Manicherryblossom33
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Sigh! I'm not having a good day. And Kishi is disappointing me with all this pro narusaku stuff happening in the manga. Regardless I will continue me naruhina fanfic an will keep the current ending I have in mind. If possible I might start posting multiple chapters a week so that I can finish it sooner. So sorry about the break last week. If I'd known it was golden week I would have put more effort into posting a chapter. Please read and enjoy. And pleeeeeeease comment. I love to read them. Any corrections and constructive criticism is welcome. No haters allowed.
Naruto fanfic A future without you
Chapter 36: Two years ago, part 1
HINATA’S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE [KONOHA, HYUUGA ESTATE, CLAN MEETING; TWO YEARS AGO]
“Regarding Hanabi’s performance in the chunin exams, I would personally like to congratulate her on her promotion.” The Hyuga clan elder, sitting to Father's, said in complete seriousness.
On Father's right sat Hanabi, as cold an observant as ever. Her face wore no expression, no acceptance or gratitude towards her clan members as she nodded her head in thanks before turning her attention back to her father.
On the left side of the room sat the main branch, and on the right side the cadet branch. Hinatas Grandfather sat to the left of Hiashi, with Neji and Hinata seated closest to the three most valued clan members but on opposite sides of the room. Neji sat tall and proud, alert as he memorized every word being spoken and everyones reactions to said words. Hinata sat politely though attentively as she contemplated sending her sister a congratulatory, warm smile.
But Hanabi refused to even look at her, as per usual.
“Moving on to another more pressing matter,” Grandfather continued, looking so he met everyones eyes in one sweeping gaze and stopping at Hinata. “I would like to bring to attention the pressing matter of the eldest daughters engagement.”
Hinata’s and Neji’s faces fell into a look of knowing shock. Yes, they always tried to arrange the Hyuga women to be married to honorable Hyuga men, or they could even marry outside the clan if they wanted, but it was always when they were seventeen years of age. This tradition had faded a little, with their clan members marrying instead at eighteen or even late twenties, but it was always upheld with the head of clan’s children.
She straightened up, defiant. Of course she wouldn’t accept this.
“Father, may I speak?” She asked politely, to which her father nodded solemnly.
“I don’t wish to marry anyone within our clan.” Hinata stated. “I have someone already. And I don’t wish to marry him just yet either.”
Of course she wanted it in their future. If he wanted it in their future. She fought the urge to square her shoulders and blush.
“It is clan tradition, Hinata. How dare you defy clan law.” Grandfather eyed her as if she were a traitor.
“You’ll have to forgive me, great elder. But I absolutely refuse to accept.” She continued, noticing Hanabi’s ear twitch and Neji smile proudly. “I have been told by someone special not to accept a fate designed by my clan. I shall marry in the future, and that is all.”
She stood gracefully, hands in her lap as she bowed, excused herself, and left via the sliding door.
Exhaling, she placed her hands over her heart and made her way to the gate. How bold of her! He really did have a strong influence on her.
OH! THE TIME! She thought as she checked the clock. She only had five minutes, or else she would be late!
Sprinting through the halls to reach her bedroom, she clicked the door shut behind her and glanced about for the bag of groceries she had brought home yesterday. Finding it slung over a chair, she threw it over her shoulder and pinched the heels of her shinobi sandals together between her thumb and index finger. She passed the maids on her way out—“Good morning, Hinata-sama”—to whom she bowed. Running through the stone dotted garden paths as she pulled her shoes on she reached the large wooden gates and threw them open.
Shutting them behind her, she turned and ran into an old man, one of the villagers. He laughed at her, mumbling something about “these young ones always in such a rush” as she bowed to him, sincerely apologizing as she weaved through the other strolling villagers. A mother with her newborn baby, a group of cadets playing marbles in the street, two shinobi on patrol, a stray cat and dog fighting over some gunk from the garbage.
Racing down the streets, she checked the clocks of open shops on her way. She had to hurry! No doubt he was waiting for her, at the same place as always!
She turned, leaping down the alleyway into the thickest of genjutsu fogs. Highly advanced genjutsu, made to reveal itself only to those who already knew it was there.
Everyone else only saw a stone wall and nothing more.
The knots where the fog was thickest was the path. She jumped from one to the other, eager to reach him. Their secret visits were the highlight of her day. They were her first thoughts in the morning and her last at night.
Breaking through the fog, she reached the large clearing in the woods. Soft grass growing weed-free around a large house with four large training rooms, a main bedroom, a single child's room, an average kitchen and sitting room, and plenty of lawn on all sides. Healthy trees half leaned over, creating a camouflage, just in case any birds flew over and happened to give away the secret location of the fourth hokage’s house.
She threw the front door open, tripping on the entrance hall. Noticing the regular black t-shirt with the fire symbol on the front and the plain orange pants as she fell, she smiled. He caught her, laughing lightly at her clumsiness before steadying and holding her shoulders at arms length.
“You’re three seconds late, Hinata!” Naruto grinned, smug and playful. “That means you’re making dinner this time!”
She laughed, beaming as she panted. That was fine. Naruto-kun burned everything excluding ramen and toast.
__________________________________________________________________________
It had begun after their talk concerning Sakura’s rejection of him. Well, not immediately after. There had been Naruto’s most recent trip to Kumo with Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Jugo. Followed by the barbecue dinner with their classmates where she had seen the picture of his parents. Apparently, the elders had called him away that day to order him to refrain from telling anybody about his parents. Not their names, not their history, nothing. When he’d asked why, they’d said he trusted his comrades too much which was why Sasuke was able to betray him so easily. So Naruto had gone to the Hyuga estate, tapped on Hinata’s windows, and flashed her the key that Tsunade had presented to him as a post-war birthday present out of spite.
It was the key to his parents house, he'd said, and it was so dusty he couldn’t breath. He had no talent for cleaning (as she had noticed when she’d encountered the garbage jungle in his apartment) and wanted her help fixing it up.
