Chapter 26 – Unexpected Discovery

Sakura healed. Slowly, but she healed. Frankly, she was rather surprised at the amount of visitors and gifts she received, it had never occurred to her that so many people felt that she was important to them. The waking moments at hospital were filled with her friends, narrating the day’s happenings, gossip, laughing, helping her recover.

Naruto brought her plenty of ramen, claiming that his favourite food had ‘therapeutic properties’ even though Sakura choked at the idea. Tsunade half-killed the blonde boy each time he brought some into the hospital – she could no longer stand the smell of it. Having constant contact with the jinchuuriki was already more than she could endure.

Sai had deftly drawn several inked mice for her when she had complained about how boring it was being confined in the hospital. Sakura couldn’t stop laughing when the next nurse that checked her room screamed at the sight of black mice scurrying over the white sheets and up Sakura’s arm. For the first time since Sakura had met him, Sai looked genuinely amused at the scene.

Kakashi occasionally dropped by when he happened to remember his female student, bringing some small, random and useless present with him while offering her silent company, and to a certain extent, intellectual conversation. He let slip that the Kazekage had, rather awkwardly, told Kakashi that he wished Sakura a speedy recovery before he returned to Sunagakure. The pink-haired kunoichi felt considerably warmer towards Gaara after that.

Tenten, Ino, Neji, Shikamaru, Lee and the rest of the Rookie Nine visited often, too, updating her on the goings-on regarding their missions and most of the time, simply annoying her by telling her how much fun they were having outside without her.

Through all that pretense, however, Sakura sensed it. The looming danger, the gnawing fear that was present no matter how much her friends and seniors tried to hide it from her.

War was approaching.

It was the beginning of the end; or the end of the beginning, no one knew for sure. All Konoha could be certain about was that they still had insufficient power to face the combined threat of Akatsuki and Otogakure, not after Orochimaru’s invasion five years ago, and the shinobi wars before that. Even with the Sand’s help. And Danzou, stubbornly refusing to disclose any details regarding his partnership with Deidara and Seijin while point-blank denying having any connections to the attack on the returning team, wasn’t much help.

Sai secretly visited the haughty man in prison, coaxing him to talk by pretending that he was still supporting Danzou. What Danzou revealed to him, he told only the Hokage, and no one else.

But life went on. The funny thing about humans is that no matter what is thrown at them, no matter how hard they have fallen, they will keep on going. Living, fighting. Never giving up.

So two weeks later, Sakura was allowed to be discharged from hospital. Before she left, the pink-haired kunoichi had a long talk with her mentor, about an issue she had spent long hours debating during her hospital confinement.

Tsunade, however, had been hesitant and highly reluctant to do as Sakura requested.

“Sakura, are you sure? It’s a bloodline limit, and once it’s sealed, there’s no going back… it’s not a wise decision, especially now, since you are already the last Haruno in existence,”

“I only want to seal off my wind and lightning chakra elements, shishou…”

“But still…”

“I can’t handle this much, shishou! First the Nanabi, and then a bloodline limit?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? And the Nanabi… it’s going to be sealed off later, isn’t it?” Tsunade tried to convince Sakura to reverse her decision.

“’Later’ can be never,” Sakura said softly. “And once the Bijuu is extracted… I die, don’t I?”

That fact had never been confirmed by the Nanabi itself, but Sakura knew that it was most probably true. This task required sacrifice… right?

“I’ve had enough, Tsunade-sama… being able to surpass others may be my goal, but too much of it is something I can’t bear…” she finished quietly.

So Tsunade had complied. A three-hour long ritual with Shizune’s help, sealing off two of her bloodline limit abilities. Two circles of black runes surrounded the Haruno crest on her arm, sealing off her automatic wind and lightning chakra controlling abilities.

Naruto had gone ballistic when he found out what she’d done, but she didn’t regret it. Somehow, Sakura felt lighter. She couldn’t be sure what would come next in this bizarre turn of her life, but she was pretty sure that whatever it was going to be, she would be able to handle it.

N

Sasuke had allowed himself to be confined in prison after Sakura regained her consciousness. Naruto visited everyday after seeing Sakura, and left Sasuke with a huge headache each time. The Uchiha had nearly forgotten the one thing Naruto could beat all females flat at.

Talking.

