Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Everything Remains in Memory ❯ Departure ( Chapter 4 )

 

 

This chapter is dedicated to one of my co-workers who had recently collapsed from a heart attack during football practice.

 

He was pronounced dead only a few hours ago.

 

R.I.P. James

 

----

 

 

Despite what she had earlier told her assistant a week prior, she was seated at her desk in the Hokage Tower, sorting through missions and grading their difficulty. However, she halted her work as a woman walked into the room, standing at attention in front of her desk.

 

“You requested to see me Hokage-sama?” the woman asked.

 

“Yes, yes, sit down,” Tsunade ordered as she took a small sip of sake. “Do you recall the incident sixteen years ago?” The woman grimaced in response.

 

“If you mean the death of my husband, then yes, I do. I remember all too well. But is there a reason why you brought up such a painful event?” she asked as she sat down in a chair facing the Hokage's desk.

 

“Yes, and I believe that you will be satisfied with what I've got to say,” said Tsunade. The woman sat stiffly in the chair, waiting for the Hokage to announce to her the news.

 

“Your son, Kazama Hikaru, is alive,” Tsunade revealed. She had expected the woman to at least show some reaction to the knowledge that her son was alive.

 

“I have already reached that conclusion Hokage-sama,” the woman announced. “And Hikaru died the moment that the demon was sealed within him.”

 

“So you knew,” deadpanned Tsunade.

 

“Correct, from the first time that I escorted Hinata-sama to school I knew who he was; he looks exactly like his father,” announced the woman.

 

“Then why?” Tsunade asked.

 

“It's quite obvious; I would lose the prestigious status in my clan if they ever found out that my eldest son was the KyÅ«bi container,” explained the woman, her face emotionless throughout her entire speech.

 

Tsunade slammed her fist onto the table in her frustration, breaking it as she became angrier than she had ever thought possible.

 

“After all these years of him suffering from the hands of this village, after all of the shit that he had to deal with, you're telling me that you could have revealed yourself to him! What kind of person are you; to allow your own son, your own son, to suffer like that just so that you could retain your own social status?” yelled Tsunade.

 

“I am a smart person, Hokage-sama,” the woman retorted indignantly.

 

“Get out of my office,” Tsunade snarled. “Leave here and don't come back; send one of your emissaries for your missions from this point on.”

 

“It was an interesting talk Hokage-sama,” she stated briskly. “And do not tamper in the life of my Hiraku, he has enough on his plate as it is already.” And then she left the room, leaving a fuming Tsunade to completely destroy her room in her sober rage.

 

`Sakura was right after all,' thought Tsunade as she threw a chair against the wall. `I'm sorry Naruto. I had no clue how horrible your mother was; I only hope that you won't have to put up with her.'

 

---

 

“Been a long road to follow

been there and gone tomorrow

without saying goodbye to yesterday

are the memories I hold still valid?”

 

Her lamenting voice echoed throughout all of Konoha as she sang the song trapped deep within her own heart.

 

“Or have the tears deluded them?

maybe this time tomorrow

the rain will cease to follow

and the mist will fade into one more today”

 

She sat on top of the Hokage Monument in the freezing rain on the day of March 24th, the day of the funeral of Hyūga Neji. He had die a week before in the hospital after the second coming of the Kyūbi.

 

“Something somewhere out there keeps calling

am I going home?”

 

She couldn't go to the funeral. She wouldn't be able to stand the looks she'd get from the rest of her family. Those stoic looks that all of them except for herself had mastered and wore perpetually, like a permanent impenetrable mask.

 

She didn't want to dishonor the spirit of her cousin by showing such weakness in public. But most of all, she didn't want her sister to see her cry again.

 

After the day of the second coming, Hanabi refused to even meet her gaze and responded in very short answers. It deeply upset her, even more so than when her father began to treat her more like a burden than as a daughter because she had always believed that Hanabi and herself shared a special bond.

 

A bond of understanding that only sisters could have.

 

Could she have been wrong?

 

“Will I hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?

zero gravity what's it like?

am I alone?”

 

In her remembrance she didn't notice the person walking up behind her.

 

“Hinata? Why aren't you at Neji's funeral?” the person behind her asked.

 

“Na-naruto-kun?” stammered Hinata, surprised at his sudden appearance. “I thought that you were in the ho-hospital.”