So they had cleaned everything together, ignoring only the baby room his parents had decorated together. Naruto wanted that room left exactly as it was, forever.
Naruto-kun had a short attention span when it came to housework, and he often took breaks, leaving her to do most of the work. She explained how troubling it was, and he would apologize (though unhappy about the thick coating of dust covering everything in the house) and get back to work. So Hinata had started to bribe him with home cooked meals and sparring sessions (the latter being his idea) and eventually they got the house all cleaned up. But they continued to meet here daily. Each day they would train, spar, talk, and eat together. The few times she let Naruto cook hadn’t turned out well. The first had been minor, with him presenting a whole spread of charcoal dishes. The second attempt had filled the house with smoke, and the third set it on fire. The scorch mark on the wall was ever present.
They lay opposite each other in one of the training rooms, staring at the ceiling as Naruto pointed out all the spots in the walls where Lord Jiraiya or the Yondaime had put holes during their training. He’d learned the stories from lord Fukasaku, who had been present many a time.
“And that one is from when Ero-sennin dodged a kunai trap that Pa set, and over THERE is where Ero-sennin tried to get Pa with the wild lion mane technique, and that one! Oh, yeah, that one’s from ma when she got mad at them for making so much noise.”
Naruto crossed his arms behind his head, sighing in content. Hinata smiled warmly as she turned to look at him, noticing his smile slowly fade away.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, pushing herself up.
He sat up, leaning back on his hands.
“I got summoned by the giant sage toad again. For a prophecy I mean.” He said, making a face at the floor.
Hinata’s heart dropped. A prophecy? For better or worse The great sage of mount myoboku’s predictions were never wrong.
“What was it? What did he say to you?”
Naruto stood up, walking over to one of the many secret cabinets and revealing one of his father’s specially made kunai. He held it at a distance, spinning the ring around his finger at an average speed.
“Something like ‘you’ll be going very far away, and when you come back they’ll be a fight waiting’ or something…” He replied, double tapping two fingers within the ring to make it bounce back and forth. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying at blinding speed. Just as it was about to produce a new hole in the wall, he appeared on the other side of the room and caught it. The gale winds created from such quick movement bounced off the back wall and rolled back to Hinata, sending her hair flying.
“Going far away? But where?” Hinata asked. “Does he mean one of the five great nations?”
“Nah, I don’t think that’s it!” Naruto grumbled, repeating the trick with the kunai and sending a new rush of wind at Hinata from the opposite direction. “I asked him where exactly, and all he could say was ‘a white room, with a childs voice.’ Whatever that means.”
He attempted to repeat the trick again, but Hinata caught the kunai this time while also taking his hand mid-run. This made him grin at her, amazed.
“Hey! You saw me when I was running! That’s awesome, Hinata! It does sort of tick me off though…”
She giggled at him, noticing how he blushed slightly and scratched at his cheek just as the timer summoned her to the kitchen. The hotpot and steamed vegetables were ready, as was the grilled fish and miso soup.
Naruto cheered when he saw her getting out the plates and ran to help but she held her arm out politely, reminding him of what happened the last time. Making a face, he crossed his arms and grumbled something unintelligible.
He bounced back as soon as he got some food in him, grinning as he wolfed it down. She laughed, happy he enjoyed it.
“You disappeared again today.” She reminded him, smiling though concerned. He looked at her wide eyed, still holding the chopsticks in his mouth.
She was referring of course to the many “errands” Lasy Tsunade was having him run. Missions with the council members, shogi with the feudal lord, secret meetings with his sources from the spy network that he now ran in Jiraiya’s place, visits with their allies: the other four great nations.
The advisors weren’t trusted by Hinata or her classmates, especially not by Sasuke. So knowing that Naruto spent moments, maybe hours, alone with them was… Unsettling.
Naruto finished off dinner in a hurry and put the bowl down, smiling at her.
“I wasn’t with the advisors today, so don’t worry Hinata.” He grinned. “Actually, I was with Sasuke. He wanted to talk to me about Sakura-chan, and we ended up killing a lot of time.”
She flinched, looking him in the eye. "Sakura-chan?”
He talked about her often. It was painful for him to be near her and Sasuke and have to act normal, like he didn’t love her, like it was okay that she didn’t love him. Only it wasn’t, and it made it even more painful to watch her smile with eyes full of love at Sasuke, who had started to smile gently back.
Hinata hadn’t admitted it, but she knew exactly how that felt. After years of watching Naruto dote on Sakura-chan, forgive her every mistake, and accept her as a beautiful, powerful, reliable woman, Hinata had felt her fair share of insecurity and pain.
“Sasuke said I should just move on, ya know?” Naruto said, frowning. “Granny Tsunade and Iruka sensei said that too. I guess they don’t want me to end up like ero-sennin. Because he loved granny his whole life and never got anything back.”
Naruto chuckled, beaming at her. “But whats wrong with that? He was super happy just watching over her and praying for her happiness! I’m okay with that too! As long as Sakura-chan’s happy, I’m happy. I mean, she’s the only woman who loves me anyway, even if its not the way I want her to. I can deal with… Hey, whats wrong?”
He’d paled, finally noticing how his words had Hinata gripping her knees tighter, how her back became more and more hunched as she leaned over in an effort to keep the tight knot of pain in her stomach from twisting. She was biting her lip so hard she tasted blood, and the pressure in her throat was building up as her eyes squeezed shut. Blinking, she felt a single tear escape her and shot to her feet in panic.
No! No he couldn’t see her like this! It would be…
“I have to go!” She said, rushing past him to the entry way.
“Hey, whats wrong?!” He repeated, getting to his feet. “Hinata, what is it?!”
She slammed the door behind her, already coughing and choking through her tears. Her fists clenched, she bent her knees and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. He couldn’t see her cry, he just couldn’t. That would be the most shameful thing.
She barely noticed when she broke through the fog, slamming into Ino and Tenten and knocking them both down. The villagers poked their heads out of their respective shops and gathered around, wondering what the commotion was about.