Kami-sama, that blonde idiot never stopped. First it was about Sakura, then the Jounin exams due in a month, then Hinata. Oh, and ramen. Sasuke was entirely, utterly, grossly sick of ramen. Beef ramen, miso ramen, teppanyaki ramen and whatever else there was to that list. If the Uchiha caught sight of another bowl of ramen, he was going to throw up.

And he would make sure that he threw up in Naruto’s face.

“Hey, Sasuke-kun, what’s with that idiotic smile plastered across your face?” a laughing voice sounded. Sakura’s pink head popped up at the bars, grinning.

Sasuke jolted visibly and quickly rearranged his features. He’d actually been smiling while thinking about throwing up on Naruto.

“You’re out of hospital,” the Uchiha deadpanned a statement as Sakura let herself in with a set of keys the prison warden had given to her discreetly. She felt kind of bad about what she was going to do, but that feeling was mixed with the giddy elation of breaking rules, something she rarely did.

“Yes, and it would take a real genius to figure that out,” Sakura rolled her eyes, shutting the door behind her. “Why do I always get stuck with the intellectuals?”

“You define the dobe as an intellectual?” Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Sakura had to laugh. “Well, no,” she admitted. “But you and Kakashi-sensei always have that maddening air of ‘intellectual superiority’ about you…”

The Uchiha let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. “As if you, Haruno Sakura, with all that brain, don’t act ‘maddeningly superior’ like the rest of us,”

“Do I hear a hidden compliment from the egomaniacal ass of all time?” Sakura teased with a straight face.

“I place more value on myself to let myself be compared to a donkey, Haruno, thank you very much,”

“You’re welcome,” Sakura smirked.

Sasuke would’ve stuck out his tongue at her right then if he hadn’t had an image to maintain. He resorted to glaring.

Silence reigned for a few moments, and then Sasuke spoke flatly.

“So why are you here?”

The cherry blossom held a food container aloft, grinning.

“Just wanted to see my teammate… and I heard Naruto’s been visiting… which means ramen. Lots of it.”

“Don’t remind me,” Sasuke groaned uncharacteristically.

“Hey, you weren’t the only one on ramen therapy, okay? I had to endure two weeks, so quit complaining,” Sakura thrust the box at him.

The Uchiha took it hesitantly, and saw a delicious looking array of sushi through the transparent lid. He suddenly felt extremely hungry, prison grub wasn’t the best food in the world. Oddly, guilt was mixed with his hunger.

“Sakura,”

“Aa?” the kunoichi asked absently, looking out through the small, barred window.

“Sorry,” he didn’t say exactly what he was sorry for, but she understood, and smiled.

“Yeah,”

N

“Come on,” Sakura suddenly stood, holding out a hand to the raven-haired shinobi. “I’m taking you somewhere,”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “You do understand the term ‘being in prison’, don’t you?” he asked flatly after a long moment. “Besides, this cell neutralizes chakra,”

“Hey, I helped modify this prison. The chakra-nullifying jutsu was my idea, and it picks up your chakra signature and neutralizes your chakra, not mine,” Sakura was already performing some complicated handseals, casting him a sidelong glance. “And yes, I do understand the term ‘being in prison’, so I’m breaking a few rules here… do you have a problem with that?”

“Sneaking a prisoner out of prison… that sounds more like you’re bypassing every last rule in the rule book instead of just ‘breaking a few rules’,” Sasuke deadpanned.

“Aw, shut up,”

Two of Sakura’s bunshins appeared, and one of them performed Henge no Jutsu, switching appearances to look like Sasuke.

“Are our prison wardens really that stupid?” the Uchiha questioned skeptically. He was, after all, a high-risk inmate, a fact which he reminded his teammate of.

“The warden is my friend, and to put it nicely, he’s agreed to look the other way for awhile. I think he doubts you’ll escape while under my supervision,” Sakura smirked, sounding like she smuggled prisoners out every other day.

“What am I, a child in need of a babysitter?” Sasuke grumbled under his breath.

“Do you really want to know? The answer’s ‘yes’,” Sakura retorted, grabbing his arm firmly. “Hold tight,”

“Are you sure about that?” Sasuke smirked, making a move to grab her waist. Sakura slammed his hand away with maddening accuracy, right on his knuckles, and the Uchiha tried to hide his grimace of pain.

“Flirtatious showoff,” Sakura rolled her eyes.

