village gates were shut, the whole security protocol was being scrutinised."
Hinata nodded, expression thoughtful, but Shikaku didn't delude himself into thinking that this would be it.
"And after?"
"After…I think people were ashamed. Scared and ashamed." He smiled humourlessly, thinking back to those first few weeks after the Massacre. "The system had failed that boy, yes, but the system is made up of people."
He saw the moment Hinata understood what he meant, her expression growing even more serious than before. She nodded for him to go on, and Shikaku did, not bothering to sugarcoat his next words.
"And it became apparent rather quickly just how many people had chosen to look away instead of helping. Hiding behind the fact that he was a genius, or an Uchiha, or that it wasn't their business." He met Hinata's eyes then, intent on the girl's reaction. "Maybe it was, or maybe it wasn't, but I can't help but think that if he'd had a larger support network he wouldn't have snapped quite so drastically."
And because he'd been looking for it, because he'd specifically chosen a side, he saw the exact moment Hinata's expression shuttered, becoming unreadable.
Shikaku sighed, his hypothesis all-but confirmed.
"You don't think that he snapped." It wasn't a question.
"I don't know what I think, Shikaku-san." Hinata admitted after a beat, looking anywhere but at him. "But, I know that- a whole Clan, in one night, by one teenager- it sounds…improbable."
That was probably the closest Shikaku was ever going to get to Hinata saying 'that's bullshit'.
In the end, there was only one thing Shikaku could say to that: "I will ask the codebreakers working on Shimura's records to have a look at the files from eight years ago."
Hinata smiled then, small and tremulous but undeniably grateful. "Thank you."
And Shikaku could have taken that as the end, could have walked away then and there, could have ushered the Hyuuga to bed and poured himself that drink he so sorely needed.
Instead, he ran his hand through his hair and pinned Hinata with a weighed look. "What brought this on?"
"He let my team go." Hinata revealed, far more forthcoming than Shikaku had expected her to be. "When we faced him and Hoshigaki Kisame- every injury that my team suffered was delivered by Hoshigaki."
Shikaku blinked, because- that wasn't right.
"He caught you in the Tsukiyomi." He pointed out, trying to keep his incredulity from his voice.
"Because I got between him and sensei." Hinata dismissed, and if not for her upbringing, Shikaku was certain that she'd have waved him off. "But he said that he could hold multiple people in the genjutsu simultaneously, yet he didn't try to catch sensei after he caught me."
Shikaku wondered whether he should be more concerned by how readily Hinata trusted the words of an S-Rank criminal while he'd been torturing her, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind in favour of a much more startling realisation:
"You think he intentionally spared you." he breathed, going over what Hinata had said with this new angle in mind.
Hinata neither confirmed nor denied the conclusion he'd reached, and that was answer enough for Shikaku.
"Are there reports of shinobi who encountered him on missions?" Hinata asked instead, and Shikaku, not for the first time, found himself impressed with how much the Hyuuga could see.
"There are." He confirmed, having an inkling to what the girl was really asking. "You want to look at statistics?"
Hinata sighed, shaking her head. "I don'tknow, Shikaku-san. I've never- I'm considering what options there could be."
Shikaku realised that Kakashi had been much,muchcloser to the truth about the Hyuuga with his initial guess than either of them had realised.
"If it was an order-" he began carefully, weighing and considering every word, "and I'm not saying I think it was, but if it was- then the Sandaime would have had to have approved it."
The statement hung between for a few seconds, its truth undeniable and damning. Finally, Hinata sighed, offering Shikaku a quiet 'I'm sorry'.
"Don't apologise." Shikaku replied, staring at the grain of the wooden table between them. His next words were as much a warning for Hinata as they were for himself. "But be aware that, if you're right, the fallout from this will be…significant."
Given what they'd already learned of the Sandaime's involvement in Danzo's schemes, Shikaku would've expected the potential for yet another betrayal by the Professor to sting less than the previous ones.
And yet.
"I know." Hinata murmured, and Shikaku glanced up from the table just in time to catch the ice-cold resolve that flashed through the girl's eyes. "But, if I am right, I don't want to condemn a living man to preserve the memory of a dead one."
It took Shikaku a few seconds to process the words, but once he did, he laughed. There was no other reaction he could've given; what Hinata was admitting – what they were dancing around – was unfathomable.
And yet.
"You're a formidable shinobi, Hinata. Your recent promotion more than proves it." Shikaku announced, finding that his sudden amusement had disappeared just as quickly as it had come as the reality of what the Hyuuga was suggesting began to sink in, "But I think that it's your unwillingness to look away from injustice that makes you truly fearsome."
He remembered the response he'd gotten the first time he'd asked Shikamaru about his take on Hinata:Soft. Quiet. Ridiculously shy. Nice, though. He remembered the moment Hinata had first beaten Shikamaru at shogi, and his realisation that all was not as it seemed with the little Hyuuga. He remembered absently wondering how many more were going to be tricked by the girl's guileless façade before Konoha's shinobi wised up or the girl finally slipped up.
He wondered now whether this was the first slip.
"Get some sleep." He sighed after a few seconds of silence ticked by, having missed the girl's reaction to his earlier observation.
And Hinata, stubborn, cunning, bleeding-heart Hinata, took the hint.
"Good night, Shikaku-san." she murmured, pushing away from the table and heading for the stairs, no trace of hesitation or regret in her soundless steps.
"…Good night." Shikaku finally whispered to the empty room, eyes staring sightlessly at the table as he considered things he hadn't allowed himself to entertain for almost eight years, sleep the furthest thing from his mind.
He would keep his words speak to the codebreakers, but before he did that, there was one more stop he needed to make.
"Shikaku?"
"Sorry for interrupting the party."
"I assume it's for something important. Is Shikamaru alright?"
"It is, and he's fine."
"What is it then?"
"I need to look at your father's diary."
"…Did something happen?"
"Just some late-night thoughts."
"That you're gonna share, or…?"
"If I'm right, you'll know sooner rather than later, whether you want to or not."
"…I hate that."
"Mmhm."
"Alright, give me a minute."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Literally. I don't want to know."
"Suit yourself. Enjoy your night, Asuma."