NO, NO, EVERYONE WILL SEE. Hinata thought as she climbed off them and tripped back, landing on her butt with her knees bent and one arm shielding her eyes.
Tenten groaned. “Hey, whats the big idea?”
Ino sat up, turning to chew the culprit out. Her expression changed from challenged and angry to sympathetic in an instant.
“Hinata...?”
Realizing she must have seen her crying, Hinata got up and ran off, apologizing repeatedly as she pushed past numerous villagers and raced home in tears.
Hours later, after sneaking into the Hyuga estate and climbing through her bedroom window, after having soaked her pillow in tears as she lay in bed for hours, she regained her senses and started to panic.
She ran from him clearly upset, and he’d noticed! Everyone had noticed! What would she tell him when she saw him again tomorrow and he asked questions…
Her heart sank at the idea of seeing him again tomorrow. Of having to listen to his undying, one-sided love for Sakura again. When their secret meetings had first started, she had resolved to not let him see just how much his words hurt her. But he had never said that he didn’t plan on moving on. She hadn’t assumed this would happen, she hadn’t considered it at all. It had been a huge blow to her, and she didn’t know how she could face him now.
He didn’t want her love. She had confessed to him on the battlefield, and he had forgotten her in the rush of the events that followed Pain’s attack on Konoha. She had waited patiently, anxiously for a reply once the war was over. Whether it be rejection or some form of acceptance or acknowledgment. But weeks had passed and even once their meetings began she still didn’t know what he felt about her confession.
And yet, maybe he hadn’t understood. He was an orphan, so Hinata had probably been the first to tell him ‘I love you.’ And love came in so many forms. Naruto had probably been confused, and assumed she had mean ‘as a comrade,’ or ‘as a friend.’
But a part of her told her how ridiculous that was. How could he not understand a confession of love when he had confessed to Sakura? When he spoke of his admiration, adoration, and attraction for her every day? He knew what love was. He had to have known what she meant.
She sat up, having had enough of all this thinking. It wasn’t healthy to think this much when you were alone. And her muscles were sore. She might have gone to bed, but she feared she might dream about him again. So instead she grabbed her bathrobe and headed towards the Hyuga’s private indoor hot springs.
____________________________________________________________________________
Moments later, she breathed in the steamy air. Her arms were folded over the edge of the pools, her head resting on them as she concentrated on the heat, the soothing atmosphere, everything that was relaxing about her environment.
What should she do? Tell him the truth? But what if he rejected her? It would ruin their friendship, and then she wouldn’t be able to continue being this close to him. But if she had to continue to listen to it she just might die of sadness.
She heard the door open and looked to see a silhouette through the heavy steam. Screaming, she ducked underwater, hearing him scream in return. Seconds later, she raised her head until the water surface brushed her nose. She could tell from his shadow that he’d fallen, pushed himself back to the wall, and was shielding his eyes with one arm.
She stepped back through the water, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to hide behind a rock. How could this happen? What was he doing here? Had he seen?
She squeezed her eyes shut. This had to be awkward for him. If it were Sakura here instead of her, then he’d be on cloud nine. Even though she would probably beat him to a pulp. He must be disgusted, or at the very least embarrassed.
She heard him gulp quite loudly (embarrassed it was then) and began to speak.
“Um… Hinata…?” He asked. “Its you right… Um… I was just looking for your room, ya know?”
She gasped at him, which made him scream in response:
“Ah! No, not like that! I just wanted to talk to you, about what happened… I mean… Because Ino and Tenten said you were mad at me and I—”
“Leave!”
She clapped her hands over her mouth. That had sounded really rude.
“Um, okay, I’ll just wait outside, okay?” He told her. A moment later, she could hear the doorknob rattling as he tried to turn it in multiple directions.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” He shouted in aggravation.
She turned, not quite looking around the rock. “What’s wrong?”
“The door’s stuck!” He replied, making her heart drop into her stomach.
Stuck? But that meant they were trapped in here together indefinitely. And she only had the steam and a bathrobe to shield her.
“Should I break it down?” Naruto asked.
“No!” She shouted, wincing at how that must have sounded and began to explain. “The elder is always very upset with damages to the house. It wouldn’t be good for you.”
She heard him run his fingers through his hair, rustling the back before sighing and leaning forward to hit his forehead against the wall.
She took the chance to run for it, reaching the other side of the room but not before he turned around.
“Whats wrong?!”
“Don’t look!”
He spun back around, startled, stiff, and flustered. “Right! Sorry, sorry…”
She pulled the robe on in a hurry, still blushing even after knotting the sash and crossing her arms back over her chest.
“… Did you see?” She asked.
“NO! No I didn’t!” He choked, rushing through the words.
She sighed. He was lying.
He cleared his throat again, jostling the knob.
“Um… Since we’re trapped in here for now…” He began, his voice muffled from pressing one arm over his red face. “Can we talk?”
She frowned, rolling her lips back and looking at his back through the steam.
“I wanna know what’s wrong, Hinata.” He said, almost pleadingly. “I mean… Did I do something? Say something?”
Half leaning over, she nodded, gnawing at her lips through her skin.
“I just… I’m bad at catching onto things, you know?” He admitted. “So if you don’t tell me what happened, I won’t know and I’ll… I’ll just keep guessing about it. So if you could tell me, I’d…”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“I swear I’ll apologize! I’ll mean it too! Sasuke said I’m a bad liar anyway, so…”
No! She thought, tears trailing down her face. Stop crying. Stop it now…
‘I’m sorry’ wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She didn’t want an apology. She wanted...
“Please tell me, Hinata.” He begged, still facing the door. “I won’t laugh I swear, whatever it is.”
She opened her eyes. Did he really want to know? Should she tell him?
She couldn’t lie to him. She knew that much.
“Hinata, PLEASE. I just want to apologize. I—”
He froze as she ran, gently colliding with his back. Standing as close to him as possible, her head resting on his back, she grabbed his right elbow and ran her hand down it, gently uncurling his fingers. Gripping his wrist, she stroked is palm with her thumbnail, making him flinch inwardly.