 

“I just got out the night before. But why are you here all by yourself?” Naruto asked as he walked next to Hinata and stood next to her. “Shouldn't you be at the service with your family?” Instead of answering Hinata broke out into tears and fell onto her knees.

 

“What's wrong Hinata? Did I say something?” questioned Naruto sympathetically as he crouched down to the sobbing kunoichi. In an attempt to comfort her he tentatively wrapped his arms around her.

 

Naruto had never hugged a girl before, in fact, he's hardly even touched anyone on somewhat affectionate terms, and as such he blushed intensely when Hinata squeezed him, hard and buried her head into his chest.

 

“Hinata…please, what can I do to help you? It…it…it hurts to see you so sad,” pleaded Naruto quietly as he brought the girl closer into him.

 

`Stroke her hair.'

 

`Why should I do that?'

 

`I used to do that to her mother whenever she was upset and it always worked.'

 

`To Hinata's mother? What was she cheating on Hiashi or something?'

 

`Don't talk of Haruna like that!She would never do such a horrible thing; especially to someone that she loved.'

 

`Sheesh, alright, alright. You didn't have to bite my head off, jeez.'

 

And so, on recommendation by Arashi, Naruto began running his hand through Hinata's blueberry hair.

 

`It's so…soft…and…so…clean,' Naruto thought in amazement. Meanwhile Hinata was suffering from a flashback, one of the very few memories she had of her mother.

 

“Hinata, Neji, come here for a second,” a woman called to the young fiveyear old. The woman was sitting on a couch in the HyÅ«ga's expansive library as she watched her daughter attempt to read a rather large picture book and her nephew casting resentful glares towards her as he read through a smaller book with significantly less pictures.

 

“Hai, okaa-san?” answered Hinata as she ran over and gave her mother a large hug.

 

“Hai, Haruna-sama?” answered Neji stoically as he walked over to the HyÅ«ga matriarch and stood at attention.

 

“I'm going to teach you both a song,” announced the kind eyed matriarch. Neji gave no response as Hinata started jumping up and down excitedly.

 

“Okaa-san what's it called? What's it called?” excitedly asked Hinata.

 

“It's called“kanashimi ni tamesarete mo.” I actually was taught this song by your mother Neji,” she said as Hinata and Neji sat down next to her. She then drew in a deep breath and began to sing;

 

 

“Kage wo tsukuranai hikari wa nai

Kanashii keredo

 

Donna itoshisa ni mitasarete mo

Kurushimi wa aru

 

Tsubasa ga nakutatte hito wa ai shiaeru no

Chiisa na hohoemi sae

Sore wa kiseki da to shinjireba

Arukidaseru

 

Kanashimi ni tamesarete mo

Watashi de ireru anata ga ireba

Tatoe, musubarenai to

Shiru hi ga kite mo sore wa eien

 

Umi wo watatte yuku chou no you na

Tsuyosa hoshii

 

Tatakau koto dake ga tsuyosa naraba

Sore wa kanashii

 

Anata no oku ni aru itami wo iyaseru nara

Subete wo ushinatte mo

Ii to omou no ni yasashisa wa

Mayou bakari

 

Kanashimi ni tamesarete mo

Watashi de ireru anata no soba de

Itsu ka yakusoku no hi ga

Ude wo hirogete otozureru kara”

 

Both children sat on the couch next to the clan matriarch, amazed at Haruna's pristine voice and almost perfect pitch.

 

“Okaa-sama can you sing it again pretty please?” asked Hinata. Haruna only laughed and stroked Hinata's hair, much the same way as Naruto.

 

“I'm sorry Hinata but I'm still out of breath from the first time,” she explained.

 

“Haruna-sama, what was my okaa-san like?” Neji asked, his eyes meeting the HyÅ«ga matriarch's defiantly.

 

She then went on to explain every detail of his mother, but HInata couldn't help but feel sleepy, and the next thing she knew she was lying on the couch by herself.

 

Hinata couldn't help but start to cry again once this memory played out in her mind; despite that this was her most vivid memory. But there was a reason that this memory was so vivid.

 

That night Hyūga Haruna died while giving birth to her second daughter, Hanabi.

 

“Hinata…what's wrong?” frantically whispered Naruto, getting more uncomfortable every second that Hinata cried within his embrace.

 

“I'm ti-tired of this Na-Naruto-kun. I'm ti-tired of crying so much, I just want…I just want things to back to the way they were; before my mother died, before Neji died. Before I became a ninja,” sobbed Hinata as she clutched Naruto even harder.

