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Seeing Into the Soul Chapter 9
A/N: OMG. It’s been almost a year and we haven’t updated. There are no excuses for the lack of updates (besides the fact that we procrastinate terribly), so we seek your forgiveness! We do realize that since a year has passed, many of you would/may have forgotten the story plot. Gomen! The contents of this chapter is rather closely related to the previous chapter’s, so you guys may wish to read the past chapter first to refresh your memory.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers who have constantly reminded us to update this fic. Without you guys, the two of us would probably never continue the story. So thank you! For those who have asked about our short drabble dump containing challenges for LJ and want to add us on LJ (deeply honoured), Brina's LJ username is brinamezzaluna. Sheryl is too lazy to get an account, since she hardly ever signs into LJ :D
On with the story!
“Go back to sleep Hanabi, you should rest more,” she heard her older sister say softly, as her nimble hands continued its massage, applying just the right pressure to ease the pain, but not to cause any bruising. As pale lavender met pale lavender, the two sisters exchanged a smile.
Instantly, a warm feeling surged through her system. Hyuuga Hanabi smiled, before allowing herself to surrender to deep slumber.
She felt loved.
How he longed to be the one at her bedside, keeping her company and aiding her towards recovery. Alas, the girl in question now no longer wanted to have anything to do with him. So, all Sarutobi Konohamaru could do in his current state was to balance precariously on a windowsill and watch his love silently from there, a thin glass panel separating them from each other.
Naruto was worried for her, she knew. Although she had not had the chance to check her reflection in a mirror, she knew she looked awful.
“Hinata, I brought you some coffee,” Naruto’s voice, uncharacteristically soft and gentle, called out to her as he placed the steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee in front of her. She smiled gratefully, and with a soft thank-you, she lifted up the cup and sipped the coffee gingerly.
“You should get some rest too Hinata, don’t overstretch yourself,” Naruto murmured.
“I’ll get some sleep once they wake up,” she replied, her eyes still fixed on the medical monitor which stated her sister’s current progress. She heard Naruto sigh, and heard the sound of his hands moving to form a jutsu. “And don’t you dare knock me out with a sleep jutsu,” she warned, setting the cup down on the table and looking determinedly at him. She heard him sigh again, and turned around, embracing him tightly.
“Naruto, I know that you are worried for me, but please. I want to take care of them… since I’m the reason why—why they are in this state in the first place,” she whispered, burying her face against his chest.
“It’s not your fault, Hinata,” he consoled, rubbing her back comfortingly as she tightened her arms around him. He knew that she had blamed herself for both Neji’s and Hanabi’s current plight, and instantly felt his dislike for Hiashi intensify. Remembering the vulnerable and desperate expression etched on the usually cool and arrogant Neji’s face, he felt sick to his stomach. Wasn’t family supposed to look out for each other, to care for each other? How could someone have the cruelty to subject another family member to such misery and suffering? That was something the orphan residing in Naruto, the small boy who had craved to be accepted and to be loved, could not comprehend.
A few moments passed before Hinata broke away gently from their embrace, lifting her head to meet his. Their lips met, gently and softly, its taste bittersweet, until they were forced to break apart reluctantly for air.
“Is anyone watching Neji-niisan currently?” she asked softly.
“Sapphire, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru are in his ward at the moment. Don’t worry Hinata; they’ll alert you if he wakes up.” Naruto replied.
“Sasuke? I thought he was still injured?” Hinata questioned.
“Yeah, but as soon as he heard about Neji, he was so determined to get out of bed to visit him. He had a huge argument with the nurses, and even threatened to burn the ward down if they continued to confine him to his bed! Anyway, they reached a compromise. Sasuke was allowed to visit Neji, but he has to hook himself to an IV tube. Sakura, who is a trained medic, has to accompany him at all times, just in case his injury acts up again. As if he minds,” Naruto smirked. In retaliation, Hinata punched him playfully and lightly on the shoulder.
Just then, she looked towards the window and stared. Someone was balancing on the windowsill of the balcony and was looking in! She was ready to turn and alert Naruto, in case it was a stalker or some psycho that had escaped from the hospital. The dark haired boy hadn’t seen her, his gaze still fixed on Hanabi lying prone on the bed. Something in his expression made Hinata not do so. The sad and longing expression on his face struck deep a chord in Hinata’s heart. He hadn’t noticed her staring at him, so intent he was on Hanabi.
“You made me break up with him father. You hurt him and threatened his life. And I’ll never forgive you for that,”
The puzzle fell into place. Hinata smiled.
Once Hanabi regained sufficient strength, they were going to have a sisterly conversation, namely, about the boy who was still balanced on the narrow windowsill.
“When would he regain consciousness?”
“It depends. It may be a day, a week, a month or more than that. He may remain in a coma forever. The repeated activations of the seal had caused severe damage to his brain and chakra system,”
The grim verdict alone was already sufficient to render all five of them speechless. Sasuke was seated, his dark obsidian eyes fixed intently on the readings of the monitor as his right hand clenched the IV tube he was attached to tightly. Earlier on after the doctor’s grim verdict, he and the other guys had raged, their anger directed towards Hiashi, who had subjected Neji to such meaningless torture. The usually calm and collected Shikamaru had lost his cool and was raging on about his intention to go to the Hyuuga compounds and have a face-off with Hyuuga Hiashi, one-on-one.