He glanced about, not quite taking his eyes off the door and shuddering when she gripped the back of his jacket with her free had.
“Um, Hinata… You’re… You’re not…” He squared his shoulders. “ungh.”
Gripping his hand, she turned him around. He was panting through partly gritted teeth, his eyes darkened and confused. She could practically hear the gears turning in his head.
Standing on her toes, she grabbed is collar and pulled him down into a kiss, hearing him gasp in shock.
She reached around him, grabbing the knob and praying it would turn. When it did, she pushed the door open and walked him into the hall.
Breaking the kiss, she watched him blink incredulously at her. There was even fear in his eyes.
Frowning, she stood up, kissing his jawline.
“Night, love you.” She whispered.
And with that, she stepped back into the room and shut the door.
NARUTO'S POV [konoha; a few days later]
NIGHT, LOVE YOU.
Naruto turned the corner in a rush, skidding to a halt when he saw the dark blue curtain flying in the wind. Again.
Why was it always a curtain, or a sheet hung out to dry, or a banner, or somebody else from the Hyuga? It was never who he was looking for. It didnt matter if he went to the hospital or to her favorite tea shop or to his parents' house. She was never there.
To make it worse, Sasuke was no help at all! He thought for sure he might have some words of advice that might help him straighten this out, but he didn't. On top of that, his dreams had gotten more vivid. Naruto would dream of her leaving, and not returning, or dying in his arms. Sometimes his dreams included Sakura-chan, and those were usually worse.
They'd started to feel real, and the weight on his heart became heavier. The pit in his stomach had tightened, and the imaginary depression in his chest had sunk so low it now felt like a hole.
He wasn't sure why he was looking for her. He had no idea what to say to her after that stunt she pulled in the hot spring, no clue how to act. Sakura had gone on with their usual routine after he confessed to her, but somehow he knew that wasn't the answer.
Finding her might make the pain worse for both of them. He felt he had a rough idea of what he should say, even though just the thought of it caused his heart to sink and his stomach to rise. He didn't want to make her cry. Seeing her cry the other night had been excruciating. Like he'd swallowed a kunai. OKay, that was a dumb way of putting it but it was the only way he knew how to.
If only he could see her again. Then he'd know.
He noticed one of his fangirls poke her head out the window to pull the curtain in. She caught him staring at her and started climbing out the window, grinning like a drunk.
Grimacing, he turned and ran for the hills down Konoha's busy afternoon streets. Noticing two more fangirls in a pastry shop at the end of the road, he made for the alley way and slammed into someone, knocking them down.
They'd landed behind a line of recycing bins, so he just ducked his head and hugged the other person tightly, not thinking straight at all. He heard the fangirls meet up just outside the alley and begin conversing, making a detailed plan to contact their leader and cover the entire area. Yes they should track down Sasuke while they were at it. Yes they would keep watch over his house.
He grit his teeth. NINJA fangirls. Great.
They left and he sat up, noticing the person beneath him slip free and attempt to take off. He instinctually noticed the long dark hair and lashed out, grabbing her hand and getting to his feet.
"Hinata!" He grinned with relief. "I've been looking all over for you!"
She flinched, squaring her shoulders and turning her head, but only to look at a different section of the ground.
Naruto gulped, noticing her back was facing him, and she'd put as much distance between them without breaking their linked hands. His face fell, but he continued to speak.
"I... I waited for you." He said. "At the house. Every day. It was..."
IT WAS TOO QUIET WITHOUT YOU. THERE WAS NOBODY COOKING, NOBODY TO TRAIN WITH, NOBODY TO TALK TO. NOBODY HUMMING PEACEFULLY AS THEY SCRUBBED THE DUST OFF THE W'ALLS. WELL, THE DUST IS ALL GONE, BUT ITS STARTED TO PILE UP AGAIN AND, WELL, I--
He cleared his throat. "I wanted to come to your house again, but... Well after you... I mean after that night, when you shut the door on my face and everything, your dad kind of caught me. I dunno how much he saw, but he said that if I approached you again I'd..."
LOSE A LIMB. NOT SURE WHICH ONE HE MEANT. YOUR DAD IS SCARY, HINATA. HYUGA GUARDS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING ME AROUND EVER SINCE AND...
"I looked for you in the village too, but..." He started. "You're never here and I... I guess I really miss you. I want you to stop ignoring me, or avoiding me, or whatever. Can't we go back to how things used to be?"
He waited, hopeful. She could make him laugh so hard he felt from his hair to his toes. And her cooking was amazing, she could even make him eat vegetables. She was a great fighter, she'd cornered him three times in their sparring sessions. She only had good things to say in response to everything he'd told her about Ma and Pa. She'd been so careful with all the framed photos around the house. She knew exactly what to say when he was feeling down about Sakura-chan, knew exactly what to ask. She made him feel happy. Not that he wasn't happy before, but still.
He looked at his fingers loosely gripping her wrist.
"I... don't want to." She replied.
He stifled a gasp within his mouth, straightening up. Gripping her hand, he tried to close the distance between them by approaching her but she stepped away, turning halfway to face him as she did.
"But I--" he started.
"I dont want to!" She cried, making the pressure in his throat rise. She sobbed, bowing and shaking her head so her hair flew--"I dont want to be just freinds!"--before quietly settling, her bangs hanging in her face. She brushed her palm up her left cheek before clenching it and pressing it over her left eye. "I LOVE YOU... I want to hear how you feel about ME..."
He grit his teeth loosely, frowning and bowing his head.
How he felt about Hinata was...
Was...
Was...
NIGHT, LOVE YOU.
His mouth formed a tight line as he bowed his head, his bangs casting a dark shadow over his eyes.
"Sorry... Not interested."
She whipped her head, fist clenched in front of her face. He couldn't look her in the eye, but he heard her choke back a sob and gasp as she wrenched her hand free. He looked up then, frozen to the spot and sad as he watched her take off again.
