197I'm so glad so many are enjoying this story with me! I'm a big geek that likes to reread my own writing : P I'm just glad all this effort isn't only for my own amusement and that others are having fun, too. I've been updating a lot because of everyone's encouragement and because I'm indulging in the story—it feels like I'm hooked on an anime writing this thing : D Also, I know how frustrating it is to invest in a Fanfic only to wait forever for an update or, worse, for the author to abandon the story. Fear not: D I shall finish! Yakusoku (promise)!
FYI: Japanese terms at the end of this doc because they're kind of spoilers if you read them first.
Awakenings 9
Mamoru…ka?
Kyubi turned over this new concept in its consciousness and the actions of the previous night.
Why?
"Because I want to."
Why?
"Because I have people I care about."
Why?
"Because I want to."
Why?
"Because I want to."
Naruto stood in front of the large, rusted gates in ankle high water that rippled around his feet. On the gates of long, thick metallic bars was a piece of paper with markings on it, a seal that held the cage closed and kept the Kyubi locked inside the recesses of his body and mind.
Why not destroy?
"I don't want to."
As always, Kyubi tested his will, but most of all it questioned with curiosity, mulling over his answers with a furrowed brow. The life of a human child was more complicated than it could have ever imagined. Kyubi had watched this boy grow from a young sapling to the youth he was today. Throughout his life, he had tempted this boy with power, offered to destroy those who opposed him and torture those who caused him pain. All Naruto had to do was say yes, but he never did. When children threw rocks and dirt at him, he had refused. When he was abandoned by the adults of his village, cast aside with cold looks and cruel whispers, he had refused. When he cried alone and forlorn, he had refused. Only the Kyubi himself truly knew that Naruto's will has served as another seal holding Kyubi back from laying Konoha to waste.
Naruto had made use of Kyubi's chakra to protect before, to win battles, even in the fight to bring his best friend back to Konoha. The demon had always sat by, watching the actions of this human boy from a distance. This was the first time, however, that the boy's will had impacted Kyubi's own consciousness. The incredible intensity of the emotions Naruto drowned in as he thought of the horrors Hinata could be experiencing also reached the Kyubi demon inside him, and for the first time in its destructive existence, it glimpsed from a first hand experience what it was like to want so desperately to protect someone other than itself. This passionate will to protect, the incomprehensible look he had seen in the eyes of that detested 4th Hokage who had sealed him into the weak, frail body of a human child, was confusing, alien, and deep—all of which made it all the more intriguing for Kyubi, like a new, groundbreaking musical sound falling upon ears that had listened wearily to the drone of the same melody for thousands of years.
Why? Kyubi asked again, hoping to get a different answer.
"Because I want to," came Naruto's unwavering answer again.
The Kyubi turned over in its prison. This evil entity pondered over the boy's words again, and it pondered over why, last night, Kyubi himself had also wanted to protect and had chosen it.
Naruto left the dark dungeon where the Kyubi lay, taking step after step in the rippling water and walked towards a bright place.
The sunlight streamed into the hospital room through the blinds casting cheerful shapes on the walls and bed. The lights were off, and there was a cool shadow that flowed throughout the room. Naruto opened his eyes. His head was slightly propped up by a very fluffy pillow. As his vision focused, he saw to his left on the bed was a pile of dark ink blue hair wrapped in two arms covered by tan-gray, thick jacket sleeves.
His left hand reached out and grabbed the sleeve closest to him. Hinata's head popped up in surprise, but before she could do or say anything, she was pulled into his arms. He held her like a child embracing a most cherished stuffed animal, burying his face in her neck. Hinata's eyes softened, and she reach her arms around him to return the embrace. She felt warm tears dripping onto her neck and roll down over her skin. Her own eyes watered. They were silent for moment.
"Hinata…" Naruto's trembling and muffled voice came out. He wanted to hear her name.
"Gomen, Naruto. I'm sorry I worried you so."
He loosened his hold on her, but kept his hands on her arms, gently but firmly gripping on to the fabric, as if she would slip away if he didn't hold on. Hinata took the extra pillows on the dresser and put them behind him so that he could sit, all the while Naruto kept his hold on her. She sat on the side of the bed and faced him, sliding his hands from their grip on her sleeves so that she held both of his hands in hers. Her right hand reached up and cupped his cheek, wiping away the wetness under his eyes with her thumb. The expression on his face was one of concern.
"Are you really all right?"
"Yes."
"Did they hurt you?"
"No, I only took a formula which put me to sleep, but otherwise, I was just tied up. Hyuuga Ryozo from the branch family watched over me as I slept to make sure nothing happened to me while I was unconscious."
Naruto heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back onto his pillows as if a huge weight had been lifted. Then, he realized that something she said was puzzling.
"Hyuuga Ryozo? From the branch family? He was the one who kidnapped you?"
"Yes and no. The kidnapping was staged to find out who was orchestrating a series of attempts that have been made to capture my sister and me for quite some time. Hyuuga Ryozo had been approached by some underlings of Boss Tanaka that had thought they could exploit the sour politics of the Hyuuga family to capture one of us for study. Ryozo-san accepted the proposal, but only because he saw it as an opportunity to find out who was behind all of the attempts. He decided to play along and relayed his plan to my father and the Hokage. It was decided that a kidnapping would be staged with me as the victim. As Ryozo-san had predicted, they posted him to watch over me because they did not know how to handle the byakuugan. He was able to watch over me throughout the entire mission."
