Innocence

by Alina-Cantha

Chapter 4: Confession

 

            At the entrance to Kurenai’s apartment, the jounin dug in one of the pouches of her flak jacket. “I know it’s here somewhere,” she muttered, finally pulling a small disc out of her pocket. “Here. It’s connected to my chakra, so if you’re in trouble…” She trailed off and held out the object.

          Hinata took the communication badge from Kurenai’s outstretched hand. “Thank you,” she whispered, feeling the cool metal against her palm.

          “You shouldn’t need to even do anything. It’ll automatically tell me if you’re in danger. Just keep it with you at all times,” Kurenai responded, specially emphasizing the last three words.

          “Yes, sensei,” Hinata responded, bowing her head. Kurenai nodded, eyes lingering on her student. What Hinata really needed was to learn how to hold her head up all the time, and not just when things depended on it. She shook her head, thinking of the underlying issues.

          “I’ll be at the Hokage’s office again. I’m sure she’ll want at least a small update,” she said, beginning to head down the stairs. “See you later.” Hinata watched her walk away and then opened the door to Kurenai’s apartment. Yasuo trotted in ahead of her, black tail waving jauntily in the air. Watching him jump up onto Kurenai’s couch, Hinata was struck by the horrible feeling of being alone. She was alone again. Given, she couldn’t expect to have companionship all the time, but she just… She didn’t like to be alone. She imagined that no one did. And a cat didn’t count as a companion, did it?

          Hinata dropped her bags just inside the door and collapsed onto the overstuffed chair sitting in the middle of the main room, leaving her medicine chest in her lap. She looked over the tiny badge in her hand. A simple flat disc of metal, it was about the size of a large coin. The leaf symbol of Konoha was etched into one side, and the characters for Kurenai’s name were on the other. She felt safe with it her hands, knowing that if she was threatened again, her teacher would be there to come to her rescue. Thoughtfully, she tucked the disc in her pocket.

          She sat there for a while, just thinking. She was safe, for all that that meant. Living with Kurenai didn’t seem like it would be that big of a deal, but it would definitely be a nice change. After that last encounter with Hanabi and her father, she wasn’t sure if she even would want to go back any time soon. She didn’t think that Hanabi could ever be like that. She’d always thought that her younger sister would reach a plateau at some point, and her father would throw her aside as he’d thrown his oldest daughter aside. However, that hadn’t happened, and now Hanabi had grown to be much different than Hinata. Hinata was surprised at herself for not realizing this before. With a deep sigh, she got up to sidetrack herself with some other activity.

          Setting her medicines aside on a low table, she picked her bags up from the door, dragging them further into the room so they wouldn’t cause trouble. She didn’t know where to unpack, and if everything kept going right, they’d be leaving soon anyways. Quietly, she moved on to the kitchen, searching for something more to do. Finding nothing of interest there, she turned back to the living room, and her medicines. Remembering her failed bruise balm from the day before, she decided that it might be best to get some help. Nothing that smelled that bad could have been right. The med-nins over at the hospital all knew stuff like this, and there was a very good chance at least one of them could explain it to her.

          Grabbing the box from the table, she headed out the door, leaving it unlocked as Kurenai had before her. Walking down the stairs of the jounin’s apartment building, she hefted the bulky medicine kit onto one hip. Stepping out into the sunshine, she suddenly felt a lot brighter. It was as if the box balanced at her side gave her new purpose.

          Hinata walked along, watching the people around her. She stayed towards one side of the road, unconsciously trying to avoid others. The low murmur of talk numbed her ears, and soon she simply trudged along, trying not to think about anything specific. It was better not to brood, and there was no point to it anyway. All that could be done had, so far, been done.

          Her head snapped up as she heard shouting and pounding footsteps. Before she could figure everything out in her head, she found herself flat on her back, wincing in pain. She hopped up into a crouch, drawing a kunai with shaking hands.

          “Hinata?” a puzzled voice asked. She finally ran everything through her head, staring at the boy in bright orange in front of her.

          “N-Naruto?” she squeaked. The kunai went back into its’ pouch.