Noticing his hand was still hovering in the air, fingers still wrapped around a hand that was no longer there, he lowered his arm.
Backing up, he fell back to sit on the ground and half bent his knees to his chest. His arms were limp, and his head bowed uselessly.
"Hinata."
Naruto fanfic A future without you
Chapter 36: Two years ago, part 1
HINATA’S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE [KONOHA, HYUUGA ESTATE, CLAN MEETING; TWO YEARS AGO]
“Regarding Hanabi’s performance in the chunin exams, I would personally like to congratulate her on her promotion.” The Hyuga clan elder, sitting to Father's, said in complete seriousness.
On Father's right sat Hanabi, as cold an observant as ever. Her face wore no expression, no acceptance or gratitude towards her clan members as she nodded her head in thanks before turning her attention back to her father.
On the left side of the room sat the main branch, and on the right side the cadet branch. Hinatas Grandfather sat to the left of Hiashi, with Neji and Hinata seated closest to the three most valued clan members but on opposite sides of the room. Neji sat tall and proud, alert as he memorized every word being spoken and everyones reactions to said words. Hinata sat politely though attentively as she contemplated sending her sister a congratulatory, warm smile.
But Hanabi refused to even look at her, as per usual.
“Moving on to another more pressing matter,” Grandfather continued, looking so he met everyones eyes in one sweeping gaze and stopping at Hinata. “I would like to bring to attention the pressing matter of the eldest daughters engagement.”
Hinata’s and Neji’s faces fell into a look of knowing shock. Yes, they always tried to arrange the Hyuga women to be married to honorable Hyuga men, or they could even marry outside the clan if they wanted, but it was always when they were seventeen years of age. This tradition had faded a little, with their clan members marrying instead at eighteen or even late twenties, but it was always upheld with the head of clan’s children.
She straightened up, defiant. Of course she wouldn’t accept this.
“Father, may I speak?” She asked politely, to which her father nodded solemnly.
“I don’t wish to marry anyone within our clan.” Hinata stated. “I have someone already. And I don’t wish to marry him just yet either.”
Of course she wanted it in their future. If he wanted it in their future. She fought the urge to square her shoulders and blush.
“It is clan tradition, Hinata. How dare you defy clan law.” Grandfather eyed her as if she were a traitor.
“You’ll have to forgive me, great elder. But I absolutely refuse to accept.” She continued, noticing Hanabi’s ear twitch and Neji smile proudly. “I have been told by someone special not to accept a fate designed by my clan. I shall marry in the future, and that is all.”
She stood gracefully, hands in her lap as she bowed, excused herself, and left via the sliding door.
Exhaling, she placed her hands over her heart and made her way to the gate. How bold of her! He really did have a strong influence on her.
OH! THE TIME! She thought as she checked the clock. She only had five minutes, or else she would be late!
Sprinting through the halls to reach her bedroom, she clicked the door shut behind her and glanced about for the bag of groceries she had brought home yesterday. Finding it slung over a chair, she threw it over her shoulder and pinched the heels of her shinobi sandals together between her thumb and index finger. She passed the maids on her way out—“Good morning, Hinata-sama”—to whom she bowed. Running through the stone dotted garden paths as she pulled her shoes on she reached the large wooden gates and threw them open.
Shutting them behind her, she turned and ran into an old man, one of the villagers. He laughed at her, mumbling something about “these young ones always in such a rush” as she bowed to him, sincerely apologizing as she weaved through the other strolling villagers. A mother with her newborn baby, a group of cadets playing marbles in the street, two shinobi on patrol, a stray cat and dog fighting over some gunk from the garbage.
Racing down the streets, she checked the clocks of open shops on her way. She had to hurry! No doubt he was waiting for her, at the same place as always!
She turned, leaping down the alleyway into the thickest of genjutsu fogs. Highly advanced genjutsu, made to reveal itself only to those who already knew it was there.
Everyone else only saw a stone wall and nothing more.
The knots where the fog was thickest was the path. She jumped from one to the other, eager to reach him. Their secret visits were the highlight of her day. They were her first thoughts in the morning and her last at night.
Breaking through the fog, she reached the large clearing in the woods. Soft grass growing weed-free around a large house with four large training rooms, a main bedroom, a single child's room, an average kitchen and sitting room, and plenty of lawn on all sides. Healthy trees half leaned over, creating a camouflage, just in case any birds flew over and happened to give away the secret location of the fourth hokage’s house.
She threw the front door open, tripping on the entrance hall. Noticing the regular black t-shirt with the fire symbol on the front and the plain orange pants as she fell, she smiled. He caught her, laughing lightly at her clumsiness before steadying and holding her shoulders at arms length.
“You’re three seconds late, Hinata!” Naruto grinned, smug and playful. “That means you’re making dinner this time!”
She laughed, beaming as she panted. That was fine. Naruto-kun burned everything excluding ramen and toast.
__________________________________________________________________________
It had begun after their talk concerning Sakura’s rejection of him. Well, not immediately after. There had been Naruto’s most recent trip to Kumo with Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Jugo. Followed by the barbecue dinner with their classmates where she had seen the picture of his parents. Apparently, the elders had called him away that day to order him to refrain from telling anybody about his parents. Not their names, not their history, nothing. When he’d asked why, they’d said he trusted his comrades too much which was why Sasuke was able to betray him so easily. So Naruto had gone to the Hyuga estate, tapped on Hinata’s windows, and flashed her the key that Tsunade had presented to him as a post-war birthday present out of spite.
It was the key to his parents house, he'd said, and it was so dusty he couldn’t breath. He had no talent for cleaning (as she had noticed when she’d encountered the garbage jungle in his apartment) and wanted her help fixing it up.
So they had cleaned everything together, ignoring only the baby room his parents had decorated together. Naruto wanted that room left exactly as it was, forever.