Naruto listened intently, soaking it all in. Hinata gave him an apologetic and worried look.
"Gomen, Naruto! I really wanted to tell you about all of this, I didn't want to worry you, but the 5th Hokage ordered me to tell no one."
Naruto shook his head.
"No, I'm just glad you're okay. I was just so worried…"
He looked away, the memory of what happened running through his mind. He had been conscious during the whole task, aware of jumping out of the Hokage's office window, knowingly battling Hiashi and all the other people that were preventing him from reaching Hinata and making sure she was safe.
Thinking back to what the Hokage had said to him before he went on the rampage, he remembered the warning she had given him, that if he ran in on the operation, he could jeopardize the whole rescue. He had understood that and had attempted to restrain himself and his anxiety for Hinata's sake, but…the thoughts of her being hurt and the flood of emotions that came with that had driven that logic out of his mind. All he thought of at that moment was absolutely ensuring that Hinata was safe, absolutely knowing that she was, and all of his actions after that was unidirectional in following that instinct.
Moreover, he realized that he did not act alone. The Kyubi somehow had been infused with the same want. Before, he had only borrowed the Kyubi's chakra, but this time he had felt it—the Kyubi had wanted to protect Hinata as well. He had felt the Kyubi experiencing his feelings, bewildered by them but affected nonetheless, as if the evil demon had been injected with a portion of his soul and will. During the battles, when he fought, the Kyubi had wanted to kill the obstacles, kill Hiashi, the Hidden Mist ninjas, and the henchmen. Naruto's own will had held him back, keeping their joint actions limited to maiming and disabling obstacles instead of completely obliterating them.
There was one moment, though, when Naruto was leaning forward over the edge of a cliff and about to lift all restraints off of the Kyubi's natural instinct to kill and destroy. When he stood on the back of the Hyuuga branch member, the one he believed was responsible for Hinata's kidnapping, he felt hate and rage he had never felt before. Naruto himself wanted so badly to rip the body of Hyuuga Ryozo to shreds and for once came close to letting loose the Kyubi's bloodlust—and his own—upon the detested kidnapper who had taken his precious Hinata away and put her in danger.
Hinata's voice had pierced through his consciousness in that dark moment, pleading for him to stop.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? MAKE HIM SUFFER! KILL HIM! RIP HIM TO SHREDS FOR WHAT HE'S DONE!
The Kyubi's demanding screams had rung throughout his head when Naruto stayed his hand, but Naruto had lowered his hand anyway, controlling his intense rage and hate, his intense desire to inflict pain, suffering, and destruction on the life he held in his hands.
His right hand let go of Hinata's hand, and he looked at it as he held it palm facing up towards his face, fingers slightly curved like a claw.
"Gomen, Hinata. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I never told you…what I had inside me…what I am…"
"The 5th explained to me a bit about what happened to you…"
Naruto put his right hand on his stomach and looked down at it.
"There's a demon sealed inside me called the Kyubi. It was trying to destroy Konoha and the 4th Hokage sealed him inside me."
He looked up into Hinata's pale eyes.
"I'm sorry I scared you. Sometimes, I use the demon's chakra. I guess I went a little overboard this time."
He looked away from her. Suddenly it hit him, what if she was scared of him, scared of the Kyubi demon inside him, scared that he himself was a demon. The hand that still held hers loosened, not wanting to hold her if she didn't want to be touched by him. He felt dirty, unfit to show her affection. What had he been thinking getting so close to her without letting her know the horrible creature that lay dormant in his body? It wasn't fair to have kept this from her, and he knew should have thought of this earlier on.
Hinata read his mind. Like her cousin Neji and all others who had inherited the powers of the byakuugan, she had a heightened ability to read people's body language to infer what was going on in their heads. She had observed Naruto for so long, she might not have needed the byakuugan to figure out what he was thinking about at that moment.
She leaned in and pecked him lightly on the lips. Naruto froze, eyes widened, as Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck again.
"Daijobu," she said cheerfully in her sweet, quiet voice into his ear, and the next words she uttered were last thing he had expected to hear.
"Aishiteru."
He felt her cheeks burn whiled pressed next to his cheek as those words left her lips. His earlier doubt-filled thoughts and his desire to pull away from her vanished as he felt a shower of warmth and joy wash over him. He smiled softly and wound his arms around her as well.
"Aishiteru."
He returned the words, and a deep promise was made between them, the promise that comes with saying such important words to another.
Kyubi turned again inside his cage. He had never heard these words before, and as with the will to protect, he felt the emotions that Naruto was immersed in seep into his own consciousness allowing him a taste of it first hand.
After a long moment in the embrace, Hinata released Naruto and sat up straight, her hands sliding naturally into his. Naruto leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips. The both of their faces burned and they both chuckled in giddy nervousness.
"I should go tell the nurse and the 5th Hokage that you're awake."
He reluctantly released her hand as she stood up to go. His blue eyes watched as she turned and walked towards the door. As her hand settled on the door knob, she turned and looked back at him with a pensive smile.
"You know, it's probably doing Kyubi-chan good being inside of someone like you."
She opened the door and stepped out, closing it carefully behind her.
Naruto sat staring at the spot where she had stood.
"Kyubi…CHAN?"
Japanese Words: mamoru (protect) ka (marks a question) gomen (sorry) daijobu (it's okay) aishiteru (I love you) chan (little)