She grabbed his hand and transported them out.

N

Both shinobis fell heavily on a patch of grass, Sakura landing right on top of the Uchiha. That was tricky, transporting two people had been a lot harder than she had thought it would be…

“Get your arm off, Uchiha, I can’t breathe,” the cherry blossom pried his arm off her stomach, where it had whacked across her abdomen accidentally-on-purpose when they had landed, probably a payback for Sakura’s previous hit. She stood up and dusted herself.

“A lot of girls would have died to be you a few moments ago,” Sasuke observed with a maddening air of nonchalance as he, too, stood.

“Which is why I didn’t transport us into the middle of the marketplace, I would have been murdered by now,” Sakura shot back. “And unfortunately for you, I’m not from that majority of idiots,” she deadpanned. “And don’t you dare start on my genin days, Sasuke, or I swear this fist will punch you to another dimension,”

Sasuke smirked inwardly. ‘She sure is feisty,’

They were approaching a grassy place, fenced all around. The scene seemed only vaguely familiar to the onyx-eyed boy – until he spotted that emblem. A red-and-white uchiwa (1) fan, engraved onto every tombstone that was arranged neatly, in rows.

The Uchiha cemetery.

Sasuke was struck dumb. Sakura held back, observing him carefully, every twitch in his facial expression. It struck her that he suddenly looked very much like his younger self, perhaps at age seven. Worry, fear etched into a childish face with a furrowed brow. His steps were quick and hurried as his feet automatically carried him forward, along the route he probably knew by heart. Somehow, Sakura felt a pang. The rare show of emotion from Sasuke – now – it made her heart twist. He looked so agonized. Desperate, even.

He passed all the other dull, gray stones without a second glance, heading towards the two graves that mattered the most to him. The cherry blossom followed closely behind, silent, feeling as if she shouldn’t be here, she shouldn’t be seeing this side of him. The side that always remained hidden behind his arrogance and determination to reach his goals.

The Uchiha fell to his knees before two ornately built gravestones, bowing down low until his forehead touched the grassy ground. Sakura could’ve sworn that she had seen glistening crystal tears, trickling down the grass. She wanted so badly to hold him, comfort him, but she could not. This was not her sorrow. She was simply the narrator, the passer-by. She would never recall this moment in front of Sasuke; she knew that because he didn’t like to appear weak. The only thing she could do for him was to keep this secret.

Sasuke himself was lost in his own world, staring at the grass before his parents’ graves through eyes blurred with tears.

Uchiha Fugaku. Uchiha Mikoto. Parents, killed by their own son.

He stayed in that position for a long while, his tears running dry. When he lifted his head, he saw the fresh flowers placed there. Simple, white flowers, lilies-of-the-valley. He somehow remembered that his mother used to plant them.

Sakura suddenly found her voice. “I used to come here… after I visited my parents’ graves,” she said quietly, almost meekly, as if wondering if it was her place to speak. “I snuck into the Uchiha estate and found those flowers growing wild in the compound… so I always gathered those flowers for them, and I kept telling them… that one day, you’d come home,”

She was apprehensive, afraid of being reprimanded.

But Sasuke couldn’t speak, he felt like thanking her but he couldn’t find the words. He remembered… sitting in front of his parents’ graves. Every day. After they died. Crying…

Those tears had dried now. A memory long gone, long past. Then-

He suddenly looked up at Sakura, and both understood simultaneously. There was someone else, apart from them. Hiding in the graveyard. There had been no attempt to hide the intruder’s chakra presence, it was strong but not very familiar.

Taking charge rather instinctively, Sasuke stood and spoke in a even, commanding tone.

“Come out.”

An order, not a request.

He barely dodged a sudden stream of icy sharp daggers, gliding through the air like silent ghosts, barely visible, as he pulled Sakura down along with him. A figure strode out rather confidently from behind a tombstone, and as he stepped into view, his face finally visible, both shinobis nearly jumped out of their skins, shock etched into their faces. Sakura was the first the speak, a bare whisper escaping her lips.

“Haku…?”

N

The tall, once fair-skinned boy stood before them, the gentler, softer features that they remembered had given away to a slightly hardened look. His pale face had grown more angular and a little longer, while his long, jet-black hair was tied up in a high ponytail.

So different. But it was Haku, nonetheless.

His hitai-ate was gone.