          “Sorry,” Naruto replied, kneeling to pick up something. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Hinata paused for a second, looking for her medicine box. It sat beside her, in a shattered pile of glass and wood. She gasped, watching the medicines she’d worked so long on spread across the dirt. Each separate bottle was like a tiny little dream draining out and disappearing into the earth.

          “Hinata?” Naruto asked once more, looking over her shoulder. He saw the ruined case and he frowned. “What was it?” he questioned, bending and gathering shards of the light wood and varicolored glass.

          “It was my medicines and supplies,” she replied softly, gently picking up pieces of glass. “I was going to the hospital to talk to a med-nin, but I…I guess I won’t now.” Naruto glanced at her, surprised. That was more words than he’d ever heard her say. She blushed furiously, feeling her face go hot.

          “Well, I guess it was my fault, so…how about I buy you a new one?” he suggested, standing up and throwing the pieces of wood he held away in a nearby trash can. Hinata followed his lead, throwing away the glass.

          “Uh…umm…” she stammered, realizing what he’d offered. “Naruto-kun, t-that’s…really very…kind of you,” she answered, blush intensifying. She didn’t know how to describe it, but there was something about him. Everybody else only seemed to see the bold side of him, the part of him that played jokes and screwed off all the time. Only a few people watched him enough to see the other half, the kinder half. She liked to think that she was one of them.

          One of her favorite memories of him was when she’d been watching him one day, and he found an injured cat. The young Naruto had nursed the cat back to health, changing its bandages and hand-feeding it every day, no matter what. She’d watched the whole incident, and seen the cat eventually wander away from Naruto’s home one day, healed and ready to move on. It was the only time she’d ever seen Naruto cry, although she was sure he had cried more than that, the way everybody treated him.

          Caught in her memories, Hinata suddenly realized that he was still waiting for an answer, bouncing energetically from foot to foot. He looked so sad and apologetic, she was absolutely sure he truly did feel remorse. She considered refusing his offer, but quickly discarded it. What would he think of her? He had offered to purchase her new things in the first place. That had to guarantee he was sincere, didn’t it? She began to chew on her lower lip.

          “Hinata?” Naruto asked, frowning. “You’re okay, right?”

          Her head snapped up and for a single instant, she stared right into his face. “That would be very nice, Naruto-kun,” she answered. The boy looked surprised for an instant, but then began strutting towards the section of town holding dozens of different stores and shops.

          “Let’s go then,” he called. Hinata quickly hurried after him, catching up to him and walking beside him. Nervously, she clasped her hands in front of her, tying her fingers in knots. Occasionally, she would glance over at Naruto, who was bouncing jauntily along beside her, as usual for him. She didn’t notice that he would glance over at her every so often too.

          Luckily, the walk to the shops was short, because it was made in a rather uncomfortable silence. When they arrived at the end of the long road lined with stalls and stores, they stopped. “Umm…” Naruto began awkwardly. “Where exactly do you get stuff like that?”

          “There’s a few places,” Hinata answered, raising one arm to point in the direction of the stalls she most commonly frequented. She often needed more herbs and supplies, especially after botched attempts like yesterdays. When the pair reached the stalls, Naruto immediately targeted the booth featuring boxes and containers.

          “Might as well start at the beginning, eh?” he asked Hinata, beginning to look over the many different shapes, sizes and colors of chests available. Hinata timidly joined him, delicately opening a small, light-colored box and inspecting the compartments inside. When a sickening smell wafted up from within, she closed it quickly, puzzled at the pungent odor. Moving on to another one, she slowly began working her way around the cart. Naruto came around from the other side.

          A dark colored wooden box caught her eye, crafted of polished mahogany. Reaching out for it, she was surprised to see Naruto reach out also. Laying her hand on the box, he absently placed his hand on top of hers. Noticing where his hand was, surprise flickered over his face, and he quickly jerked his hand back, turning away slightly. Flushing lightly, Hinata pulled the box towards her, opening it swiftly. She studied the interior, avoiding Naruto’s gaze. “It looks very nice,” she said slowly. “It’s so expensive, though.” She closed it reluctantly and put it back in its place on the booth’s shelves. Turning to another, smaller one, she opened it to look at it again. “This one’s nice too.”