Naruto-kun had a short attention span when it came to housework, and he often took breaks, leaving her to do most of the work. She explained how troubling it was, and he would apologize (though unhappy about the thick coating of dust covering everything in the house) and get back to work. So Hinata had started to bribe him with home cooked meals and sparring sessions (the latter being his idea) and eventually they got the house all cleaned up. But they continued to meet here daily. Each day they would train, spar, talk, and eat together. The few times she let Naruto cook hadn’t turned out well. The first had been minor, with him presenting a whole spread of charcoal dishes. The second attempt had filled the house with smoke, and the third set it on fire. The scorch mark on the wall was ever present.
They lay opposite each other in one of the training rooms, staring at the ceiling as Naruto pointed out all the spots in the walls where Lord Jiraiya or the Yondaime had put holes during their training. He’d learned the stories from lord Fukasaku, who had been present many a time.
“And that one is from when Ero-sennin dodged a kunai trap that Pa set, and over THERE is where Ero-sennin tried to get Pa with the wild lion mane technique, and that one! Oh, yeah, that one’s from ma when she got mad at them for making so much noise.”
Naruto crossed his arms behind his head, sighing in content. Hinata smiled warmly as she turned to look at him, noticing his smile slowly fade away.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, pushing herself up.
He sat up, leaning back on his hands.
“I got summoned by the giant sage toad again. For a prophecy I mean.” He said, making a face at the floor.
Hinata’s heart dropped. A prophecy? For better or worse The great sage of mount myoboku’s predictions were never wrong.
“What was it? What did he say to you?”
Naruto stood up, walking over to one of the many secret cabinets and revealing one of his father’s specially made kunai. He held it at a distance, spinning the ring around his finger at an average speed.
“Something like ‘you’ll be going very far away, and when you come back they’ll be a fight waiting’ or something…” He replied, double tapping two fingers within the ring to make it bounce back and forth. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying at blinding speed. Just as it was about to produce a new hole in the wall, he appeared on the other side of the room and caught it. The gale winds created from such quick movement bounced off the back wall and rolled back to Hinata, sending her hair flying.
“Going far away? But where?” Hinata asked. “Does he mean one of the five great nations?”
“Nah, I don’t think that’s it!” Naruto grumbled, repeating the trick with the kunai and sending a new rush of wind at Hinata from the opposite direction. “I asked him where exactly, and all he could say was ‘a white room, with a childs voice.’ Whatever that means.”
He attempted to repeat the trick again, but Hinata caught the kunai this time while also taking his hand mid-run. This made him grin at her, amazed.
“Hey! You saw me when I was running! That’s awesome, Hinata! It does sort of tick me off though…”
She giggled at him, noticing how he blushed slightly and scratched at his cheek just as the timer summoned her to the kitchen. The hotpot and steamed vegetables were ready, as was the grilled fish and miso soup.
Naruto cheered when he saw her getting out the plates and ran to help but she held her arm out politely, reminding him of what happened the last time. Making a face, he crossed his arms and grumbled something unintelligible.
He bounced back as soon as he got some food in him, grinning as he wolfed it down. She laughed, happy he enjoyed it.
“You disappeared again today.” She reminded him, smiling though concerned. He looked at her wide eyed, still holding the chopsticks in his mouth.
She was referring of course to the many “errands” Lasy Tsunade was having him run. Missions with the council members, shogi with the feudal lord, secret meetings with his sources from the spy network that he now ran in Jiraiya’s place, visits with their allies: the other four great nations.
The advisors weren’t trusted by Hinata or her classmates, especially not by Sasuke. So knowing that Naruto spent moments, maybe hours, alone with them was… Unsettling.
Naruto finished off dinner in a hurry and put the bowl down, smiling at her.
“I wasn’t with the advisors today, so don’t worry Hinata.” He grinned. “Actually, I was with Sasuke. He wanted to talk to me about Sakura-chan, and we ended up killing a lot of time.”
She flinched, looking him in the eye. "Sakura-chan?”
He talked about her often. It was painful for him to be near her and Sasuke and have to act normal, like he didn’t love her, like it was okay that she didn’t love him. Only it wasn’t, and it made it even more painful to watch her smile with eyes full of love at Sasuke, who had started to smile gently back.
Hinata hadn’t admitted it, but she knew exactly how that felt. After years of watching Naruto dote on Sakura-chan, forgive her every mistake, and accept her as a beautiful, powerful, reliable woman, Hinata had felt her fair share of insecurity and pain.
“Sasuke said I should just move on, ya know?” Naruto said, frowning. “Granny Tsunade and Iruka sensei said that too. I guess they don’t want me to end up like ero-sennin. Because he loved granny his whole life and never got anything back.”
Naruto chuckled, beaming at her. “But whats wrong with that? He was super happy just watching over her and praying for her happiness! I’m okay with that too! As long as Sakura-chan’s happy, I’m happy. I mean, she’s the only woman who loves me anyway, even if its not the way I want her to. I can deal with… Hey, whats wrong?”
He’d paled, finally noticing how his words had Hinata gripping her knees tighter, how her back became more and more hunched as she leaned over in an effort to keep the tight knot of pain in her stomach from twisting. She was biting her lip so hard she tasted blood, and the pressure in her throat was building up as her eyes squeezed shut. Blinking, she felt a single tear escape her and shot to her feet in panic.
No! No he couldn’t see her like this! It would be…
“I have to go!” She said, rushing past him to the entry way.
“Hey, whats wrong?!” He repeated, getting to his feet. “Hinata, what is it?!”
She slammed the door behind her, already coughing and choking through her tears. Her fists clenched, she bent her knees and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. He couldn’t see her cry, he just couldn’t. That would be the most shameful thing.
She barely noticed when she broke through the fog, slamming into Ino and Tenten and knocking them both down. The villagers poked their heads out of their respective shops and gathered around, wondering what the commotion was about.
NO, NO, EVERYONE WILL SEE. Hinata thought as she climbed off them and tripped back, landing on her butt with her knees bent and one arm shielding her eyes.
Tenten groaned. “Hey, whats the big idea?”