The two Konoha shinobis stared at him for a long moment, in utter shock, before regaining their senses. The young man before them remained as passive as ever, watching them carefully. It was impossible to read what he was thinking.

“I thought… you were dead…” Sakura could barely manage a whisper, but that whisper somehow carried across the distance between them and Haku. Her body tensed, while Sasuke was poised to deflect any attacks – Haku’s last Ice Mirror jutsu on him was far from forgotten.

“Dead?” Haku looked trapped somewhere between amused and confused for a moment. “Since when?” Then he smiled almost maniacally, raising both hands, palms open and facing outwards.

The next thing both Sasuke and Sakura knew was a sharp, crackling sound, as if ice was being broken into pieces. Shinobi instincts kicking into action, both dodged swiftly, diving down and rolling to a side.

“Since five years ago?” Sasuke hissed an incredulous yet sarcastic answer to Haku’s former question, deflecting icy daggers with a long sword that Sakura had flung to him out of nowhere. He was already missing the familiarity of his own sword.

Sakura was performing a quick Katon jutsu, sending small fireballs hurtling towards the Mist shinobi while melting the ice daggers effectively. He’d almost forgotten her kekkai genkai.

“Sakura, distract him. I’ll attack from the rear,” Sasuke dodged another ice dagger expertly, conveying instructions to the pink-haired kunoichi with relative calmness.

“Are you out of your mind? What am I supposed to do, punch the ground?” Sakura shot back scathingly, doing a backflip to avoid a particularly large dagger of ice. “This is a cemetery, in case you’ve forgotten, you idiot!”

Sasuke paused for a moment, feeling rather stupid.

She was right.

“Why don’t you use Katon and I disable him? Knowing you, ‘attacking’ him probably translates into ‘mauling the guy into bloody pulp before killing him’,” Sakura cast him a sidelong glance.

Without waiting for his reply, she sprinted forward nimbly, disappearing suddenly. Haku’s jet black eyes widened for a split second, but he was swiftly and successfully distracted by Sasuke’s fireball jutsu, creating a solid ice mirror barrier before him to deflect the attack.

The Uchiha quickly dodged the fireballs that came whirling back, and executed a few more combinations of Katon jutsus in quick succession, all the while watching Sakura’s stealthy movements pacing behind Haku, searching for an opening.

The Hidden Mist ninja sensed a sudden presence behind him and moved to defend himself – a glassy sheet of ice sprung up between them almost instantly. But he knew nothing of the kunoichi’s strength.

Seconds later, the ice lay in shards, scattered on the ground, while the side of Sakura’s hand reached out and hit the base of Haku’s neck with a well-practiced, controlled amount of force. She would have broken his neck with any extra force.

“He’s gotten rusty…” Sasuke spoke nonchalantly as he strode over, surveying Haku’s still form with a certain air of distaste. “Different from when we fought him back then,”

“You and Naruto,” Sakura corrected his definition of ‘we’, still looking slightly dazed. “I did nothing… but I have this funny feeling that I’ve just fought a ghost,”

“He survived Chidori,” Sasuke said quietly, kneeling and examining Haku. There was a circle-shaped scar on his chest, where his heart ought to be. “And it was Kakashi’s. There’s no way he would have missed, so how…?”

“I have a theory…” Sakura trailed off, but shook her head, as if deciding not to say anything yet. “I better get him to Tsunade-sama… she’ll have to question him,”

Both were silent for a long while, various thoughts floating through their minds. Neither spoke. Sasuke glanced around and inwardly heaved a sigh of relief – it was lucky that their fight hadn’t disturbed anything.

“Do you… want to stay here for awhile more?” Sakura asked quietly, observing him looking wistfully at his parent’s tombstones. He seemed to make a decision.

“No. I’ll be fine,”

He didn’t know why he had to tell her he’d be okay, perhaps it was to reassure himself as much as to reassure her.

“You sure?”

“I’ll come again when I’m out of prison,” Sasuke forced himself to turn away from his parents’ graves.

Sakura seemed to fidget at his words.

“Sasuke… do you think you’ll ever… get out?”

“I’m already out, aren’t I?” the raven-haired boy questioned dryly, casting her a sidelong glance. “Those old hags can’t charge me with anything,”

The cherry blossom still looked unsure, her eyes cast towards the distant horizon, not looking at him.