          “We’ll take this one,” Naruto announced behind her, plunking the dark colored box in front of the stall’s owner.

Hinata whirled around to stop him. “Naruto-kun, no!” she protested. “That’s really not necessary. The other one will be perfect,” she continued.

“This one will be more perfect then,” he replied resolutely, pulling out his frog shaped wallet. Before Hinata could protest further, he counted out the money the shopkeeper requested and grabbed his purchase. Turning, he placed it in Hinata’s hands. “Let’s go fill it up, huh?” he spouted energetically, already moving toward the nearby stalls. A little reluctantly, she followed him.

Once they reached the stalls full of herbs and other medicinal supplies, Hinata slowly began to feel as if she knew what she was doing. In the span of a few minutes, she had gathered an armful of purchases, and was on her way to pick out more. It seemed like a lot of stuff to fit in one box, but when she thought about it, she probably had had this much already. The only difference was that it had been accumulated over time. Now she’d be able to start with fresh supplies of everything.

Naruto proved surprisingly indulgent, quite willing to buy her almost anything she wanted. She was almost sure that it was because he felt guilty, but somehow, wasn’t totally certain. Of course, Naruto always liked to solve problems that he had started, so that could just be his way of solving this one.

As she rounded the corner of one of the larger carts, Naruto tagging along behind her, she caught sight of her father. Hanabi danced alongside him, holding his hand tightly. Hinata closed her eyes tightly, ignoring them. Her lower lip curled in and her arms came up in front of her. Quickly, she turned away from them, unwilling to see the reflection of her past walk across the street in front of her.

It had been like that with her and her father once. Until Hanabi had been born, and a more promising option had appeared to the Hyuuga clan. After that, Hinata had been cast aside, a useless addition to the family. If not for her own hopes, she would have dropped out of the Academy right away. However, there was nowhere else for her to go. A small part of her had wanted to change, just to prove her father wrong. Over time, that dream had changed to have nothing at all to do with her father, and now all she wanted was to change herself. She kept telling herself that, but maybe the small part of her still remained, still wanted to prove to her father that she could change, and be stronger for it.

Naruto was surprised to see tears brimming in Hinata’s eyes. Even in the middle of her fight with Neji, with all that pain and tension, she hadn’t cried. She’d been upset, yes, but never in tears. Concerned, he stepped towards her. In response, she shoved all the packages she was holding into his arms and turned away from him also, covering her face with her hands. Seeing a bench nearby, she sat down on it, and pulled her knees up to her chest, completely hiding her face from outside. Naruto had taught her to be strong, even if he hadn’t known it. And now, she was doing the exact opposite.

Naruto sat down beside her, frowning. “Hinata? What’s going on?” he asked quietly, staring at her. After a few moments of silence, he continued, “I’m sorry I ran into you and broke your box. I didn’t think you’d get so upset about it. It was an accident.”

“It’s not that,” Hinata choked out. “It’s nothing.”

“If you’re this upset over it, it can’t be nothing,” Naruto persisted, forehead creasing in annoyance and worry. More silence followed. “Hinata?”

“It’s my family,” she finally said, voice muffled.

“Family?”

“I’m living at Kurenai’s apartment right now,” Hinata began, looking up at Naruto. Before she knew it, she’d told him everything. Surprisingly, Naruto simply sat and listened, not even fidgeting. After finishing her monologue, she suddenly snapped out of it and stared at him with wide eyes. Her cheeks flushed bright red and she turned away, burying her face in her hands again. “I-I’m sorry,” she finished. “I didn’t mean to bore you. These are my problems; you don’t need to hear about them.”

Naruto seemed a little stunned. “No, no problem,” he stammered. “I’m glad you told me.” Standing, he dropped the packages of supplies Hinata had handed him earlier on the counter of the stall and turned back towards her. “I told Neji this, and I’ll tell you. One day, I’m going to change the Hyuuga. I’ll be Hokage, and I swear, they’ll be the first to change!” he said firmly, hands clenched in fists at his sides.