Ino sat up, turning to chew the culprit out. Her expression changed from challenged and angry to sympathetic in an instant.
“Hinata...?”
Realizing she must have seen her crying, Hinata got up and ran off, apologizing repeatedly as she pushed past numerous villagers and raced home in tears.
Hours later, after sneaking into the Hyuga estate and climbing through her bedroom window, after having soaked her pillow in tears as she lay in bed for hours, she regained her senses and started to panic.
She ran from him clearly upset, and he’d noticed! Everyone had noticed! What would she tell him when she saw him again tomorrow and he asked questions…
Her heart sank at the idea of seeing him again tomorrow. Of having to listen to his undying, one-sided love for Sakura again. When their secret meetings had first started, she had resolved to not let him see just how much his words hurt her. But he had never said that he didn’t plan on moving on. She hadn’t assumed this would happen, she hadn’t considered it at all. It had been a huge blow to her, and she didn’t know how she could face him now.
He didn’t want her love. She had confessed to him on the battlefield, and he had forgotten her in the rush of the events that followed Pain’s attack on Konoha. She had waited patiently, anxiously for a reply once the war was over. Whether it be rejection or some form of acceptance or acknowledgment. But weeks had passed and even once their meetings began she still didn’t know what he felt about her confession.
And yet, maybe he hadn’t understood. He was an orphan, so Hinata had probably been the first to tell him ‘I love you.’ And love came in so many forms. Naruto had probably been confused, and assumed she had mean ‘as a comrade,’ or ‘as a friend.’
But a part of her told her how ridiculous that was. How could he not understand a confession of love when he had confessed to Sakura? When he spoke of his admiration, adoration, and attraction for her every day? He knew what love was. He had to have known what she meant.
She sat up, having had enough of all this thinking. It wasn’t healthy to think this much when you were alone. And her muscles were sore. She might have gone to bed, but she feared she might dream about him again. So instead she grabbed her bathrobe and headed towards the Hyuga’s private indoor hot springs.
____________________________________________________________________________
Moments later, she breathed in the steamy air. Her arms were folded over the edge of the pools, her head resting on them as she concentrated on the heat, the soothing atmosphere, everything that was relaxing about her environment.
What should she do? Tell him the truth? But what if he rejected her? It would ruin their friendship, and then she wouldn’t be able to continue being this close to him. But if she had to continue to listen to it she just might die of sadness.
She heard the door open and looked to see a silhouette through the heavy steam. Screaming, she ducked underwater, hearing him scream in return. Seconds later, she raised her head until the water surface brushed her nose. She could tell from his shadow that he’d fallen, pushed himself back to the wall, and was shielding his eyes with one arm.
She stepped back through the water, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to hide behind a rock. How could this happen? What was he doing here? Had he seen?
She squeezed her eyes shut. This had to be awkward for him. If it were Sakura here instead of her, then he’d be on cloud nine. Even though she would probably beat him to a pulp. He must be disgusted, or at the very least embarrassed.
She heard him gulp quite loudly (embarrassed it was then) and began to speak.
“Um… Hinata…?” He asked. “Its you right… Um… I was just looking for your room, ya know?”
She gasped at him, which made him scream in response:
“Ah! No, not like that! I just wanted to talk to you, about what happened… I mean… Because Ino and Tenten said you were mad at me and I—”
“Leave!”
She clapped her hands over her mouth. That had sounded really rude.
“Um, okay, I’ll just wait outside, okay?” He told her. A moment later, she could hear the doorknob rattling as he tried to turn it in multiple directions.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” He shouted in aggravation.
She turned, not quite looking around the rock. “What’s wrong?”
“The door’s stuck!” He replied, making her heart drop into her stomach.
Stuck? But that meant they were trapped in here together indefinitely. And she only had the steam and a bathrobe to shield her.
“Should I break it down?” Naruto asked.
“No!” She shouted, wincing at how that must have sounded and began to explain. “The elder is always very upset with damages to the house. It wouldn’t be good for you.”
She heard him run his fingers through his hair, rustling the back before sighing and leaning forward to hit his forehead against the wall.
She took the chance to run for it, reaching the other side of the room but not before he turned around.
“Whats wrong?!”
“Don’t look!”
He spun back around, startled, stiff, and flustered. “Right! Sorry, sorry…”
She pulled the robe on in a hurry, still blushing even after knotting the sash and crossing her arms back over her chest.
“… Did you see?” She asked.
“NO! No I didn’t!” He choked, rushing through the words.
She sighed. He was lying.
He cleared his throat again, jostling the knob.
“Um… Since we’re trapped in here for now…” He began, his voice muffled from pressing one arm over his red face. “Can we talk?”
She frowned, rolling her lips back and looking at his back through the steam.
“I wanna know what’s wrong, Hinata.” He said, almost pleadingly. “I mean… Did I do something? Say something?”
Half leaning over, she nodded, gnawing at her lips through her skin.
“I just… I’m bad at catching onto things, you know?” He admitted. “So if you don’t tell me what happened, I won’t know and I’ll… I’ll just keep guessing about it. So if you could tell me, I’d…”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“I swear I’ll apologize! I’ll mean it too! Sasuke said I’m a bad liar anyway, so…”
No! She thought, tears trailing down her face. Stop crying. Stop it now…
‘I’m sorry’ wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She didn’t want an apology. She wanted...
“Please tell me, Hinata.” He begged, still facing the door. “I won’t laugh I swear, whatever it is.”
She opened her eyes. Did he really want to know? Should she tell him?
She couldn’t lie to him. She knew that much.
“Hinata, PLEASE. I just want to apologize. I—”
He froze as she ran, gently colliding with his back. Standing as close to him as possible, her head resting on his back, she grabbed his right elbow and ran her hand down it, gently uncurling his fingers. Gripping his wrist, she stroked is palm with her thumbnail, making him flinch inwardly.
He glanced about, not quite taking his eyes off the door and shuddering when she gripped the back of his jacket with her free had.
“Um, Hinata… You’re… You’re not…” He squared his shoulders. “ungh.”