“Jounin exams, Sakura,” Sasuke said suddenly.

“Aa?” she looked surprised.

“You said we’d go together, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“We are going,” he glanced upwards at the clear sky. “Together.”

Sakura looked stunned for a moment, before a slight smile spread across her face.

“Is that a promise?”

He nodded briefly, and the kunoichi took that for a ‘yes’.

Suddenly grinning, Sakura created a kage bunshin and picked Haku’s limp form up, slinging him over her shoulder. The pink-haired kunoichi winced slightly – she wasn’t up to maximum recovery yet – before straightening herself.

“My bunshin can transport you back…” she told him. “C’mon,”

Sasuke’s onyx eyes met hers for a moment, and held the contact. Not moving, not speaking. He was surprised to find that just doing nothing like that… it was almost comforting.

Sakura smiled again before turning and striding off, leaving her bunshin next to him.

“Remember your promise, Uchiha,”

N

“Hinata-sama! Move faster!”

The two Hyuugas were a blur of motion as they fought and retaliated, moving ever so swiftly upon the smooth, polished floorboards of the Hyuuga household dojo.

Hinata spun around, shoving her elbow upwards, aiming for Neji’s abdomen. The prodigy easily dodged and delivered a kick at her feet. She leaped up, her fist snaking to the back before punching her cousin rather hard in the shoulder, sending him reeling backwards.

Neji skidded across the floor, bending forwards with his fingertips brushing the floor to regain his balance. Not even pausing, he somersaulted forward, spinning around with a roundhouse kick, with an attempted block from Hinata using her arm. Yet she fell heavily, panting to regain her breath.

In several moments, she was on her feet again. She was progressing rather well, her stamina was building steadily – as Neji noted with a slight swell of pride.

“Good. Shall I go all out?” he cocked his head to one side.

“As long as you don’t destroy the dojo, nii-san,” Hinata said quietly with a smile that could barely be glimpsed.

“Hn. I doubt you can push me that far,”

The Hyuuga heir knew that her cousin was prodding her, challenging her to show some competitive spirit, to surpass him.

Well… that would never happen, but she could at least try, ne?

“Then don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the younger girl teased subtly, twisting around to deliver a blow.

N

Hiashi was watching them. Through the slightly ajar door leading into the dojo, he could see the cousins perfectly. His original purpose in coming to the dojo was to summon the duo for a meeting, but he had ended up standing there for a full ten minutes, just watching.

He didn’t know why he hadn’t just sent a servant to call them… but when he had heard that they were in the dojo, something had compelled him to go personally. He wanted to see something that his daughter could do. Anything.

Truth to be told, Hiashi had missed a lot of Hinata’s life. She was supposed to be his daughter, his heir, but he had given up on trying to teach her because she had been so slow to learn, so lacked the talent that governed and commanded respect in the Hyuuga household.

He regretted that. Instead of him, it had been Hinata’s friends who gave her confidence, teachers whom had taught her all she knew. Never him, her father.

He had never been a part of her life.

There was so much in Hinata that he had failed to see, beyond that shy, stuttering exterior. Why had he never noticed? Was it because of his high expectations that made her so afraid to show what she could do?

“Hinata-sama, I suppose you, too, have noticed?” Neji halted her next attack, glancing towards the door.

The opaque-eyed kunoichi nodded quietly. Both turning to face the door, they acknowledged Hiashi’s presence with the customary, respectful bow.

“Chichioya,”

“Hiashi-sama,”

The stately clan leader nodded in response, pushing open the door fully after removing his shoes, stepping inside. The polished wooden floor felt pleasant to walk on, Hiashi mused absently as he walked towards them. Since when had he begun to notice such details?

An awkward silence hung in the air, none of the three knew what to say.

Neji was quickly contemplating something in his mind – something that might help Hinata with her father.

“Hiashi-sama,” Neji suddenly spoke. The Hyuuga clan leader glanced at him, rather surprised. “Please – allow your daughter to demonstrate something,”

Hinata, who had given in to her old habit of staring at the ground and fidgeting once in the presence of her father, looked up quickly, her eyes wide.

“What…?”

The Hyuuga prodigy whispered it to her. She looked mortified, then started shaking her head slowly, silently pleading with him not to make her do it. That was until Neji gave her a look – the look that Hinata knew meant that his word, whatever her opinion, was final.