Sasuke had agreed to go with him, saying that he had an urge to set the man on fire after they were done with him, which earned him a smack on the head from a rather pissed-off Sakura who did not advocate violence of any sort. Ironically enough, the usually rash Naruto was the one who had managed to calm them down and dispel any other ill intentions towards the Hyuuga compound. Meanwhile, Sapphire and Ino were praying for Neji’s and Hanabi’s (even though they didn’t know her well) recovery.
As the medical monitor continued to beep softly, signifying that Neji was still alive but in a coma, the wait continued.
“Where am I?” he wondered, as he looked around his surroundings cautiously, getting into defensive mode (nobody could be sure when surprise attacks would land). No matter where he looked, he saw only white. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead, and if he was now in heaven. But didn’t heaven contain angels, who would flutter around on their wings as they went by bringing joy and miracles to the world beneath them?
“Neji,” The all too familiar -- too painfully familiar voice sounded out to him. Instantly, he whirled around, all previous musings forgotten as he faced the brown haired, honey-brown eyed speaker. His eyes widened, as he took in the features of her face slowly, memorizing each detail as if she was going to disappear right in front of his eyes any time. She hadn’t changed, he thought. Dead people could never change. His heart ached.
The honey brown eyes were now twinkling at him. “My, my, you sure got yourself in a mess here!” The speaker chuckled, her tinkling laugh reminding him, painfully, about the memories and the love that they had shared. As her laughter subsided, her face took on a serious expression.
“You have to get back. It’s not time yet,” she whispered. “Your friends and loved ones are waiting for you,”
He heard himself give a bitter laugh, its bitterness shocking even him. “Since you died, I haven’t loved anyone else. No one holds a candle to the way you make me feel.” Loved ones? He hadn’t had a single one ever since.
“I asked you to forget me, to find someone else that you can open your heart and share your soul with,” she whispered, her expression sad as she reached out to caress his cheek. How he missed the casual intimacy they had shared.
“I couldn’t. I tried, but I can’t. I’m so sorry, Tenten,” He murmured back to her, seemingly unaware that his voice had come out with a choked sob. He saw her look at him sadly. For a short moment, he wondered if he could just stay here, wherever it was, forever. With Tenten, he would be content.
“It’s time. You should go back. They’re all waiting.” He had one last look into her honey brown eyes before the world around him swirled, and he was plunged into darkness.
His head throbbing rather painfully, he opened his eyes slowly, and saw only a dim light from the nightlight at his bedside. Squinting slightly while waiting for his eyes to adjust itself to the light, he took a brief look of his surroundings. On the couch, he saw Shikamaru and Ino cuddled up together, Shikamaru’s hand protectively around Ino’s. On the chair next to his bedside, Sapphire was snoring softly. Somehow, being surrounded by his good friends was oddly comforting, even if they were snoring.
He reached over to the small table at his bedside for his wallet, and opened it. Taking out a faded photo out, he gazed at it intently. Tenten’s smiling face smiled back at him. Lifting a trembling finger, he traced the outlines of her face. She hadn’t changed in the vision that he had, her hair still done up in the two Chinese- style buns hairdo that she loved.
All the memories of her flooded his mind, reminding him of all the things he had wanted to, and had forced himself to forget after her death. Memories of all the sparring sessions they had, where her innate ability to have 100 accuracy in whatever weapons she used had provided him with a good way to train his Kaiten against projectiles coming towards him in all directions. She knew his blind spot, and would always try to strengthen his disadvantage by targeting it often during training. He remembered her tinkling laugh, her ever-ready smile for everyone, which accounted for her popularity in the school in the past.
She was always ready to offer help to others, and was always so considerate to other’s feelings and needs that she often neglected her own. He remembered how she had managed to get him and Hinata on speaking terms in the past, when Hinata had still feared him and avoided making contact with him whenever possible. He still remembered the love they had shared, the ability they had to communicate with each other wordlessly, as if each knew what the other was thinking. They were each other’s first love, and were deeply in love with each other.
When she died, a part of him died along with her. She had, on her deathbed, asked him to find another female who would love him as much as she had. She had pleaded time and time again, her breathing becoming increasingly ragged, and he had tearfully agreed.
But he was unable to do it. After her death, he had sunk into the common self-denial stage, where he refused to admit to himself that she had passed on. At that time, his buddies had been so irritated yet sympathetic towards him at the same time. A while after this, he forced himself to cope, the logical part of his mind telling him that he needed to learn how to move on. He was young, surely he would be able to have the chance to meet another female who he loved and would love him.
To force himself to cope, he started playing the dating field once again. The females who were interested in him were more interested in his looks rather than his character, and truth be told, he wasn’t exactly ready for a long term relationship that soon after Tenten’s demise either. This started the reputation of him being one of the school’s biggest and most infamous flirts, who changed girlfriends as quickly as one would change clothes.
His girlfriends usually lasted for only one week, before he got tired of their shallowness, their vanity or their possessiveness and moved on to the next willing female. He was always nice and courteous even during the point of breakup, which would explain why most of these females still considered him as a snog partner. He knew that it was unfair towards the females who genuinely had an interest in him, but he didn’t stop. To him, the flirting, the dating and the making-out with numerous females in the school were a coping mechanism for his feeling of loss.
He had thought that four years was enough, that he would be able to forget her and all the past memories. Unfortunately, this was not true. The memories of the times spent between him and Tenten were still vivid as they played through his mind, as if they had just happened the day before, instead of four years back.
“I still love you, Tenten,” he whispered softly to himself. His friends were all still asleep, unaware that he had already regained consciousness.
Silently, the tears fell.