 

“There's no use living in the past Hinata; it'll only make you more depressed. After all, there's just so much to look forward to in the future, it's just…foolish to think of has already happened,” lightly admonished Naruto as he lessened his grip on the girl's body. “But why aren't you at your cousin's funeral?”

 

“I'm sca-scaredred Naruto-kun…I'm afraid of my fa-family seeing me crying again. I know that not a single o-one of them will be mourning his death; not a single one will c-cry for him,” Hinata confessed as she looked up into Naruto's endless pools of blue.

 

“Don't be afraid to cry HInata. Be afraid to lose the ability to cry; because if you can cry, then at least you know that you're human, right? You know that you have feelings and emotions?” Naruto asked.

 

“Na-Naruto-kun…I ha-have so-something that I want to te-tell you,” Hinata stammered through tears. She then released Naruto completely and stood up, the blond ninja following suit.

 

“Na-Naruto-kun…I…I…I love you!” shouted Hinata. Naruto only smiled in response. But there was something wrong, something off about it. And his eyes seemed to become less effervescent then before.

 

“Hinata…I'm sorry. I'm sorry but I can't return that emotion to you. I can't afford to have love tampering in my life. But…we can still be friends, right?” Naruto responded almost mournfully. His eyes were desperate for some kind of recognition, any kind at all.

 

“Yeah…just friends,” Hinata mumbled as she pushed her two forefingers together.

 

“Thanks Hinata. But I need to say goodbye now,” announced Naruto.

 

“Wait…but…but…but why? Where are you going?” Hinata demanded.

 

“I'm leaving today on a training mission, and I'm not going to be back again for a long time,” Naruto revealed as he turned around to walk to the gates of Konoha.

 

“Goodbye, Hinata.”

----

 

Hanabi could not have been angrier. For the past several hours she had been praying with her family for the passing of her cousin, Neji before she could no longer stand seeing her father crying.

 

Her own father, crying for the death of a young branch member.

 

She simply could not understand her father's actions; he had always treated the Branch House members the same and he had not even batted an eye at any of the other Branch House members' funerals?

 

What was so special about Neji?

 

As she wondered this, she happened to stumble upon a disturbing scene; her sister crying in the arms of that man again, Uzumaki Naruto.

 

She grew enraged at how he seemed to be able to play her sister just like a puppet; making her switch emotions at the flick of a wrist yet not even their father was able to get any emotion out of her anymore.

 

That question popped into her mind again; why him? Why was this Naruto so special to her? He had done nothing but make her sister cry, which was an enigma in itself.

 

Hanabi hated enigmas, especially those involving her dysfunctional family.

 

But what made Hanabi snap was his rejection of her sister. He had calmly rejected her and then left her there, alone in the rain with only a few words between them.

 

“Good bye, Hinata.”

 

Hinata had been able to keep her composure until he had left her range of sight minus the Byakugan. She then sank to her knees and buried her head and her hands and began to sob into them.

 

“Uzumaki Naruto, I will avenge my sister, even if it's the last thing I do,” the HyÅ«ga genin vowed as she clenched her fists in anger.

 

---

 

“Are you sure that this was the right thing to do? Just…leaving her there?”

 

“It was the only option you had. Would you rather her to waste her life away waiting for your return?”

 

“No…but I still feel really bad about doing it.”

 

“Stop living in the past. It just makes your mistakes that much more painful.”

 

“Your one to talk; all you ever do is question your actions that night sixteen years ago.”

 

“That's different.”

 

“Oh really, how so?”

“Do you really want to know, Uzumaki Naruto?”

 

“Fuck yeah I want to know why your mistakes are so much more special then mine.”

 

“Because, Naruto, you are my son. That is why my mistake is so `special.'”

 

Naruto stopped walking at that second, and all that he could hear was the creaking sound of the old, rusting gates of Konoha closing behind him and the high pitched whistles and chirps emanating from the mouths of birds in the forest. But one bird's call caught his attention the most.

 

“Baka. Baka. Baka.”

 

----

 

There's chapter 4; the fourth in eleven days.

 

The last line is a reference to a recurring character in the anime; a bird that calls out baka randomly throughout the show. I don't know if it's in every episode though…

 

Oh yeah, the first song was “Gravity” from Wolf's Rain and the second was “Kanashimi ni Tamesarate mo” from Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X. The lyrics can be found for both on anime lyrics (dot) com.