The girl swallowed, then gave in reluctantly, quietly motioning the way out of the dojo.

N

Hiashi felt rather curious as he stood at the edge of the open-air training grounds belonging exclusively to the Hyuuga clan, situated right next to the Hyuuga estate. He observed his daughter walk to the center. He suddenly noted that she walked steadily, with her head held high – somewhat different from before.

“You will attack those two dummies,” Neji instructed, his voice carrying across the vast training grounds as he pointed to two straw dummies. “I want to see every hit, you understand?”

“Hinata nodded nervously, bracing herself.

“Now!” her cousin gave the command. Hinata paused for a moment, then pushed herself forward.

“Fuyu Dansu: Kaiten-Jyuken Ketsugo!” (2)

Immediately a whirling sphere of chakra rose around the girl, and just a Neji had done before, Hiashi took a few tentative steps forward, hardly believing his eyes.

The sphere was spinning – but why wasn’t she?

It was the secret of Kaiten, passed down for generations, where a Hyuuga could emit chakra from all parts of their body and spin around so fast that the chakra formed a sphere. So why could Hinata stand so simply, yet have a Kaiten sphere that spun just as fast as his own would?

“Hinata-sama used the concept of a thinner wall for the Kaiten sphere, and used the characteristics of her wind element chakra to deal with the spinning,” Neji explained, seeing Hiashi’s bewildered expression. “So since chakra itself can spin faster than humans, her shield is almost solid – and it utilizes minimal chakra,”

Hiashi was speechless, his face blank.

“Did you… teach her this?” he asked.

“No,” Neji replied, feeling somewhat what satisfied.

Hinata sprinted towards the two dummies, and struck, full force, imagining them to be Deidara and Seijin. It was really much easier that way, she mused.

‘Two – four – eight – sixteen – thirty-two…’ she moved with increasing agility as she aimed to hit the two dummies simultaneously.

“Sixty-Four!” the Hyuuga heir skidded to a halt, bracing herself while panting heavily, fighting to regain her breath. The straw dummies fell apart limply, the visible result of Hinata’s ferocious attack.

The entire training ground was silent. Servants and family members alike, who had gathered there out of curiosity about the commotion, were frozen in shock after realizing just who had done that much damage in what seemed like less than a minute.

“The shy, stuttering Hinata-sama – “

“Can’t be!”

“Did you see her – “

“How did she – “

Frantic whispers echoed all around as the crowd watched Neji and Hiashi step towards the Hyuuga heir, who straightened and looked straight at her father, feeling anxious while trying to make out his expression.

The Hyuuga clan leader stopped, right in front of his daughter. He raised his voice to allow himself to be heard clearly, speaking to the onlookers.

“Please leave us alone for a moment,”

Everyone hurriedly shuffled out amidst whispers. Neji turned to leave as well, but Hiashi halted him.

“Neji – dine at the main house tonight, at seven. We will be having a meeting shortly after.”

“Hai.” The boy bowed slightly, before walking away. Hinata could’ve sworn he had given her a grin before he left, wishing her luck.

They were alone now. Father and daughter. There was silence between them, it wasn’t uncomfortable but it still felt awkward. Extremely awkward.

“Hinata…” Hiashi looked rather hesitant. His arms were raised a fraction, as if he wanted to hug her but couldn’t. Finally, he let them fall limply to his sides, giving up on his attempt. Instead, he spoke.

“I’m – proud of you,”

His daughter looked startled for a moment, then broke into a smile. Their father-daughter relationship had been barely existent for seventeen years, held back by a father’s short-sightedness and clan protocols.

Perhaps it wasn’t too late to try, at least. It wasn’t much, but saying those words… it was a start.

Hinata seemed torn between laughing and crying as she stepped forward and hugged her father, feeling his arms awkwardly hugging her loosely as his expression switched from surprise to a very slight smile.

He had never known what it felt like to be hugged by his daughter, strict clan protocols regarding shows of affection had bred him into a rather stiff person. But he was surprised to find that it was pleasantly nice.

Hinata conveyed all that had remained unspoken for seventeen years through all her father’s neglect, her quiet love and admiration for her father, her yearning to make him happy, make him proud.

She was safe with him. As she continued to experience the pleasant warmth that welled up within her, she felt somewhat thankful, grateful… and loved.