#ch.8

Hinata presses her lips together, she keeps on releasing chakra points. “I did.” She doesn’t look away, and decidedly doesn’t look to the plate she knows is half-full near her. Her appetite is almost non-existent now, but out of fear of people worrying over her she hasn’t shared her situation. It seems her time’s up. 

Minato stares at his son’s face. They have talked about Lady Hinata, him and Shikamaru, Sakura, even Kiba and Sai. Out of respect and worry they have let her do as she wanted, but surely there is a limit to this, too.

“You look like you’ll faint any minute now,” he shares, without a hint of accusation in his voice. 

She doesn’t respond, Minato knows this will be received with opposition so he looks to his son for strength. “I will have to ask you to stop using your technique on Naruto until you regain your strength.”

Hinata stops mid-movement, feels too shocked to look up. “W-what?”

“You look like you’ll fall over any minute now, it is not healthy.”

Hinata sits on her heels, brings her hand to her thighs and looks up after releasing her technique. She feels hurt, betrayed. She’s helping.

She’s helping… right?

“N-naruto-”

“Would agree with me and you know it.” Minato doesn’t look at her, his eyes are glued to his son, “when has he ever wanted to put you under distress?” 

Hinata opens her mouth to answer back, say something and fight for her right to help her husband in any way she can. But her lower lip trembles, “I-” she shudders. 

“I know,” Minato says, stronger this time, “that you are doing this to help.” He looks in her direction, but doesn’t look at her, “but… don’t put yourself under… this amount of stress. I know you’re worried, Lady Hinata, but-”

“It’s b-been s-six days…”

Minato nods, slow, lazy, because he doesn’t want to agree. “I’m not saying you can’t do it, all I’m saying is take care of yourself first and then-”

“Does this… does t-this help?” 

Minato takes a moment to choose his words, because Lady Hinata is so obviously under stress that he wants to-

“At all?” she adds.

“Yes,” he answers immediately and then regrets it the second after. “It helps in the long run, yes, but now… now it’s just his body making sense of the mess I left inside of him.” He doesn’t want to even mention the idea that by releasing the chakra points inside of him it might cause Naruto’s body to have a harder time to acclimate to the swirl of chakras inside. He wonders, but he hasn’t shared that with anyone but Shikamaru. They don’t know though. They don’t know so they don’t say anything.

Hinata nods to herself. Thank the gods. At least… something. 

The days have come and gone and come and gone and she just wants this to be over. The hope she started with, that Naruto would wake the next day, and then the next day, and then… her hope is dwindling and she's scared and yet she doesn't say much because if she speaks it aloud then she's making it real. 

And she can't handle that. 

"What a-about Naruto's g-godfather?" 

"He's coming."

Hinata frowns, he's been coming for a while now. "W-when will he-"

"A month if he's fast, if everything goes according to plan."

Minato can feel Lady Hinata tensing, without looking at her, without being close to her. He knows. She's imagining herself waiting for that long of a time… he understands.

"Lady Mito…" Hinata says in a daze, her brain is just trying to find a solution to this whole ordeal, desperate to find an end to all of this. "She s-said she could t-take the Be-"

"It's too dangerous." Minato shakes his head. Gods, he has gone through this with Mito enough already, she shouldn't have said any of this to the lady. Especially now.

Lady Hinata bites her lips in an attempt to stop herself from speaking, but even Minato can see that his answer is far from ideal. "She shouldn't- she shouldn't have talked to you about that."

"I-if it could h-help…"

"Lady Hinata… Mito, she- this whole scenario is so uncertain and its cons surpass the pros so heavily that the clan has decided not to go for it. It is not worth it." 

His wording is awful, he realizes, the moment Lady Hinata's face hardens and she looks down. So Minato keeps on talking. 

"There is a chance, just a chance, this could work. But then what? Sealing the Beast inside Naruto again would kill him and we don't know whether Mito would make it until a new vessel is born. And if it doesn't? There is a chance it doesn't work, too, and then Mito dies and Naruto dies because his body won't be able to take the Beast again, and there is no new vessel and we have the Nine-Tail Beast roaming around, without a chance of controlling it." His breathing is labored and his voice has risen in volume and Minato hates the thoughts that now swirl inside of his head. "And… that doesn't even matter because Naruto won't accept her offer anyways."