Gripping his hand, she turned him around. He was panting through partly gritted teeth, his eyes darkened and confused. She could practically hear the gears turning in his head.
Standing on her toes, she grabbed is collar and pulled him down into a kiss, hearing him gasp in shock.
She reached around him, grabbing the knob and praying it would turn. When it did, she pushed the door open and walked him into the hall.
Breaking the kiss, she watched him blink incredulously at her. There was even fear in his eyes.
Frowning, she stood up, kissing his jawline.
“Night, love you.” She whispered.
And with that, she stepped back into the room and shut the door.
NARUTO'S POV [konoha; a few days later]
NIGHT, LOVE YOU.
Naruto turned the corner in a rush, skidding to a halt when he saw the dark blue curtain flying in the wind. Again.
Why was it always a curtain, or a sheet hung out to dry, or a banner, or somebody else from the Hyuga? It was never who he was looking for. It didnt matter if he went to the hospital or to her favorite tea shop or to his parents' house. She was never there.
To make it worse, Sasuke was no help at all! He thought for sure he might have some words of advice that might help him straighten this out, but he didn't. On top of that, his dreams had gotten more vivid. Naruto would dream of her leaving, and not returning, or dying in his arms. Sometimes his dreams included Sakura-chan, and those were usually worse.
They'd started to feel real, and the weight on his heart became heavier. The pit in his stomach had tightened, and the imaginary depression in his chest had sunk so low it now felt like a hole.
He wasn't sure why he was looking for her. He had no idea what to say to her after that stunt she pulled in the hot spring, no clue how to act. Sakura had gone on with their usual routine after he confessed to her, but somehow he knew that wasn't the answer.
Finding her might make the pain worse for both of them. He felt he had a rough idea of what he should say, even though just the thought of it caused his heart to sink and his stomach to rise. He didn't want to make her cry. Seeing her cry the other night had been excruciating. Like he'd swallowed a kunai. OKay, that was a dumb way of putting it but it was the only way he knew how to.
If only he could see her again. Then he'd know.
He noticed one of his fangirls poke her head out the window to pull the curtain in. She caught him staring at her and started climbing out the window, grinning like a drunk.
Grimacing, he turned and ran for the hills down Konoha's busy afternoon streets. Noticing two more fangirls in a pastry shop at the end of the road, he made for the alley way and slammed into someone, knocking them down.
They'd landed behind a line of recycing bins, so he just ducked his head and hugged the other person tightly, not thinking straight at all. He heard the fangirls meet up just outside the alley and begin conversing, making a detailed plan to contact their leader and cover the entire area. Yes they should track down Sasuke while they were at it. Yes they would keep watch over his house.
He grit his teeth. NINJA fangirls. Great.
They left and he sat up, noticing the person beneath him slip free and attempt to take off. He instinctually noticed the long dark hair and lashed out, grabbing her hand and getting to his feet.
"Hinata!" He grinned with relief. "I've been looking all over for you!"
She flinched, squaring her shoulders and turning her head, but only to look at a different section of the ground.
Naruto gulped, noticing her back was facing him, and she'd put as much distance between them without breaking their linked hands. His face fell, but he continued to speak.
"I... I waited for you." He said. "At the house. Every day. It was..."
IT WAS TOO QUIET WITHOUT YOU. THERE WAS NOBODY COOKING, NOBODY TO TRAIN WITH, NOBODY TO TALK TO. NOBODY HUMMING PEACEFULLY AS THEY SCRUBBED THE DUST OFF THE W'ALLS. WELL, THE DUST IS ALL GONE, BUT ITS STARTED TO PILE UP AGAIN AND, WELL, I--
He cleared his throat. "I wanted to come to your house again, but... Well after you... I mean after that night, when you shut the door on my face and everything, your dad kind of caught me. I dunno how much he saw, but he said that if I approached you again I'd..."
LOSE A LIMB. NOT SURE WHICH ONE HE MEANT. YOUR DAD IS SCARY, HINATA. HYUGA GUARDS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING ME AROUND EVER SINCE AND...
"I looked for you in the village too, but..." He started. "You're never here and I... I guess I really miss you. I want you to stop ignoring me, or avoiding me, or whatever. Can't we go back to how things used to be?"
He waited, hopeful. She could make him laugh so hard he felt from his hair to his toes. And her cooking was amazing, she could even make him eat vegetables. She was a great fighter, she'd cornered him three times in their sparring sessions. She only had good things to say in response to everything he'd told her about Ma and Pa. She'd been so careful with all the framed photos around the house. She knew exactly what to say when he was feeling down about Sakura-chan, knew exactly what to ask. She made him feel happy. Not that he wasn't happy before, but still.
He looked at his fingers loosely gripping her wrist.
"I... don't want to." She replied.
He stifled a gasp within his mouth, straightening up. Gripping her hand, he tried to close the distance between them by approaching her but she stepped away, turning halfway to face him as she did.
"But I--" he started.
"I dont want to!" She cried, making the pressure in his throat rise. She sobbed, bowing and shaking her head so her hair flew--"I dont want to be just freinds!"--before quietly settling, her bangs hanging in her face. She brushed her palm up her left cheek before clenching it and pressing it over her left eye. "I LOVE YOU... I want to hear how you feel about ME..."
He grit his teeth loosely, frowning and bowing his head.
How he felt about Hinata was...
Was...
Was...
NIGHT, LOVE YOU.
His mouth formed a tight line as he bowed his head, his bangs casting a dark shadow over his eyes.
"Sorry... Not interested."
She whipped her head, fist clenched in front of her face. He couldn't look her in the eye, but he heard her choke back a sob and gasp as she wrenched her hand free. He looked up then, frozen to the spot and sad as he watched her take off again.
Noticing his hand was still hovering in the air, fingers still wrapped around a hand that was no longer there, he lowered his arm.
Backing up, he fell back to sit on the ground and half bent his knees to his chest. His arms were limp, and his head bowed uselessly.
"Hinata."
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