Hinata did not reply, only stood up, eyes still red from crying. She nodded in acceptance of Naruto’s words, and then moved to the counter, collecting her purchases. Naruto suddenly came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. His slightly shorter height made it a little awkward, but he went through with it anyways. She stiffened in his grasp, and flushed even brighter. Standing slightly on tiptoe, Naruto said quietly, “Everything will be okay. You know…you may not be important to everybody else, but you have to at least be important to yourself. And think about it, Hinata. You’re more important to more people than you realize.”

He let go of her abruptly, and paid for her purchases, accepting the bags the proprietor handed back to him. “Lead the way,” he told Hinata, gesturing forward.

She did so, waiting for him to walk alongside her. When they reached the jounin apartments, he handed her the bags he had carried for her. “I’ll see you later, Hinata,” he said quietly. It was rapidly darkening outside, and people were beginning to trickle into their homes, vacating the streets. “I’m sorry about your box,” he apologized once more. Waving, he began to run off down the street towards his own home.

“Goodbye, Naruto,” she said in reply, but so quietly, she could barely hear herself. She climbed the stairs and went into Kurenai’s apartment. She still had trouble thinking of it as her ‘home’. Yasuo greeted her inside the door, meowing loudly.

“Hey, little guy,” she greeted him. As she walked to her room, he followed her, still yowling. She set her things on the bed and picked up him, cuddling him to her chest. At a small growl from him, she let up a little, remembering his leg. She checked it over lightly, and her eyes drifted to the new supplies and medicine case on her bed. Yasuo yowled once more, and she put him down. In the kitchen, she prepared him a small can of tuna from Kurenai’s cupboard and left it on a plate on the floor for him. He attacked it with ferocious hunger. Satisfied that he was content for the time being, Hinata returned to her room and began to organize her things.

After an hour, it was finally arranged in perfect order. She then proceeded back to the kitchen, set the box on the kitchen table, and began to work on a few simple, basic ointments. Below her, Yasuo curled up by her feet, stomach full of fish. Thoughtfully, she decided that maybe sometime soon she really would go see that med-nin, just so she could figure out how to make that lotion for Yasuo’s sake. Or maybe she could go see Kiba before she left on her mission. Living a life around dogs, you would almost certainly learn a little bit about veterinary medicine.

Shortly after she began, Kurenai came home, a little bruised and beat up. “Sorry I’m late,” she called to Hinata. “I fought a sparring match with Asuma, and got a little caught up in it.” She rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile. “I brought dinner.” The fragrance of fried chicken came from a plastic bag she held in one hand. As Kurenai walked into the kitchen, she got a look at the table, which was littered with new glass bottles, herbs, plants, and various other supplies.

Hinata looked up at her teacher. “Sorry, table’s taken,” she said timidly.

“No big deal,” Kurenai replied. She pulled some paper plates out of the cupboard and walked out to the living room. “We’ll eat out here.”

Her student followed her, accepting a plate and a piece of chicken. Kurenai swallowed her food and said conversationally, “Where’d you get that new box?”

“Naruto bought it for me,” Hinata replied, looking down at her plate. “He ran into me and broke the old one.”

“That was nice of him.” Kurenai left it at that. Shortly after, both she and her student went to bed.

Hinata woke with a start. Above her, the ceiling rose to heights she couldn’t even see. Slowly, she stood, looking around her cautiously. A hallway extended in front of her, going on so long it faded into darkness. The chamber was seemingly made of white stone, with no imperfections to be found anywhere. The long columns lining the room were decorated with more carved stone, light lavender in color. In some places, the stone was cut so thin she could see through it. There were dozens of pillars, all of the smooth white and lavender stone. Each pillar had a single hanging on it.

She moved closer to see what the hangings were. Brushing aside a piece of filmy white cloth, she uncovered a picture, inside an etched-silver frame. Timidly, she held the fabric aside, getting a better look at the image. A quintet of faces stared back at her; it was a family portrait. She tucked the cloth behind the corner of the frame, and brushed her fingers across the glass, staring. A single man stood in the foreground, pupilless white eyes staring solemnly at the outside world. He reminded her of her father in a way. He had the same composure and feel, that of strict discipline and somberness.