Hinata bites down the need to say that now Naruto can't say whether he accepts the offer or not, because Lord Minato's reaction is enough to tell her that they have talked about this before. And Naruto has surely made his decision clear before. 

Hinata begins to think that maybe she somewhat understands Lord Minato's resignation back when they came back from the arena. A conclusion to the many emotions that flow within when facing this situation. So little can be done that resignation is all that's left. 

Hinata looks at Naruto, who sleeps peacefully, and caresses his blonde hair. "Will he d-die when they take the B-Beast from him then?" 

"No," Minato brings his head up, lets it fall back, "I mean, now. If we took the Beast now, or say, five years from now, he would have a healthy although shortened life. But it just… don’t think too much about it, please, Naruto won’t do it and,” he breathes out, remembers the many discussions late into the night with his son. The hushed whispers, the pleas. “It is dangerous for him, he won’t be able to go through with another full sealing of the Beast.”

Hinata thinks of Lady Mito, of her statements, and then about the information Naruto has shared with her regarding him as a Beast Tamer, “because he’s a m-man?”

“No.” Minato concentrates on a frayed thread on his clothes, “his lifespan is shorter when compared to a female vessel, yes, but whichever case, no vessel has ever been able to withstand sealing the Nine-Tails twice.”

“But L-Lady Mito-”

“She’s a special case,” Minato sighs, “she… her husband was a genius and he basically restored the energy she had spent sealing the Nine-Tails.”

Hinata frowns and stares and her mind is trying to process this information. “You c-can?”

“Not us, not anybody that has tried it, either. Not me, not my master, no one. We have the knowledge, we just can’t put it into practice, and I will say it now, do not hope for that to work. Mito’s husband was in a league of his own.” Minato knows, holding those parchments where the technique was written down, with careful annotations to whoever would read it in the future. It looked like a gift. It’s a mockery. “Mito married Hashirama Senju, Lady Hinata.”

Hinata can’t help the shock on her face. The strongest man the current world had seen, the man that stopped the war between clans fighting over the Beasts. The man that handled the Nine-Tails without having to use a vessel.

"I didn't-"

"It is not a secret, but it's not something that's easily found either. He… he had a gift with chakra manipulation and his techniques… he just could do it, and he did it. And even with that, undergoing the sealing of the Nine-Tails again could kill her. It's just not worth it."

"You… said, you had t-the technique w-written down…"

"Believe me, Lady Hinata," Minato feels he could laugh out loud at this, "we have tried everything to see if we could use it. It didn't. It won't. Please… just do not think about it as a possibility."

They remain in silence then, and Hinata drags her fingers over Naruto’s cheek. A caress. 

"We have to k-keep treating Naruto with the H-Hyuga t-technique."

"My lady-"

"It doesn't h-have to be me. Neji… he's still a-around, is he not?"

⁂⁂⁂

Neji follows a man called Sai to a room deep into the compound. Close to the one where Lady Hinata rested back when he was escorting her. 

She waits for him with her back straight, her eyes fixed to the floor. 

"Lady Hinata," Neji greets.

"Plase t-take a seat."

There are few explanations and even fewer glances from her. She explains that he will have to keep close to her, as all he sees from now on is confidential. He nods and keeps quiet, and Lady Hinata says everything she had to say. 

"Have you… h-have you been w-well?"

Neji can't help the smile that tries to creep up on him. "Yes, Lady Hinata. I was able to find work in the outer compounds, I have been able to live without worry while I was away." 

Hinata keeps her face blank, but the tone in her voice, the way she has to force her eyes to keep away from him. He's glad. 

The sliding door opens and Sai enters, a letter in his hands. Neji frowns and even Hinata shows signs of surprise. 

"A servant came to give this to you, my lady, it's addressed directly."

Hinata cocks her head in confusion. She has never received a letter while she was inside the Uzumaki compound. She doesn't remember ever receiving a letter while she was in the Hyuga compound either. 

Neji half stands, one knee on the floor. "My lady."

Sai gives him a glance, but doesn't do more. 

Hinata takes the letter in her hands and Neji catches the seal on the letter. He stands, "My lady," and Sai grabs him by the collar. 

“I would advise you to keep seated.”

But Neji can’t keep his eyes from the letter. “My lady,” he struggles, but Sai doesn’t move, “my lady if you would please hand me the letter.”

Hinata frowns and looks at Neji with growing frustration, “It is a-addressed to m-me.” 