In fact, all five people in the picture were true to the Hyuuga lineage, dark hair and white eyes standing out to the young genin. She fingered her own hair, twining a strand of it around one finger. Studying the other four in the picture, she noticed another thing. The seals that stood out starkly on their foreheads: the symbol of the Caged Bird. All four were Branch House members. And the one man was the leader of the Main House. To all appearances, these five were the very beginnings of the Hyuuga line.

Looking even closer, she noticed one thing more: silver chains bound the Branch House members hand and foot. Shackles bound their wrists and ankles, keeping them subservient to the Main House. The bright silver of the chains was flecked with blood. Hinata was unsure exactly whose blood it was.

Slowly, she withdrew her hand, still gazing at the five Hyuugas. She noticed that the expressions of the faces of the four covered a range of emotions, from proud and prideful to hateful and sullen. She shivered at the thought of the warm blood on the icy silver of the chains, and quickly covered the portrait with the cloth once more.

Apprehensively, she continued moving down the hall, ignoring all the other portraits. It seemed to go on forever. Stuck in the rhythm of walking, she barely noticed when she reached the end. Only one portrait had no cloth veiling it. Hinata walked up to it, already anticipating what it would show.

Standing tall in the middle of the picture was her father, his face proud and cold. In front of him, her father’s hands resting on her shoulders, was Hanabi, face molded into a rare smile. Hinata saw herself standing timidly in the background, eyes downcast in fear and uncertainty. Neji stood as a looming presence, shadowing all of the Main House. As she looked closer, Hinata saw that Neji, as the Branch House members before him, had shackles on his wrists and ankles. However, his lacked the blood that the ones in the past had had.

Tiny cracks permeated the metal of Neji’s shackles. A few of them almost completely crossed it. As she began to study it closer, a voice rang out from behind her. “Hinata-sama, welcome,” it said, low and melodic.

She whirled, pressing her back against the pillar. “What do you want?” she called, a light note of panic in her voice.

“Nothing but peace,” the voice replied. Neji stood calmly in front of her, hands spread in a gesture of amity. “I want to break the chains, Hinata-sama.”

“Chains…” She glanced behind her at the picture quickly. “Chains of what?” she countered shakily.

“They are chains of hatred and loathing between our Houses,” Neji told her quietly, eyes hardening in pain. “Chains of fear and death. We need to sever these bonds.” Pale hands reached up and removed his headband, revealing his own seal. His eyes softened, creasing in sorrow, and he lightly touched a finger to his seal. “This is death, worn freely on my forehead. My father died because of it.”

          “These are invisible chains,” he continued softly, holding his wrists in front of him. “All we desire is freedom, wings to fly free.”

          “You may think that the Main House is ‘free’, Neji, but in our own way, we too bear chains. I may once have had wings, but…I have lost them,” Hinata told him, after a short pause to collect her thoughts.

          “Did you ever get them back?”

          Silently, Hinata shook her head. Finally, Neji spoke up again. “Some people are born closer to the sun…” He trailed off, looking down at the ground.

          “What?” Hinata encouraged him. “Explain it to me.”

          “Simply put, some are born in light. They live out their happy lives, basking in the warmth and heat. And the rest are just children of the darkness, rotting away, decaying in pools of their own filth,” he told her, the words tumbling out in a rush. “You and I now, we are children of the dark.”

          Both stood in an uneasy silence, Hinata absorbing the impact of what Neji had said. Finally, she shuffled her feet and spoke. “What about the stars?”

          His eyes lightened, and a mask of discouragement and pain lifted from his face. “You’re right,” he answered, closing his eyes. “Very right.” After a moment, he opened them and smiled lightly. “If you look closer, Hinata-sama, I think you will find that the Gentle Fist style suits you better than you think.”

The next morning, Kurenai rose from her makeshift bed and stretched, heading directly for the kitchen and her morning coffee. Spying the notepad on the table, she paused, scanning it quickly. Sliding a chair out, she sat down and began to read in earnest. Thinking it over, she began to chew on her lower lip. From the basic overview written here, perhaps something deeper was going on in the Hyuuga clan than was originally suspected. Still deep in thought, Kurenai went to wake Hinata up and begin the final preparations for their mission.

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