“Yes, but,” Neji places his hands in Sai’s shoulders, in an attempt to let him know he means no harm, that he is not a threat, “then, if you could hand it to Lord Minato, to Lord Shikamaru, even, just- please-”

Hinata can’t explain the growing need inside of her to go against whatever Neji has asked her to do. A mixture of late rebellion and the need for something to just go how she wants it to go without worrying about anything else. She opens the letter in between Neji’s pleas, “Sai,” and now she has more questions than ever, “let N-Neji go.”

Sai lets Neji free but the man stands there, watching as Hinata moves her eyes across the message, realizing who sent it and why. Neji can only think of how much this rests on Lord Minato’s and Lord Shikamaru’s shoulders, they ought to have done a better job. 

Hinata stares at the letter, looks at it from top to bottom, turns the page and plays with the seal, “What… what d-does this m-mean?”

Neji sits on the floor again, “I think you should talk with Lord Minato first, Lady Hinata.” 

“Well, I’m a-asking y-you.”

Neji remains silent and Hinata doesn’t know what comes over her again, but there is so much anger inside of her, and the letter in between her hands makes her so confused she knows if she doesn’t get an answer now... “It’s- it’s an o-order.”

Both Neji and Sai steal a glance at her, but then Sai stares back at him and Neji tries his best to concoct some sort satisfactory explanation regarding-

“N-now.”

It takes Neji two seconds to remember where it all started, “Lord Naruto received a letter from Lord Hiashi and he asked for my help.”

There, enough of an explanation. 

“Did you… did you c-copy my handwriting?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Lord Naruto requested my help.”

“...why?”

“He… he did not want for you to feel burdened.”

Hinata could ask again what he meant by that, but it’s obvious. As she read the letter, as she heard Neji answering her questions. Her father wanted to know information regarding the Uzumaki clan, information regarding her relationship with Naruto, information regarding how soon she thought she could bear an heir.

What was strange was her father letting her go without a word. She didn’t… she didn’t think twice about it, on the one hand it made sense, he had never cared too much about his daughters, so Hinata had thought he would ask a favor of her years from now, but… of course he wouldn’t, and yet she didn’t care. She had felt glad he had cut communication with her. 

He hadn’t.

But because Naruto saw her relationship with her father he had kept her away from it. 

“Sai… please g-guide Neji to his r-room.”

The men leave and Hinata reads the letter again, folds it and puts it in its envelope. She walks to the room where Naruto is immediately after.

⁂⁂⁂

    Lord Minato accepts the letter without a word and when Hinata asks him about it he answers without doubt.

    “Naruto… He didn’t want you to keep in contact with your father if it wasn’t good for you, so he called for Neji, asked some questions and then decided that all letters from your father would go through him first. I guess… this whole ordeal has made keeping track of things more difficult and without Naruto overseeing things...”

    “I understand.” 

    Lord Minato puts the letter away. “If the letters were different than what they were he would have given them to you directly, ask for forgiveness… it just…”

They were never letters in which he cared for her, Hinata realizes. She nods.

“Will you answer the letters from now on?”

    “No… let’s have N-Neji keep a-answering them.”

    Hinata can feel Lord Minato’s eyes on her, “I am sorry we kept this from you.”

    “No… I really u-understand.”

    “Naruto, he…”

    “Please,” Hinata closes her eyes. She knows. She knows. 

    Lord Minato keeps quiet until Neji arrives, Sai in tow. 

    Naruto lies on his futon and Hinata rises to move away from him, leaving a space for Neji to kneel beside him. “Y-you already know h-how to do this, s-so…”

    Neji gives Lord Minato a bow before kneeling. Lord Naruto looks leaner than before, and Neji feels somewhat distraught at seeing him so defenseless. A man who seemed to be able to move mountains, now unable to wake up. 

    Leaving Lady Hinata behind. 

    Neji activates his technique, chakra veins popping around his eyes and then he stops immediately, whips his head around to stare at Lady Hinata, who looks at him back filled with confusion.

    “N-Neji?”

    Neji turns back, concentrates his technique on Lady Hinata’s body, then does a search around them, the room, the building, the gardens, the whole inner compound. Right now, in the room, there is only him, Lord Minato, Lady Hinata and Sai guarding outside. Whatever he says won’t be heard by anyone else. And yet when he turns -his technique released- he whispers.